DC One Million

This month jumps ahead to the distant future of the 853rd century to tie into DC's latest annual crossover, DC One Million.  Spinning out of the last year of Grant Morrison's run on JLA, DC One Million introduced a future version of the JLA, Justice Legion A, from exactly one million months after Action Comics #1.  Like Zero Hour, every DC comic this month is the "one millionth" issue, even though Action Comics #1,000,000 is really the only one that would have truly reached that number by this time.  Although most of the series tying in at this time were short-lived like Chase, the Creeper, and Chronos, this was still one of DC's best 90's efforts.  

DC One Million was a very Superman-centric crossover, which is probably why I loved it so much.  The Superman tie-ins all featured detailed covers drawn by Gene Ha with (at the time) eye-catching digital backgrounds.  The story is a little convoluted, taking place in the present and the future, and the Superman tie-ins alternate between these periods.  The future Justice Legion A travels to the present day and convinces the current A-list members of the Justice League of America to visit their 853rd century future.  Justice Legion A becomes trapped in their past and the JLA becomes trapped in the future.  In the past, the immortal Vandal Savage puts a plan into motion that begins with the nuclear destruction of Montevideo, Uruguay and will culminate in the 853rd century.  In the future, a living artificial sun named Solaris sets into motion a plan that infects the 20th century Earth with a virus carried unknowingly into the past by Justice Legion A's Hourman, and will force them to create himself to stop it.  Solaris' end game is to assassinate the original Superman with the last fragment of Kryptonite when he returns after centuries in the sun, but the JLA counter his scheme with a long-game plan of their own.

Action Comics #1,000,000 

The original Man of Steel arrives in the 853rd century and is initially well received as the Superman Prime.  However, Solaris manipulates the people of Earth into thinking Superman is really a Bizarro.  Everybody in the future has some form of temporary super power now, so the mob attacks Superman but they're still no match for his power and determination.  

The future Hawkman has an idea to confirm Superman Prime's identity and takes him to a junk yard where Platinum of the Metal Men has survived through the ages since the 20th century.  Interestingly, Platinum would be a recurring guest star in the Superman tie-ins to DC One Million.  Platinum recognizes the Man of Steel, and Superman asks them to help him get to the Fortress of Solitude as well as take down the ominipresent social internet called "Headnet" that Solaris using to manipulate the mob.  Keep in mind this was before any social networks existed yet this story totally predicted the deterioration of the internet in the next couple of decades.

Superman: The Man of Steel #1,000,000

At the new LexCom, Lois Lane and other former Daily Planet employees are infected with the Hourman virus.  The Metal Men come to LexCom to tell the media that their creator, Doc Magnus, had tried to stop the Justice Legion A and that the future Superman was responsible for the virus.  The Metal Men attack the future Superman, but he deactivates them by removing their responsometers which were corrupted by the Hourman virus.

This future Superman is slowly losing his powers in this period and needs to act fast.  Before Lois can try to interview him, and before this Superman can try to get to his ancestor's Fortress of Solitude, he has to stop one of Vandal Savage's rockets (carrying Arsenal of the Titan) from hitting Metropolis.

Superman #1,000,000

The future Superman saves Arsenal and the city from Vandal Savage's rocket, but the citizens of Metropolis infected by the virus don't trust him as a hero.  Lois Lane finds the future Superman and takes him back to her apartment where she tries to disguise him as Clark's cousin from Smallville.  Lois and the future Superman have great back-and-forth banter joking about not sensing each others' irony.

We get a rare glimpse of Lex Luthor having a tender moment as he sees his own daughter infected with the Hourman virus.  But when Lois tries to sneak the future Superman into LexCom to let him research on their computers, Lex instantly recognizes the charade.  Surprisingly, Lex offers to help the now almost powerless Superman get to the Fortress of Solitude.  The future Superman is unable to unlock his ancestor's fortress or get through the security system, so he erases the memory of the event from Lex Luthor's mind and computers.  Back at LexCorp, the Hourman virus makes Luthor more erratic and he sends his robots to attack the future Superman.  Defeating the robots, this Superman is determined to get to the JLA Watchtower with his teammates.  For undisclosed reasons, he also needs a sample of human DNA, which Lois gives him.

In JLA #1,000,000, Justice Legion A does successfully get to the Watchtower on the moon and starts to create their future nemesis Solaris.

Adventures of Superman #1,000,000

In the 853rd century, the Superman Prime is able to get into his descendant's Fortress of Solitude and meets its caretaker, Mitch Shelly, also known as Resurrection Man.  Mitch Shelly is another immortal who's been at war with Vandal Savage for centuries, although this is the first time Superman Prime meets him.  In the past, Mitch would be resurrected with unpredictable new powers after he was killed, but by this point in time he has a device on his wrist that can momentarily kill him and let him select his next powers. 

Resurrection Man introduces Superman Prime to Justice Legion B, the future version of the Titans.  But the villain Solaris sneaks into the Fortress disguised as the robot Arsenal, and nearly takes over the Fortress.  Superman changes the voice commands of the Fortress to Kryptonian, a language that presumably nobody but he speaks anymore.  Resurrection Man heads to Mars for his final confrontation with Vandal Savage.

Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1,000,000 

I know I already said this last month, but this is also one of my favorite issues of Superman from this period.  It's also the first issue written by one of my favorite comic creators of all time, Mark Schultz, the creator of Xenezoic Tales.

Superman Prime tries to get a Headnet implant to get up to speed on the 800 centuries of history that he's missed, but he's overwhelmed by the information overload.  He goes back to the junk yard and asks Platinum to tell him the oral history of the struggle between Superman and Solaris and the people of the future are amazed by the forgotten ritual of storytelling.  Platinum's story reads like a 90's sitcom clip show (similar to the recap we had in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #9), where we see Solaris go from good to bad and back again.  After centuries, the original Superman returns to Earth:

"He looked like one who had gone so far as to crash the gates of heaven--and still not found that for which he search."

I still hear U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in my head when I read this panel.  Superman Prime had then gone to his new Fortress deep within the yellow sun and promised to grant his loyal descendants unimaginable powers.  At the end of this Biblically epic story, Solaris appears and agrees to let Superman Prime leave Earth to meet him in a fair fight.  Platinum, who was unaware her story had been broadcast on Headnet, suddenly becomes a viral celebrity before such a thing even existed.

In the finale of DC One Million #4, Justice Legion A does get back to their own time but fails to stop Solaris from firing a Kryptonite missile into the sun.  However, Solaris didn't realize that the Justice League had replaced the Kryptonite with Green Lantern's power ring, and Superman Prime emerges from the sun more powerful than ever.  Superman Prime resurrects Lois from the human DNA his descendant had collected, everybody from Krypton is resurrected included Jor El and Lara, and the entire universe lives happily ever after.

Grant Morrison would later revisit the themes of DC One Million in his All-Star Superman series.  In that alternate story, Superman would go up against another version of Solaris and go into the sun to fix it, one day to return.