Superman Forever

For Superman's 60th anniversary, Superman returned to his traditional costume in a squarebound, 96-page one-shot called Superman Forever.  The collector's edition of Superman Forever featured a remarkable animated prism cover comprised of six different Alex Ross paintings of Clark Kent in varying degrees of changing into Superman.  The format of the book seems inspired by Adventures of Superman #500, including 4 epilogues by the current creative teams each continuing into their respective books.  The art and story of Superman Forever paled in comparison to that original effort as much as the movie Batman Forever paled in comparison to Tim Burton's original.  DC would repeat this Alex Ross prism concept for Batman's 60th anniversary the following year, in a one-shot wisely not called "Batman Forever" (Batman: No Man's Land #1).

Superman Forever #1

Newsstand edition

After the obligatory anniversary flashback of Superman's origin, we jump to the present day where a naked adult Clark Kent inexplicably falls to Earth in Smallville where he is found by Ma and Pa Kent.  Superman now has his original powers again; we get a recap of how the Millennium Giants crossover ended, there's still no real good explanation for how he's back to normal, but nobody really cared why anyway.

In Metropolis, Lex Luthor's baby Lena is kidnapped and the Daily Planet staff scramble to find the kidnapper.  Lois goes to check on the Toyman at Stryker's Island Prison and finds Cat Grant had the same idea.  They put together a list of suspects but they're mostly just villains from over the years who really have no business being in this story.  They both even laugh that they brought up Loophole at all.  They even bring up Bizarro even though he's been dead for years, but by strange coincidence or bad writing when Superman finds the kidnapper it turns out to be a new Bizarro.  Superman returns Lena to her father, and the reader learns that Lex's presumed dead wife the Contessa is now working with the presumed dead Dabne Donavan.

Jimmy Olsen gets his job back at the Daily Planet.  It's like a tradition that the supporting cast returns to their status quo in anniversary issues.  Jimmy takes Misa to steak out Intergang and see if they were behind the Luthor kidnapping, but Misa forgot to tell him that her invisibility ray has probably worn off by now. 

Rather than continuing from this story, the 4 separate epilogues each lead into a different era of Superman: the Silver Age, the "Polyester" Age, the Golden Age, and future of 2999.  The books continue the triangle numbering, although for the next several months the story lines are contained within each series, before they all come together for a conclusion.  While having each book go their separate way was uncharacteristic for Superman in the 90's, this seemed similar to other 90's departures in the Spider-Man or X-Men lines (ie: Age of Apocalypse).

Adventures of Superman #558

The Silver Age

In a throwback to the whimsical Mort Weisinger era of the 50's and 60's, Jimmy Olsen accidentally drinks an alien isotope and turns into an alien.  Or rather, we find out at the end of the story that the alien really just stole his clothes and locked him in a closet at the Daily Planet.  

We get to see a lot of pre-Crisis characters, like Supergirl Kara Zor El and Krypto, alongside post-Crisis characters like Steel.  Everything from Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and the Fortress of Solitude is in the Silver Age style, something that DC hadn't really embraced very much in the last decade. 

Action Comics #745

The Polyester Age 

In a throwback to the 70's era of Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams dubbed "the Polyester Age" by the editors, Clark Kent and Lana Lang are once again news anchors at WGBS.  The Prankster is up to his old tricks, including some of the oldest tricks in the book like selling hundreds of suckers a deed to a bridge.  However, things get more serious when he hijacks an ocean liner and to take Lana Lang hostage.  Then strangely, on the last page he asks Superman to marry them.  Given the Prankster's penchant for homophonic puns, that could mean two things.

Superman: The Man of Steel #80 

The Golden Age

Bogdanove's art doesn't always appeal to me, but I think it really works in this throwback to the Golden Age 1930's.  The story opens with scenes nearly verbatim from Action Comics #1, with Superman breaking into the governor's mansion with a signed confession by the real killer to stay an execution of an innocent man, then saving a battered woman from a wifebeater.  Later on, of course, we get the iconic scene of Superman lifting a car over his head.

The story gets interested when Lois and Clark start to worry about the rise of fascism in America, and we see the characters addressing Nazism in a way the books really didn't get to do during this actual period.  We get to see an anachronistic Golden Age version of the Atomic Skull leading a Nazi rally, which unexpectedly works really well in this story.  When Superman saves the crowd from literally being crushed under a giant swastika, they start to salute him as their champion and he gives an inspiring speech disavowing Nazism. 

The stories are each reverent of the eras they represent, you can almost tell the creators are having fun with this project and their love of the characters from every period really shines through.  This is a refreshing change from the past year when Superman had been pretty much unrecognizable.