The Blaze/Satanus War Conclusion

Superman is faced with an unwinnable situation in the war between Blaze and her brother Lord Satanus.

Superman: The Man of Steel #15

The Blaze/Satanus War part 3

Guest penciler Keith Giffen handles some of the art this issue, which is a fitting change of pace for the supernatural tone of the story.

After Satanus shifts the battlefield by moving the NewsTime building to another dimension, Blaze makes her counter move.  She uses an apparition of Jerry White to lure Perry and Alice White into the deconsecrated church-turned nightclub where Jerry was killed, then she transports the church building to the same dimension as NewsTime.  The Whites ring the church bells, and the people trapped inside the NewsTime building, led by Lois and Jimmy, try to get to the sanctuary.  We get a great moment where Lois wants to tell Superman that she loves him no matter what happens, but of course she can't because other people around.

Meanwhile, Superman's powers don't work like they're supposed to in this place, so the magic has him at a real disadvantage.  Blaze reveals to Superman that the demon he's been fighting is really Sam Foswell.  Satanus is about to kill Foswell, which will free everybody else, but Blaze gloats that if Superman tries to save Foswell then his friends will be trapped there for eternity.

Superman #71

The Blaze/Satanus War part 4

Superman struggles to find a way to save everybody without having to let either Blaze or Satanus win.  Though Satanus wants to save everybody else, he can't understand why Superman fights him just to try to save a lost soul like Foswell.  The religious themes of the story are pretty overt, but this allusion to the parable of the good shepherd is a little more subtle.  Blaze re-arranges her demons into a single giant that is about to crush the church with everyone inside, and Superman has no choice but to help Satanus.  Satanus tells Superman to ring the church bells, and somehow he's able to convert the bell's vibrations into an energy blast that can destroy the gigantic demon.  Blaze blasts Superman and he falls to the ground, so Perry White continues ringing the bell for the sake of his son.  Satanus defeats Blaze and brings both the church and the NewsTime building back to Metropolis, where Supergirl and Maggie Sawyer have been waiting.

Although Blaze gave the White's false hope that their son might be able to come back, Satanus comforts them that Jerry's soul doesn't really belong to her and he's in a better place now.  Satanus restores Foswell to his human form, and makes it clear that Foswell belongs to him now.  After Foswell runs away in fear leaving Satanus alone, Satanus transforms into human form and we see he's really none other than Collin Thornton!

Superman appears to be missing in the aftermath and the ending is kind of disappointing.  Like the misdirection that Jerry White might come back, the reader was given false hope that Superman might find a way to save the day his own way, but instead he ends up having to make a deal with the devil.

Adventures of Superman #494

The Blaze/Satanus War is technically over, but get used to stories not really ending in Superman's weekly never-ending battle.

We flash back to the day when Superman first revealed himself to the world to save the space plane, only this time Clark watches it crash, killing everyone on board including Lois Lane.  Superman wakes from this nightmare in the void of space trying to figure out where he is and how he ended up there, but his powers still aren't working in this strange place. 

A voice speaks to him out of the darkness and reveals herself as an entity between darkness and light called Kismet.  She makes Superman relive some of his darkest memories with alternate endings, such as when he executed the Phantom Zone criminals or the drunk driving accident back in Smallville.  Finally, she shows him alternate futures, one where a pregnant Lois is killed by a kick from her expected child, and another where Superman conquers the Earth to try to make it a better place by force.   Superman and Kismet have a philosophical argument about free will and then she sends him back to Earth.

Action Comics #681

Superman joins Lois, Jimmy, and the others outside the NewsTime building, then he flies away so Clark Kent can return and pretend to have missed everything because he sprained his ankle.  Supergirl watches with amazement at how well Clark hides his secret identity from his friends, then she flies off to catch up with her manipulative lover Lex Luthor II.

Meanwhile, Hellgrammite is still trying to fulfill his contract to assassinate Lex Luthor II, but he needs better technology so he breaks into the new S.T.A.R. Labs.  Unfortunately for him, Dr. Kitty Faulkner is directing this new facility, and she now has more control over her alter-ego Rampage.  Superman and Rampage defeat Hellgrammite and trap him in a containment vessel, but Kitty changes back to her human form and lets Superman take all the credit.  Since her first appearance, Rampage has been a kind of clone of the Hulk.  Strangely, she continues to mirror her Marvel counterpart, who at this point in his own series has similar intelligent control over his previously savage self.