Solitude

The Eradicator is causing more trouble than it's worth and Superman decides it must go, but his decision will have unintended consequences in the coming months.

Superman #36

Cat Grant's ex-husband Joe Morgan visits Morgan Edge in the hospital and threatens the recovering villain to leave Cat out of his plans for revenge.  After Morgan leaves, the other Morgan calls his office to have Cat fired.  Unfortunately for Edge, the Prankster returns to try to get back at him again for cancelling his TV show.  The Prankster barricades himself in Edge's room and shows him what he's learned from watching horror movies.

For some reason Cat Grant is at the Daily Planet when she gets the news that she's fired from Galaxy Broadcasting, and a concerned Clark follows her to her "office" at Dooley's Bar to make sure she doesn't relapse to her alcoholism again.  He tries to help Cat, but then news that the Prankster is holding Morgan Edge hostage comes on TV and Clark has to leave abruptly.  Seconds later, Superman arrives in time to stop the Prankster from cutting into Edge with a chainsaw (just like on the cover!), although the Prankster insists he's not a murderer, just a prankster.

Jerry White now has a job at Big Belly Burger and takes his new girlfriend (and also his new boss), Tammy, to meet his parents.  It doesn't go well, not because she's black, but because the Whites aren't bothered by their son's interracial relationship as he expected them to be.  Tammy sees through this and leaves in a taxi by herself.

Adventures of Superman #459

Superman and Professor Hamilton continue to study what could have caused Jimmy Olsen to spontaneously develop stretching powers last month.  Superman backtracks everything that happened the day he returned to Earth, carefully leaving out certain details that could compromise his secret identity.  The professor scans Superman's body and the new costume that the Eradicator made, but when Superman shows him the Eradicator it finally becomes clear what caused Jimmy's genetic transformation.  The professor accidentally activates the device, an explosion nearly destroys the lab, and Jimmy starts to stretch uncontrollably again.

Superman decides that the Eradicator is too dangerous to keep around humans, so he seals it in a case of steel and takes it to Antarctica where he drops in a deep crack in the ice.  This is reminiscent of the scene in Superman: The Movie when Christopher Reeve throws the Kryptonian crystal into the Arctic and creates the Fortress of Solitude.

Action Comics #646

After disposing of the Eradicator, Superman discovers an enormous ditch dug through the Antarctic ice and investigates.  Following the path down a deep tunnel, he encounters a gigantic alien worm.  He tries to fight the creature since he doesn't want it to get anywhere near civilization, but ends up swallowed by it and unintentionally destroys it from the inside with a blast of heat vision.  It's revealed to the reader that the alien was left there dormant millions of years ago by an alien ship who, at the time, were trying to dispose of it on an uninhabited planet.  Superman flies away, but doesn't notice that the steel case he placed around the Eradicator has cracked open.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelley continues to monitor the sleeping Braniac, unaware that his psyche is freely roaming around and now contemplating how to free his body.