A Crisis of Faith

Action Comics comes out twice this month, although the "Last Son" story still won't resume until next month.  There are four Superman books again this month, including a double-sized issue, so this makes up for the lack of books the previous month.

Superman #664

Superman's battle with Arion of Atlantis is interrupted by a new government-sanctioned team, Squad K.  Lois Lane questions if the government also has a Squad B, WW, F, or GL.  Arion gets away and Superman's fight with Squad K is further interrupted by a giant pie, courtesy of the Prankster.  The Justice League and Justice Society intervene, assuming that Superman may be under some sort of spell by Arion.  Wonder Woman determines that Superman is in control of himself, and they let him go.  He's not able to find Arion after that, but the two Young Gods who stayed behind from last issue are on Arion's trail.  Superman does find the Prankster's hideout, although he has a law firm on retainer to bail him and his henchwomen out.  Superman is still greatly bothered by Arion's philosophy that humanity must be allowed to fall and rise again, like Camelot, and is determined to find Arion and prove him wrong.

Action Comics #849

In part 2 of Redemption, Superman finds out the real source of power behind the mysterious new hero Redemption is really the elderly preacher at his small town church.  He discovers Redemption doesn't actually have powers of his own, the power is just channeled from the congregation through the preacher.  Superman exposes the preacher to Redemption and the congregation, and he loses his followers and also his power.

Superman also catches up with Barbara Johnson, the woman from Superman #659 who believes he's an angel.  Clark reveals to Lois that he stopped going to church when his powers developed, to focus his faith on humanity rather than losing his faith in them entirely.  This story tried to explore the nature and abuse of faith, and while it had interesting potential, it just seemed odd.  

Action Comics #850

In a double-sized 850th anniversary issue, the Legion of Superheroes is trying to find a way to send Supergirl back to her own time.  Using technology to look into the past, they get glimpses of alternate Golden and Silver Age versions of Superman, as well as a post-Infinite Crisis re-telling of Superman's origin.

Since One Year Later, Supergirl has been starring in her own series set in the present and also simultaneously appearing in the future in Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes.  Although the pre-Crisis Legion had just been reintroduced in the Lightning Sage cross-over, this "3-boot" version of the Legion would still be around until the end of Final Crisis.  After Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, the pre-Crisis version would become the authoritative version of the Legion again. 

Guest artist Renato Guedes would fill in a few issues of Supergirl after this, before becoming the regular artist on Superman the following year.

Superman/Batman #35

Lucius Fox has hired the new Metal Men as security at Waynetech Enterprises, but Bruce Wayne isn't convinced this will turn out well.  Superman goes to Blackgate Prison to find out what Metallo was trying to steal from Waynetech, but while scanning Metallo's brain he finds evidence of tampering on his cybernetic implants.  He brings Metallo to the Batcave for Batman to examine him, which leads them to a satellite in space where they find Brainiac.  While the World's Finest team is distracted in space, the Metal Men, under Brainiac's control, break into Waynetech and steal something he was after all along.  Superman arrives too late at the scene of the crime, but discovers what was stolen was something Bruce was supposed to have given up: an Omac Project prototype.