Superman #200

Superman reaches its 200th issue since the post-Crisis reboot.  This month also marks the departures of the current creative teams.

Superman/Batman #5

When word reaches the news that President Luthor has captured Superman and Batman, the combined Superman/Batman families attack the White House to try to rescue them.  Supergirl (Cir-El), Steel (Natasha Irons), Superboy, and Krypto attack directly through the front door, while Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Huntress discretely break into the Oval Office.  Team Superman and Team Batman are both defeated by Luthor's White House security, but unexpectedly Hawkman and Captain Marvel come to their rescure.  It's revealed that these two are actually Superman and Batman in disguise, and their "castling" strategy wasn't just to switch opponents, but to swap places with them altogether.  After getting their familes safely out of the White House, Superman and Batman rush back to Japan to meet the boy who may be able to help them save Earth from the meteor.  Back at the White House, Lex Luthor gives himself another injection and, for the first time in post-Crisis history, climbs into his classic battle suit.

Captain Atom, who vanished after Major Force exploded, finds himself quantum leaped into a future where the Kingdom Come Superman sits on Metron's Mobius chair on an Earth that's been reduced to a barren wasteland.

Action Comics #810

On New Year's Eve, Superman takes Lois with him to catch the new year in every time zone.  Along the way, he responds to ordinary people who have written to him throughout year.  The stories resulting from these letters are trying too hard to be emotional but they don't really make sense.  For instance, he helps a fan deliver his wife's baby in Greenland, because somehow she happens to be giving birth at that exact moment.  He saves a suicidal letter writer in Australia who fortunately waited until New Year's Eve to try to jump off a bridge.  And he flies by an elderly man in Italy who wanted to see Superman before he died, but then the man dies at that precise moment.  Other stories are more timely, like Superman visiting U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.  In Metropolis the next day, Superman stops Doctor Spectro, who immediately regrets missing his one shot at love the night before to plan his crime instead.

Several guest artists contribute to some of the stories, including former regular Action Comics artist Kano and semi-regular artist Duncan Rouleau.  Cover artist Dave Bullock also gets to draw one interior page of Superman playing with children in Japan.

Adventures of Superman #623

Superman takes Lois to the middle of nowhere so they can talk in private.  They don't really seem to have any serious relationship issues, and Superman spends most of the time telling Lois stories like the time he helped Santa Claus save Christmas.  Other stories are more forgettable, like one about a phantom quarterback.  Superman later takes Lois to the home of Friedrich Nietzche just to discuss why she first called him "Superman."

Typical of Joe Casey's quiet run on the series, the stories are all told in prose with no dialogue bubbles or sound effects.  Similar to the stories of ordinary people inspired by the Man of Steel, there are also some monochrome intercuts of everyday heroes like doctors or firemen wearing Superman shirts, hats, or tattoos in color.

Superman #200

Superman's future self takes him on a guided tour of possible future events.  Lois Lane is killed and Superman takes her to Lex Luthor, of all people, who promises to cryogenically freeze her body until the technology exists to bring her back, in exchange Superman agrees to disappear.  Eventually, a cure for the nano-infection caused by the addictive Yes! drink is discovered, but 100 years in the future this cure has wiped out the Amazon race, drawn in stunning detail by former Wonder Woman artist Phil Jimenez.  A disembodied Batman mocks Wonder Woman for praying, but her gods still answer her prayers.  

1,000 years in the future, the Supermen confront the Futuresmiths.  Lex Luthor succeeds at resurrecting Lois Lane, but she immediately transforms into the true villain behind it all, Brainiac 12.  Cir-El comes to terms with the fact that she was just a lie created to deceive Superman, but she sacrifices her existence to try to stop Brainiac.  Superman takes Brainiac into the timestream and drops him in a hole in time that his future self had shown earlier him on their way to the future.  A disoriented Superman tries to fly back to the present, but the story ends on the planet Krypton where Jor El and Lara decide not to send their son to Earth after all.

The writing and art for this book felt rushed, but so did the whole run of Steven T. Seagle and Scott McDaniel.  Unfortunately, neither of them were really a good fit for Superman, but better things were ahead in the coming months.

Like all the milestones moving forward, this one is double-sized but doesn't have a cover gimmick, not even a variant.  It does have a gatefold cover, but when you open it up you'll be disappointed to see it's just to include more ads.  It has 8 glossy pages in the center, 4 of which are a preview for a forgotten series called "Fraction" and the other 4 are just more ads.  It has 4 bonus pages in the back that include a Supergirls (Steel, Girl 13, & Mia) pin-up, concept art from Superman: Birthright, and previews of the post-B13 Metropolis.