The Superman books have a crossover for the first time in a year. After the ending of Superman #200, the Man of Steel has disappeared and a new hero appears in Metropolis. Superman/Batman remains independent from the other books, as it would throughout the entire series, and wraps up its first story arc. Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines draw all the covers this month.
Action Comics #811
Strange New Visitor part 1
Superman has been missing for a week, and an ominous time storm rages over skies of Metropolis. The citizens try to get by without the Man of Steel. Just like when Superman was dead, the new Steel, Superboy, and the Eradicator try to fill the void left without him. As Lois Lane ponders the disappearance of her husband, she thinks back to the major turning points in his life, from his first appearance, to his death, resurrection, and Y2K in a way designed to catch up new readers without too much continuity baggage. Lana Lang negotiates the terms of her divorce from soon-to-be president Pete Ross, and reminisces about when she was really in love with a powerful man who was going places. As Lois waits for a train high above the city, the time storm destroys the platform out from under her and she's about to fall to her death, when she's rescued by flying man in a cape. Her hero is not Superman, but actually the Wildstorm hero Mr. Majestic appearing for the first time in the DC universe.
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning write while Karl Kerschl draws this entire 3-part story arc. When DC signed former Image Comics founder Jim Lee they also acquired his Wildstorm line where Mr. Majestic had first appeared. Mr. Majestic is effectively the Wildstorm universe's Superman, down to his origin and costume. DC had been publishing Wildstorm comics for a few years at this point, but this was the first time they had merged together. Ed McGuiness had previously drawn Mr. Majestic and would continue to draw covers on a Mr. Majestic miniseries that would spin out of this crossover.
Adventures of Superman #624
Strange New Visitor part 2
After saving Lois, Mr. Majestic realizes he's no longer in his own universe, but he also hears people in trouble all over the city and starts helping everywhere he can. Lois takes Mr. Majestic to meet John Henry Irons, Steel, Superboy and the Eradicator.
The Eradicator concludes that the futuristic Brainiac 13 technology doesn't belong in this time period and the time storm is the result of reality rejecting it. Mr. Majestic objects to their plans to basically detonate a bomb in the time storm, but the Eradicator doesn't trust this outsider from an unknown dimension and sends Mr. Majetstic into the Phantom Zone. But when it looks like the Eradicator's plan is going to fail, Lois decides they need all the help they can get and she frees Mr. Majestic from the Phantom Zone.
Superman #201
Strange New Visitor part 3
Mr. Majestic stops the Eradicator's bomb from exploding in the time storm, but then it appears that the storm is going to destroy Metropolis. Lois regrets putting trusting a hero who reminded her so much of Superman. A series of splash pages show Perry White watching the Daily Planet be consumed by the time storm, Jimmy Olsen trying to protect the adult Lena Luthor he had befriended in the Metropolis series, and Lana Lang escaping her apartment with her son, Clark. A tearful Lois Lane is picked up by Mr. Majestic, who shows her that rather than being destroyed, Metropolis is restored to its pre-Y2K version now that the time storm has removed the Brainiac 13 technology. Though the Eradicator turns out to have been in the wrong, he says he still doesn't trust Mr. Majestic. With no way back to his home dimension, Mr. Majestic decides to protect the DC universe for the time being. In the epilogue, we see that Majestic wasn't the only thing from the Wildstorm universe that crossed over.
Superman/Batman #6
Superman and Batman meet the new Toyman, 13-year old Japanese boy Hiro Okamura, who with money from Bruce Wayne has built a Composite Superman/Batman spaceship that can destroy the Kryptonite meteor approaching Earth. While Hiro's inventions are supposed to appear childish, they're also pure fan service. Captain Atom returns via Boom Tube from the future and convinces them to let him pilot the ship.
Superman goes to Metropolis to fight Lex Luthor in his new battle suit. A deranged Luthor publicly admits to his secret alliance with Darkseid. Their fight ends when Superman cracks through Luthor's armor, and Lex crashes into his old LexCorp office where Batman finds him. In his absence, CEO Talia Head had sold LexCorp's assets to Bruce Wayne, and both his presidency and business empire are over. A Boom Tube destroys the LexCorp towers, and Luthor is lost in the debris. Hiding in he wreckage, Luthor promises there will be a reckoning, or as he calls it, "a crisis," laying the groundwork for his role in Infinite Crisis years later. In is narration, Superman reflects on his misguided faith in the American people not to elect somebody like Luthor as President, but in a post-Trump world it still seems naive to think a president would be so easily removed for Luthor's crimes.
Captain Atom records his story to explain from his origin to how he came to be taking orders from President Luthor. The Superman/Batman ship collides with the meteor and he disappears in the explosion. The Earth is saved from the impact, although smaller Kryptonite meteorites fall all over the world, which will play a major part in the next story arc.
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