Virgin Covers

Every DC comic this month had what today would be described as a "virgin" cover with no logo, the series title was just incorporated into the artwork in some creative way.  Today, something like this would have just been a variant cover theme, in fact this has been the trade dress for DC's variant covers for the last several years.

Superman #177

In his holiday tradition, Superman reads his fan mail, now in the form of e-mail.  While Superman responds to letters from people in need, Metallo attacks Metropolis and a new Toyman rises to the occasion to stop him.  Toyman's mech robot fights Metallo around the world, along the way they also encounter a Pokemon-inspired monster referred to as "Bling" and a Mothra-inspired kaiju referred to as "Killer Moth."  When Superman finally catches the new Toyman, he discovers he's a Japanese teenager.  This new Toyman will be seen again a few years later in Jeph Loeb's opening arc of Superman/Batman.  

After the fight, Clark Kent rendezvous with Lois Lane in Egypt, where she starts to think out loud how Luthor called her to the White House right before her father died, almost as if he knew what was going to happen.

Adventures of Superman #599

Superman rescues the crew of a sunken Russian submarine, then later meets the submarine captain at his farm in Russia.  The Man of Steel and the captain bond over farming, as we learns the captain is dying of pancreatic cancer.  Superman single-handedly harvests the captains fields for him before he dies, periodically visiting him until his passing and funeral.

This story reads like another Christmas issue where Superman performs a good deed for a letter writer.  It probably would've made more sense had that been the case.  This story doesn't really feel like it needed to take up a whole issue, and with no ties to the story lines in any of the other books, it doesn't have enough draw to keep casual readers buying every issue of every series.  Next month is the 600th issue, but there's not much hype without a major story line attached to it.

Superman: The Man of Steel #121

The Royal Flush Gang is expanding its territory into Metropolis, and Superman follows a young member to their headquarters to catch them.  The 10 of Diamonds is hurts Superman in an unexpected way, by telling him that she and others joining the gang don't want to be saved.  In prison, the gang removes one of her diamond tattoos to make the the 9 of Diamonds, but she thinks the price was worth it to see the hurt in Superman's face.

Lois gets a casual mention to explain her absence, but the lack of any unifying threads running through the books is already apparent.

DC's future Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, guest writes this issue accompanied by regular Young Justice artist Todd Nauck.  This was Geoff Johns' first issue of Superman, but he'll return soon for several story arcs that will reunite all the books, as well as occasional issues, and eventually a long run on Action Comics.

Action Comics #786

Superman finally catches the woman who's been jumping off buildings to get his attention, and it turns out to be a trap by an alien race to take him to their planet to save them from the tyrant, Kanjar Ro.  Unfortunately for them and for Superman, their planet is under a red sun so Superman has to act fast before he loses his powers entirely.  Superman is uncomfortable at how the aliens look to him as a Savior, but even though he loses his powers entirely he still finds a way to beat the tyrant.  Kanjar Ro has been feeding on the aliens' fear, but Superman helps them overcome their fear and save themselves. 

This issue delved into the Messianic themes that were popular at the time, perhaps more overtly than any story before it.  But rather than depict the hero as a god-man, it literally made him just a man.

The letters pages no longer had descriptions for all the Superman books that month, only the one coming out the next week and the next issue of the same series.  This didn't seem like a well-thought strategy to sell more books, and only completionists like me would still buy every series even if the story or writing weren't compelling enough on its own.