Critical Condition
Superman #158
Critical Condition part 1At S.T.A.R. Labs, the Atom assembles Team Superman to shrink them down to microscopic size and find out what is killing Superman. Due to Superman's feverish body temperature, the Atom can't join them on the mission, and the three heroes only have an hour before they enlarge back to normal size. As soon as their ship enters Superman's body, however, it's attacked by antibodies and destroyed.
Lex Luthor discovers that the Parasite, while impersonating Lois, had withdrawn eleven million dollars from his accounts. Even though the Parasite is dead now Lex decides that he needs to acquire his corpse from S.T.A.R. Labs.
Duncan Rouleau fills in as guest penciller this issue with Jaime Mendoza as guest inker. Rouleau will be seen sporadically over the next few years, eventually filling in on every series at some point, but only for a few issues at a time.
Adventures of Superman #580
Critical Condition part 2Separated from the others, Supergirl navigates through Superman's body and fights antibodies who now have Superman's form. This Supergirl is still the Earth-born angel version from Peter David's series, so writer DeMatteis uses her to show the reader new-agey things like Superman's chakras. Supergirl nearly exhausts her angelic power to destroy a Kryptonite tumor, only to find out there are thousands more.
In another part of the body, Superboy and Steel find a Kryptonite tumor. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, however, it turns out John Henry Irons was knocked out by somebody before the mission started and somebody else is inside his armor now.
Lois Lane is looking for the whereabouts of La Encantadora, who is currently on the run from the assassin Deathstroke, who is hired to kill her. La Encantadora magically transports all three of them to an unknown location.
Superman: The Man of Steel #102
Critical Condition part 3John Henry Irons climbs into a bulky aquanaut suit and shrinks down to find his teammates inside Superman's body. Superbody discloses to the saboteur in Steel's armor about how he recently lost his powers and only a force field belt is protecting him now. After revealing his vulnerability, Superboy figures out that his companion is not really Steel. The real Steel arrives just in time and easily defeats his own armor.
Lois, La Encantadora, and Deathstroke arrive on a distant world but before Deathstroke can kill them both La Encantadora transports herself and Lois to S.T.A.R. Labs. Deathstroke relentlessly pursues them with his own teleporter and arrives shortly after for the grand finale.
Man of Steel series artist Doug Mahnke drew the covers for the other books in this story line, so writer Mark Schultz stepped in to do this issue's cover. Schultz is one of my favorite artists, known for his detailed illustrations on his creator-owned series Xenozoic Tales, but unfortunately this cover would be his only artistic contribution during his run on Superman.
Action Comics #767
Critical Condition part 4Deathstroke is about to terminate La Encantadora when the unconscious Superman has a convulsion and fires an involuntary blast of heat vision in every direction Now that he sees the dying Superman, Deathstroke realizes how high the stakes are on this job. Lois tries to radio a message to Team Superman to let them know a nanobot planted by La Encantadora's kiss (in Action Comics #760) has been spreading the Kryptonite poisoning in Superman's body, but Deathstroke cuts the cable and stabs Lois. Now both Superman and Lois are flatlining, but Supergirl comes out of Superman's body and magically seals Lois' wound, although Deathstroke is still determined to kill them all.
Steel finds out the mysterious saboteur in his armor is really the Prankster, who teleports away before he can be caught. Superboy stays behind to destroy the Kryptonite nanobot with a laser, but with no powers he has no way to get out of Superman's body before the hour runs out. Just before he's about to fire the laser at his own head, Steel finds him and they ride Superman's heat vision out of the body just in time before they return to normal size. At that same instant, Superman recovers from the Kryptonite poisoning and fires this same blast of heat vision at Deathstroke.
A lot happens in this issue, most of it intercut on the same page the way only comics or movies could tell a story. As the writer of the last book of the month, Joe Kelly would be tasked with closing a lot of stories in this period and this was an example of him at his best. Though Superman technically appears in every issue of this story, he's really only conscious on the last page. Kelly really let the supporting cast shine, especially in Superboy's noble sacrifice, and he would go on to write Superboy's own series the following year.
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