Red Glass
The regular creative teams take a break this month and we get a fill-in story by James D. Hudnall, Ed Hannigan, and Willie Blyberg.
Superman #56
Flying back to Metropolis from space, Superman stops a mugging but accidentally kills the thieves. To his horror he learns he's returned to a world where he had killed all of his enemies, the city even built a museum remembering the day. He learns Lois Lane had been crippled by the Joker, and then he accidentally kills her with his heat vision! Looking for answers, he goes to Lexcorp where he finds Lex Luthor very much alive. Luthor, now penniless and being evicted from his own building, tells the Man of Steel he's made sure Superman's worst enemy would have what he needed to destroy him once and for all. Luthor rips off his face to reveal he's Jimmy Olsen and opens a briefcase, exposing Superman to deadly Kryptonite.
Adventures of Superman #479
Jimmy reveals that he married Lois Lane after Superman left Earth and left her in a wheelchair. Superman collapses from Kryptonite poisoning and starts to hallucinate before everything goes dark. He awakens suddenly to discover Metropolis has been decimated. Under the city's rubble he finds Booster Gold dying, who blames Superman for destroying Metropolis. Superman thinks he finds a survivor, but it's only another corpse. Along with it, he finds a radio where it seems someone or something named Houston is trying to communicate with him. He's ambushed by Guy Gardner and the Martian Manhunter, the last two surviving members of the Justice League. Unfortunately, he defends himself too well and they're both killed.
Action Comics #666
The armies of the Earth attack Superman, along with Captain Atom, Firestorm, and the Doom Patrol. Superman atomizes them all with a scream, and then finds himself alone with Wonder Woman holding a shard of Kryptonite. She hands him the rock, telling him that he has to pay for his actions. The Kryptonite starts to talk to Superman, and he realizes he's on the moon holding a NASA communication device which has been trying to re-establish communication. Superman remembers he had accepted a lunar mission to investigate a radio anomaly there. A being made of red crystal has been trapped on the moon and trying to communicate, but not understanding Superman's mind it gave him these horrific hallucinations by mistake. Superman helps the red glass creature off of the moon and then reflects on the darkness in his own mind that he just faced, as well as the future destruction of the moon that he's powerless to prevent.
Red Glass is a fill-in story that reads like one of the "imaginary" stories of the pre-Crisis era. It's an entertaining read, although nothing that happens in it actually sticks. Lois' brush with the Joker is interesting, though, as it kind of foreshadows the Joker killing her in the alternate future of Kingdom Come, and his almost killing her in continuity, which leads to a temporary break-up of their engagement.
Next month will be huge. Not only do the regular writers and artists return but we get a new ongoing series with a whole new writer and art team.
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