We're down to only three Superman series for the next few months. Although there's still some references to happenings in other books, the stories are mostly isolated for the next year. Until Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness return to launch the new Superman/Batman series, the standout story arc in the next six months was Joe Kelly's conclusion to the Pokolistanian Zod saga in Action Comics.
Action Comics #801
Starting in Colorado, bystanders have several "It's a bird, it's a plane" moments, but it's not the Man of Steel. The fictional Middle Eastern nation of Bialya has launched a terrorist attack on the U.S. Across the country, and one in every one thousand Americans explode with uncontrollable metahuman powers ever few seconds. This form of terrorism was a snapshot of the nation's post-9/11 anxiety. Zod watches while hovering ominously over Pokolistan and says to himself "For you, father."
Superman struggles to help these new metahumans control their new powers without hurting those around them, and also deal with the damage and trauma already caused by the activation of their powers. The new metahumans are monstrous and deadly, resembling the newer mutants from Grant Morrison's New X-Men around this same time. Agent Cameron Chase of the Department of Extranormal Operations briefs President Luthor and takes him to a more secure location.
Each issue of this story arc has a cover by Dave Bullock, an artist with a throwback Golden Age style but who doesn't work frequently enough in comics.
Adventures of Superman #614
Lex Luthor plans to retaliate for the terrorist attack and sends the Blackhawk fighter planes to Bialya. In the middle of this global crisis, he gets handed a briefing about something in Ohio. Batman wakes up Clark via a hologram call to tell him that a team Luthor sent to Ohio has disappeared, so Superman goes there on a rescue mission.
In the cellar of a house, Superman passes through a flashing light and finds himself in an idyllic small town where everybody has superpowers. The residents of this Pleasantville-like town were given powers through a long-forgotten government program in the 1950's, and they've been stuck in 50's culture and values ever since. The scientist who created the town helps Superman and the government agents get out through the only way back, located in the town's adult bookstore which the stereotypically innocent locals never go inside.
Meanwhile in Opal City, Sue Dibney calls the JLA emergency hotline after her husband, the Elongated Man, is attacked by somebody. This scene would be an eerie foreshadowing of her death under similar circumstances a year later in Identity Crisis. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the Ray is the latest metahuman suffering from the new "anti-chromatic" syndrome.
Superman #191
If you can't tell what's happening on this cover, unfortunately the interior art won't help you. Responding to an interdimensional rift at S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman finds himself trapped in between worlds with an alien from another reality. In this warped reality, Superman has multiple heads and arms, apparently from vibrating or something. It's pretty much impossible to figure out what his alien companion is supposed to look like even under normal circumstances. Superman gets them both out and back to their own worlds, but we only get one undistorted panel of the alien who appears to be a whale-like creature with hands. Elsewhere, the Futuresmiths tell the new Supergirl Cir-El that they will introduce her to Superman soon. The story tries to deliver a message about heroism, but the incomprehensible art makes it a difficult read.
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