Absolute Power

Superman/Batman returned to the schedule this month, although this next story was set in an alternate reality.

Superman/Batman #14

The Legion of Super-Villains travel into Superman and Batman's past, killing the Kents when they found the baby Kal El, and taking in the orphaned Bruce Wayne after his parents are murdered.  They also prevent the origins of several Justice League members, like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter.  

When this Superman and Batman grow up, they rule the world ruthlessly, with none of their usual motivations or values.  Occasionally, a hero like Green Arrow rises, but is then immediately killed by the World's Finest team.  One of the last remaining heroes, Wonder Woman, finds the living embodiment of the human spirit in a homeless man in an abandoned subway station, and using the lasso of truth transforms him into Uncle Sam.

After a brief hiatus, Carlos Pacheco joins regular writer Jeph Loeb for the next arc of this series.  Pacheco had previously done covers on Adventures of Superman, and would return after Infinite Crisis as the regular artist on Superman.

Superman #211

For Tomorrow part 8

Superman gives Father Leone a tour of the Fortress of Solitude, and admits that the reason he chose him as his confessor was because he could see the priest had terminal cancer.

Wonder Woman breaks into the Fortress of Solitude to stop Superman from activating the device that caused the Vanishing.  She cuts Superman with a magic sword and kicks him out of the Fortress, crashing into a helicopter outside where Mr. Orr was spying.  Diana begs Superman not to try to use the machine again, but, despite no evidence, he still believes the people who were lost in the Vanishing are still alive.  Superman stops their fight by asking Wonder Woman to save Father Leone and Mr. Orr as the Fortress comes crashing down.  When the dust settles, Superman is gone, leaving only a shadow burned onto the floor.

Though Wonder Woman wears her traditional costume on the cover, on the inside of the book she wears Jim Lee's costume design with the skirt, along with a cape.

Adventures of Superman #634

The Allston twins attack Lois Lane, hoping to attract the attention of Superman.  However, the person who changes into a Superman suit in a phone booth is Mr. Mxyzptlk.  After a detour at DC's New York office (depicted with photos of editor Eddie Berganza and assistant editor Jeanine Schaefer), Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up to Lois and Clark's apartment, only to accidentally bump into Superman, allowing the parasite twins to drain his powers and memories.  The Allston twins fly off to tell Ruin Superman's secret identity, and Lois scolds Mxyzptlk for not doing anything to stop them.  Passing through the real-life DC office again, Mxyzptlk tries to stop the Allston twins.  Alex begs Mxyzptlk to change them back to normal, but the imp tells them there are some things even he can't do.  Mxyzptlk lets them go and tells Superman he has 47 minutes and 11 seconds to stop them before they expose his secret identity.  Mr. Mxyzptlk will interrupt the Ruin saga a couple more times, but after an apparent death he wouldn't really be seen after Infinite Crisis.

Action Comics #821

Sightings of the monster Doomsday cause people to leave Metropolis in fear.  Somewhere in the city, a scrawny lot tender has aspirations of becoming a repo man, and Gog shows up to make him a Faustian bargain.

Meanwhile, the villain from Godfall, Preus, becomes the leader of a white supremacists community at God's Peake in the desert.  The white supremacists offer Preus women to use as he pleases in an attempt to use him to accomplish their genocidal goals.  Preus constantly needs new females as their bodies are too flimsy to survive his rough sex, but he looks down on all humans inferior beings so he's not interested in the racist's goals.

Concentrating on his wife's recovery from her gunshot wound, Superman assumes that if anything happens someone else in the JLA can handle it for him.  The Martian Manhunter tries to stop Preus, but he is easily defeated when he thought his power of intangibility would have protected him from Preus' powers.