Worlds Collide part 1
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Milestone was a short-lived 90's imprint that featured a whole universe of superheroes with minority representation. Milestone had its own signature look with premium, hand-painted artwork that was strikingly similar to a major 90's competitor, Valiant Comics, and this crossover is a remarkably coherent epic similar to Valiant's game-changing Unity Saga. Worlds Collide is an ambitious 14-part saga that runs through 8 series plus a special one-shot. This is my first time reading Worlds Collide in its entirety as well as my first reading of most of the Milestone tie-ins, but I'd definitely rank it as one of the best crossovers of the period. Keep in mind at this point in time DC hadn't had a line-wide crossover in several years, although there are teaser ads in these issues for Zero Hour which was just a few months away. After that, crossovers would be an obligatory annual event.
Superman #91
A LexCorp employee digs through the ruins of a bank, searching for some cash hidden in a safe deposit box, while a homeless man watches and comments on his futility. He eventually unearths his money but finds out it won't get him far in the current state of the city.
A giant LexCorp robot rampages through the decimated city, one of a series of failsafes we learn were activated by Lex Luthor. Superman finds Luthor in a Red Cross tent, on life support in a vegetative state. Luthor is imprisoned in his own body, able to hear the Man of Steel but unable to speak. Superman stops Luthor's robot just before it almost steps on its creator, even though Luthor thinks he would have welcomed death at this point.
The Adventures of Superman #514
A cloud of gas covers Metropolis and the people exposed to it start to see hallucinations. Superman arrives on the scene, believing he's unaffected by the gas. But after he sees Lois Lane killed by a bullet that ricochets off his bullet-proof body, we start to realize that he's hallucinating too. Ma and Pa Kent suddenly appear to tell their son he should have protected his family and he let them down. And then Lex Luthor II appears, his health and flowing red hair restored. Luthor tells him that Metropolis used to be his, but there's no doubt that this is Superman's city now that it's destroyed.
Meanwhile, Professor Hamilton discovers a cure for the gas and risks his life to get the antidote through the war zone-like city to Superman who can distribute it across the city. Hamilton's arm is severely injured in a car accident and he wakes up later in the hospital to find his arm has shockingly been amputated.
Luthor activates his final fail safe, and we see Superman's own Kryptonian battle armor activated in a secret lab somewhere.
Action Comics #701
The Kryptonian battle armor finds Lex Luthor and puts him in a chamber inside full of fluid and life support wires to both keep him alive and let him control the robot. Luthor discovers the Superman memorial statue over the Man of Steel's tomb is still standing, but before he can knock it over himself the robot is punched by the real Superman. Similar to the fight with Doomsday, their battle is told almost entirely in splash pages, so it seems to be over quickly without much really happening. Superman destroys the robot and takes Luthor's vegetative body to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Dr. Faulkner administers the cure they conveniently received from CADMUS before it was destroyed. The cure keeps Luthor from dying, but for unknown reasons it doesn't restore him to good health like it did Superboy.
Superman: The Man of Steel #35
The destruction of Metropolis has displaced Keith and the other children at the orphanage. To make things even worse, a deadly robot arises out of the rubble of LexCorp. Superman stops the robot but is unable to save the orphanage caregiver, Myra.
In a Red Cross shelter, Lois Lane's mailman Bentson is afflicted with terrible nightmares and Professor Hamilton recommends him for a sleep study. During the study we see that Bentson actually phases out of reality in his sleep, into the "Dakota-verse" of DC's new Milestone imprint. The study happens to be taking place in a building below a partially destroyed bridge in Metropolis, which we'll see has a mirror image partial bridge in Dakota.
This issue was incorrectly triangle-numbered 28 so I decided just to keep it out of order since it goes with the other Worlds Collide tie-ins more than the other Superman books.
Hardware #17
The postal worker Bentson lives a double life, falling asleep in Metropolis and waking up in Dakota, then falling asleep in Dakota and waking up in Metropolis. Coincidentally, he's also the subject of a sleep experiment in Dakota. As part of this experiment, the armored Milestone hero, Hardware, seals himself inside a chamber as Bentson goes to sleep, and they both find themselves transported to Metropolis. After encountering the gangs who have taken over the ruined city, Hardware wants Bentson to go back to sleep and take them back to Dakota. But somehow Hardware finds himself in a dream of his own in which the DC hero Steel shatters his reality with his hammer like glass. Hardware awakens and finds himself back with Bentson in the lab with a Daily Planet newspaper. Dr. Alva, the villainous mastermind of the Dakota-verse, sees the discovery of another universe as another world to conquer.
Superboy #6
Below the mountain where CADMUS was destroyed, Superman and Superboy discover survivors: the Newboy Legion and their younger clones, Dubbilex, a barely-alive Guardian, and some of the scientists. The Guardian and the Newsboy Legion would star in a mini-series later this year called Guardians of Metropolis. The Guardian would later become a mentor and supporting cast member in Superboy's series, but the CADMUS characters would be seen less frequently in the Superman books after this.
Meanwhile, the Parasite is on the loose in Metropolis and hungers for the strange interdimensional energy he can taste coming from Bentson. Superboy fights the Parasite but Bentson is knocked unconscious over the partial bridge and when Superboy tries to save him they both find themselves hovering over the city of Dakota with the Milestone hero Rocket aggressively flying towards them.
Icon #15
Worlds Collide part 4Rocket catches Superboy and Bentson, unaware that Superboy can also fly. The three try to figure out what's going on and Superboy annoys Rocket with his hormonal teenage antics. Suddenly they're approached by purple men in suits who Superboy mistakenly thinks are the Parasite, but strangely they turn out to be villainous IRS auditors with similar energy-draining powers. After evading the IRS, Bentson's nightmares start to manifest and they have to fight a giant high school bully. Icon finally shows up on the last few pages of his own book and they take Bentson back to Dr. Alva. Superboy persistently flirts with Rocket, but she shuts him up by actually accepting his advances and asking him to father her unborn child. As Dr. Alva tries to help Bentson control his inter-dimensional power, Bentson and all the heroes except Icon disappear. Suddenly, the half of the bridge in Metropolis appears connected to the half of the bridge in Dakota.
Steel #6
While fighting the war on drugs in Washington, DC, Steel follows the trail of an organization called Black Ops to Metropolis. Coincidentally, Black Ops is running the stress clinic where Bentson has been testing and they're now aware of the existence of another universe.
Hardware, Rocket, and Superboy are teleported back to Metropolis. Recognizing Steel from his dream, Hardware believes him to be a threat and attacks John Henry. The three are teleported back and Superman arrives on the scene to find Steel by himself. Both Dr. Alva and Black Ops try to wake Bentson up at the same time, creating the rift that joins the two worlds by the bridge.
Blood Syndicate #16
The team known as Blood Syndicate crosses the bridges from Dakota to Metropolis, where they assume the decimated city is Dakota. They encounter Superman and naturally end up fighting him. For the first time we get the indication that Superman is a recognized fictional character in the Dakota-verse and the team doesn't believe he's real.
This issue is intentionally disorienting, and while it's interesting to see strangers from another universe meet the Man of Steel, it's really difficult to learn anything about these characters in this book. There's not really enough substance or character development to learn little more than their names, even what their powers are is difficult to deduce from the material available.
World's Collide #1
Bentson lands back in Dakota where he discovers the amateur comics he drew as a kid are real and in print. He bumps into the teen hero Static who is an aspiring after school comics creator, and their creations start to come to life and fight each other. Learning how to control his powers, Bentson turns into a superhero himself. But Bentson's body also happens to be in two other places, where Black Ops and Dr. Alva are simultaneously trying to awaken him in their universe. Bentson resists both of them and transforms into a giant, god-like energy being that calls itself Rift. Rift is so large that he's able to lift Paris Island (in the Dakota-verse) in the palm of his hand and toss it over his shoulder and across the bridge, where it lands in Hobbs Bay and creates a tidal wave that threatens Metropolis.
Superman mostly spends this issue continuing his fight with Blood Syndicate, bothered more that they seem to know all about his secret identity as Clark Kent and about Lois Lane.
It's not unusual for a big crossover to have a one-shot, but it is odd that it comes in the middle of the story. This sort of thing is usually placed as a hook at the beginning of the story line or at the very end.
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