The Word Bringer

Superman continues his exile in space while Lois Lane has a related adventure back on Earth.

Superman #29

Superman rescues an alien marooned in deep space, then finds his way to a now-dead planet.  After a tearful visit to Clark Kent's empty apartment, Lois demands that Perry White assign her a story away from Metropolis.  He sends her to Trudeau, South Dakota, the site of a confrontation between Superman and an alien named Hfuhruhurr, the Word Bringer (from Adventures of Superman Annual #1).  The city of Trudeau is as mysteriously vacant as the alien world Superman encounters, and Superman suspects the same villain was responsible for both catastrophes.  Lois tries to investigate why the U.S. military is covering up the disappearance of Trudeau's 2,500 people, while Superman follows the trail from the alien planet back to Hfuhruhurr's enormous ship to discover what has happened to the inhabitants abducted from their worlds.

The cover is an homage to the classic Action Comics #300.

Adventures of Superman #452

Inside the Word Bringer's spaceship, Superman discovers the millions of brains abducted over the centuries that are now part of a collective being called the Union.  Hfuhruhurr creates a personfication of the Union called Eon to fight the Man of Steel, but Superman succeeds in turning Eon against its creator.  Eon promises to control Hfuhruhurr and that from now on the Union will only take beings who are near death and join willingly.  Superman leaves, Eon and Hfuhruhurr are never seen again.

Perry White kills Lois Lane's story that blames Superman for the mass disappearance of the city of Trudeau, South Dakota.  Morgan Edge spends some quality time with Cat Grant and her son.  And with no Man of Steel around, Lex Luthor is looking for a new challenge.