The Lois and Clark Expedition

Lois and Clark start to show serious affection for each other for the first time in the Post-Crisis era.  After the Day of the Krypton Man, things may seem like they're getting back to normal, but in half a year from now the lives of Lois and Clark will reach a major turning point.

Superman #43

Superman brings the Statue of Liberty back from the moon and welds it together again.  At the Evil Factory, Simyan and Mokkari make a synthetic clone of Superman and send it to Metropolis to destroy the real Man of Steel.  Although the 4-armed creature they sent the last time weakened Superman with a radiation similar to Kryptonite, their so-called Kryptonite Man turns out to be a dud and has no effect on the Kryptonian.  There hasn't been a re-introduction of a pre-Crisis villain in a while, but this one is hardly worth a mention.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen and the Guardian find the Evil Factory hidden at Loch Trevor in Scottland.  Simyan and Mokkari send out monsters to attack them, and they try to teleport the Kryptonite Man back to help them, but he's destroyed in the process.  Jimmy Olsen's mother is freed during the attack on the Evil Factory and she grabs one of the villains in each hand (it turns out they're really the size of action figures).  They try to dispose of her with their Z-Ray, but she turns it against them, sending them both to the inter-dimensional realm where Jimmy first encountered the clone of his father.  Superman arrives and Mrs. Olsen reflects on her search for her missing husband, that led her to his clones and to her eventual capture in the Evil Factory.  Jimmy's family is complicated.

Clark Kent returns to the Daily Planet, now as a freelancer.  After not having been himself, he offers to take Lois Lane up on her offer for dinner.

Adventures of Superman #466

A space shuttle (from last issue) crashes to Earth and the four surviving astronauts are horribly mutated.  Led by Hank Henshaw, this obvious Fantastic Four knock-off tries to break into Lexcorp, hoping to reverse the process before their mutations kill them.  Superman tries to help them, but only succeeds in saving Hank's wife with a radiation chamber.  Superman fears his destruction of the Eradicator in the sun may have caused their mutations, but eventually learns (as the reader already should have known) that it happened before that.

Hank Henshaw seemingly dies, but he'll return after skipping an issue for the Batman crossover next month.  Hank doesn't actually manifest any powers in this story, but in a few years he'll return as one of Superman's most powerful villains, Cyborg Superman.

Clark Kent has his date night with Lois Lane, although it's interrupted by the news at Lexcorp.  Cat Grant's ex-husband hires the now-evicted Jose Delgado to be Cat's personal bodyguard during the Morgan Edge trial.  Jose makes an unwise decision to check in on Lois Lane, but gets to her apartment just in time to see Lois and Clark kiss in the hall, and he walks away in silence.

Action Comics #653

The Daily Planet staff is starting to notice Lois and Clark's relationship.  Cat Grant walks in with her new bodyguard, who gives the romantic couple the silent treatment.  No longer a full-time employee, Clark decides to take the rest of the day off and enjoy it as Superman, rescuing kites from trees and stopping street criminals. 

At Intergang, Boss Mannheim discusses with his henchmen how to discredit the primary witnesses in the Morgan Edge case, and decides that he wants Cat Grant taken alive.

Clark goes back to his apartment to check his answering machine, where Amanda McCoy has left him an ominous message to meet her at the cemetery.  Clark shows up at the rendezvous, but the strange woman cryptically says she recently came into possession of a piece of jewelry and takes out a small lead box, and shows him Lex Luthor's kryptonite ring.  As Clark collapses before her, she rips open his shirt to prove she knows his secret identity.  Superman suspects this is a plot by Luthor, but the Amanda reveals she wants to get back at Lex.  Superman offers to help her bring Luthor to justice, but he loses consciousness from the kryptonite, and Amanda runs away afraid she may have killed him.  Some time later, Clark regains consciousness and wonders who she is and how to find her.  Unfortunately, Amanda realizes she forgot the lead box and tosses the radioactive ring into the street, just before a pair of street thugs grab her and drag her into a dark alley.