The Loeb/Kelly Era

Act III of post-Crisis Superman kicks off boldly under new editor Eddie Berganza with new creative teams and a noticeable departure from what preceded it.  This era would be defined primarily by new writer Jeph Loeb, who would remain a regular writer through all of Act III, first on Superman and ending up on Superman/Batman and Supergirl.  

Commonly referred to as the Loeb/Kelly era by fans, it was not a reboot or a retcon, but it would take a more relaxed approach to continuity and begin the breakdown of the rules that had confined Superman since the Man of Steel reboot.  Silver Age concepts not seen since before Crisis on Infinite Earths would gradually be re-introduced and re-tooled for the modern day, including Superman's pet dog Krypto and eventually Superman's cousin, Kara Zor El.  Act III would end appropriately with Infinite Crisis, a soft reboot that would end the post-Crisis Superman series and restore Adventures of Superman to its original title.

In this era, there would be a diminishing focus on enhanced covers, but other cover gimmicks would take their place.  The first issues here would feature interlocking covers by Phil Jimenez, which were designed to encourage buyers to collect all four.  By the end of Act III, we would see the rise of variant covers, leading to today's norm where every single issue has multiple covers.  The triangle numbering would continue for a few more years, but each series would feel more independent, with story arcs continuing within the same series and cliffhangers restricted to clearly defined multi-part stories.

This was my personal favorite period of Superman and marks when I became a steady reader.  Up until now, I had still been reading some of these stories for the first time ever, but from this point on I've already read every Superman story until the end of post-Crisis era in 2011.

Superman #151

Jeph Loeb wastes no time in resetting the board back to the status quo.  In the first few pages, the Daily Planet re-opens and Lois, Clark, Jimmy, and Perry go back to their old jobs.  Narrating the issue, Lois describes going to back to work like the first day of school, which stuck with me at the time even though I had just finished high school that same year.  As Lois goes through the offices of the Daily Planet, framed issues of the newspaper catch up readers on the most important stories of Superman's life in the last 150 issues.  Where Act II was heavily footnoted with citations to specific issues, Act III didn't expect readers to have read every single preceding story, only the most important ones.

Why Lex Luthor gave the newspaper back to Perry White is a mystery to the staff, until a private meeting on the last page in which we find out Lex did it as a favor to Lois, but in return he expects to be able to kill any one story of his choosing.  She hides this horrible secret from her husband, one of the first signs of the strain their marriage will go through in the next year.

A mysterious unidentified object falls from the sky and lands in the middle of Metropolis.  When Superman investigates, he comes face to face with Mongul.  It is explained, however, that this is Mongul's son, also named Mongul, who looks exactly like his father.  With this, we saw immediately how writers of this era would ignore continuity, such as inconvenient deaths, without retconning what had happened before.  Mongul Jr.'s story would continue in the next issue of Superman.  Careful readers would note that Superman is still wearing Clark Kent's wedding ring in this scene, which would have ramifications in all the books in the coming months.

Adventures of Superman #573

This series would take a new direction to focus on the Man of Steel from the eyes of regular people.  This particular story wraps up the saga of Jerome Odetts and his struggle to save his farmhouse from Luthor's expansion of Hypersector.  However, it doesn't make reference to any of the previous stories with Kismet or Dominus, so first time readers picking up this issue would be just as satisfied thinking it was self-contained.  Despite his power, Superman realizes he has much more influence to be able to save this landmark as newspaper reporter Clark Kent.

This issue introduces Lex Luthor's Amazonian bodyguards, Hope and Mercy.  Mercy first appeared as Luthor's chauffeur in Superman: The Animated Series years earlier, and like Harley Quinn, finally crossed over from animation to comics this year.  Superman is surprised that the two ladies are apparently strong enough to engage him in combat, but we would later learn that Luthor was being quite literal when he called them Amazons.

Stuart Immonen returns to this series for these first few issues, but writers and artists would come and go more frequently on this series than the others.

Superman: The Man of Steel #95

Though writer Mark Schultz continued on the same series through the editorial transition and would remain on it through its cancellation, he never really got the credit he deserved for defining this period.  Man of Steel would shift its focus towards Superman's alien heritage and would sometimes read more like a science fiction novel than a superhero comic during this period.  Famous for his beautifully self-drawn creator-owned series Xenozoic Tales, Schultz would regrettably only draw one cover during his run on the book.

While Jimmy Olsen visits the Kents, a strange alarm goes off.  It turns out to be the head of the Kryptonian robot Kelex, which Lois and Clark had forgotten they brought back to their apartment.  They convince Jimmy it's a collectible alarm clock, and after they get rid of him Superman flies with Lois to the ruins of the Fortress to investigate a disturbance.  Though the Fortress still exists as a "ghost" of itself in another dimension, they find out the Eradicator is once again trying to restore Krypton on Earth.  The Fortress and the Eradicator would both return as regular elements in this series.  Also, on the last page, John Henry Irons (aka Steel) reaches an agreement with the Special Crimes Unit to develop non-lethal weapons for them.  After the cancellation of his own series, Steel and his niece Natasha will become regular cast members for the rest of this series.

Action Comics #760

New regular series writer Joe Kelly pits Superman against a new villainess, La Encantadora, who will be a regular annoyance for the next year.  La Encantadora has a racket in which she sells fake Kryptonite to super villains, who only find out about the deception when it fails to stop the real Man of Steel.  Superman unsuccessfully follows her around the globe from villain to villain trying to catch her, until a conversation with Ra's Al Ghul inspires him to beat her at her own game.  Learning she's been using magic to make her buyers believe the obviously painted rocks are real Kryptonite, Superman tricks her by making her think all of her unsatisfied customers are coming after her for revenge.  La Encantadora uses her magic to get away, after first stealing a kiss from Superman.  This kiss would be part of a larger story that would unfold over the next year, as would Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, Talia.

Joe Kelly would write some of my favorite stories in this period, including a fight between Mercy and Harley Quinn, a team-up with Batman, and the introduction of Manchester Black, which would eventually be adapted into an animated feature.