The World's Finest

For the first time since the cancellation of World's Finest Comics following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman and Batman have a team-up series again.  Now branded as Superman/Batman, the new series debuting this month would last until the end of the post-Crisis era.  This book came out just in time, because the other series weren't really that great in this period.

Superman/Batman #1

The World's Finest part 1

The team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness returns, now joined by inker Dexter Vines.  The three of them would be reunited several times in the coming years, jumping to Marvel for memorable runs on the Hulk and Nova.

Loeb starts the story slowly, mostly contrasting the tragic origins of the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader.  The duo investigate a grave robbery in Gotham City that turns out to be Metallo stealing his old body.  Metallo shoots Superman in the heart with a Kryptonite bullet, and while Batman tries to surgically remove it Metallo buries them both alive in his grave.

After announcing his campaign for another term, President Luthor is briefed on a Kryptonite meteor the size of Brazil that's heading towards Earth.  Rather than notifying Superman, Luthor tells Captain Atom they will handle it without him.

This story would be the beginning of the end of Luthor's presidency.  The series would be so popular that this arc would be adapted into an animated movie, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.  This issue had the, at the time, novelty of a variant A and B cover featuring either Superman or Batman, and a C and D cover featuring them both equally.  While variant covers weren't a new concept, this series would be partly responsible for their explosion in the following years.

Action Comics #806

Supergirls part 1

Traci Thirteen moves from the D.C. slum Hell's Heart to the Metropolis ghetto, Suicide Slum.  Though she promises her father not to use any magic, Superman is wounded in a fight and she has to try to save him from magical object that was stabbed through his heart by his Japanese acquaintance, Byakko.

Also moving from Washington, 2nd Lady Lana Lang attracts the attention of Lois Lane when she rents an apartment in Metropolis.  Off the record, Lana discloses to Lois that she and Vice President Pete Ross are getting a divorce.

At the Steelworks, Natasha Irons is cleaning up the remnants of her retired uncle's superhero career, when she touches his hammer and her DNA activates it.  Lana helps Traci Thirteen takes Superman to Traci's apartment where she tries to use magic to save his life.  But thinking Traci is a villain, Natasha shows up outside Traci's window as the new Steel, in a newly designed suit of armor, to try to rescue Superman.

Adventures of Superman #619

Lois and Clark go on the campaign trail to cover the opponent running against Lex Luthor, known only as "the Candidate."  While Superman is distracted with disasters around the world, Lois tries to break into the Candidate's campaign headquarters to get an interview.  After that fails, she makes another morally questionable decision and hires a hacker to steal their emails, where she finds out that somebody hired a hitman to assassinate the Candidate.  From the opposite side of the universe, a contract killer calling himself Assassin Lad comes to Earth to do the job.

Occurring during the presidential campaigns of 2004, this story arc seemed ridiculous at the time.  Even though George W. Bush had lowered the bar of presidential intelligence, politics hadn't yet reached the sensationalist low point of President Trump.  Joe Casey probably had to make the Candidate shallow and superficial to avoid getting into any hot button political issues, but this story just comes across as politically naive.  Lois has been an ambitious reporter in the past, but her tactics here cross the line into Watergate territory.

Superman #196

A diplomat is brought to the emergency room carrying a suspicious case, which turns out to be a bomb with a timer counting down.  A Dr. Gonzalez bravely rushes the bomb outside but can't find anyplace to get rid of it without people in the way.  Mistaking the doctor for a terrorist, Superman smothers the bomb blast without trying to protect the doctor.  The ground is blown out beneath them, but both the ER doctor and Superman are miraculously unharmed.  The doctor now has powers strong enough to hurt Superman, so much that Superman partially loses his hearing when they fight.  Frightened by his new powers, Superman calms the doctor down and advises him to use his powers for good.

On her first day as a news anchor, Lois brings her purse on set and her phone rings while she's on the air.  A stage hand sneaks under the desk to get her purse, and her producer answers her phone call from Perry White.  Furious, Lois snatches her phone and walks off the set.

This run is all over the place.  New characters who were introduced a few issues ago have been completely forgotten, and replaced with a new character who will soon be forgotten.  Lois continues to be uncharacteristically shrewish, getting a new job and already quitting it in a fit of anger.