Dead Again! Conclusion

The villain behind the body found in Superman's tomb reveals himself, and we catch up on what Supergirl has been doing since her break up with Lex Luthor II.

Superman: The Man of Steel #40

Dead Again! part 9

Braniac escapes from New Genesis to get his revenge, gloating that Superman's ability to act rationally is now gone.  The story isn't quite clear to me, but Braniac seems to create a female surrogate with an exposed brain who in turn has the power to possess living and dead bodies and create monstrous brain creatures.  She takes control of Lois Lane's body to try to trick the Man of Steel into killing his fiance, but after detecting a heartbeat Superman can't be deceived into taking a life.  The unnamed brain-woman leaves Lois and Clark to face their unseen villain.

Babe, Jimmy Olsen's rockstar ex-roommate last seen transforming into a giant vampire bat on stage, is now clearly struggling with vampirism.  Her crew all seem to be aware of her condition, even getting her blood to drink from a doctor or offering to give her some of their own to keep her from actually killing anybody.

Superman #96

Dead Again! part 10

Braniac deceives Superman with a series of illusions to make him think that Superman really is still dead and he's actually the imposter.  The whole issue is just a series of fake cameos, including Ma and Pa Kent, Batman, Silver Banshee, Superboy, Steel, Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, and Doomsday.  Superman eventually sees through the illusion and Braniac reveals himself.

While a crowd watches the Man of Steel talking to himself, the murderer from last month decides that Superman must still be dead and the current one is another imposter.

Adventures of Superman #519

Dead Again!  part 11

Braniac is confident he can beat Superman this time, since he created the mass illusion of the Superman corps while he was in a coma.  When he creates a duplicate Superman the SCU doesn't know which is the real one.  Lois asks both Supermen if Braniac were about to destroy the world and he could only save one person, who would it be.  One Superman answers it would never come to that while the other says he would save her, and Lois decides that one is the fake with no hesitation.  Braniac shows himself and engages Superman directly in physical combat.  When Superman punches through Braniac's shield, the villain collapses.  When he recovers, he thinks he's the carnival performer Milton Fine once again, and is quietly escorted away by Maggie Sawyer.  With the mass hallucination gone, S.T.A.R. Labs discovers all the data they had on the Superman corpse is really blank, but they save all the data they gathered on the real Superman, just in case.

Braniac will return the following year in "Identity Crisis", not to be confused with the 2004 crossover of the same name.  After the Fall of Metropolis, major villains like Luthor and Braniac appear to be used more sparingly.

Action Comics #706

Supergirl goes to Smallville to stay with the Kents while she tries to figure out her life after Luthor.  Perry White accompanies Clark Kent on an assignment in his hometown.  At first Clark dreads the 4-hour flight on a commercial airplane just to keep his secret identity from his boss, but they're able to bond on the plane and the trip is over before Clark realizes it.  Supergirl saves the attendees of the Smallville fair from some sabotaged high-tech farm equipment.  The culprit escapes her but literally bumps into Superman at the airport shortly after Clark and Perry arrive.

The Matrix version of Supergirl would go to star in a few issues of Showcase '95 and then join the Titans later that year, but the concept of Supergirl would get complete makeover the following year.