The Third Kryptonian
Superman continues his search for another Kryptonian on Earth that was first alluded to over a year ago.
Superman #668
Ever since the Auctioneer detected the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, Superman has been searching for this mysterious "third" Kryptonian. Another alien approaches Earth with a ship of space pirates, looking for Superman and the other Kryptonians after he acquired the information from the Auctioneer.
Superman takes Christopher, the son of General Zod and now his foster son, to the Batcave to meet Batman and Robin. Always engineering ways to stop his fellow Justice League members if necessary, Batman creates a watch-sized device for Superman that will suppress Christopher's powers so he can better adapt to human life on Earth.
Action Comics #857
The Bizarro Justice League arrives to stop Superman from taking Pa Kent away from Bizarro World. The team is too disfunctional to beat Superman, and the Bizarro Yellow Lantern is summoned away to the Sinestro Corps War, which is happening concurrently. Just like how Bizarro has "Bizarro vision" under the blue sun that enables him to create more Bizarros, Superman discovers he has "Superman vision" which gives Pa Kent temporary Superman-like powers. Bizarro Lex Luthor tries to take over the square planet, but Superman convinces Bizarro to play along in a fight where he pretends to lose and Bizarro emerges as the champion. Superman and Pa Kent return home but unfortunately Pa's powers are gone by the time they get home.
This story arc was light on dialogue, but it's difficult reading with all the backwards Bizarro speak. For instance, it's only after Superman corrects the Bizarros about calling him Superman that I realized they had been calling him "Bizarro Bizarro."
Action Comics #858
In the year 3008, a desperate couple on a dying planet decides to send their child in a rocket to Earth just like Superman a millennium earlier. However, when their son lands, the couple who finds him decides their duty as law-abiding citizens is to kill the child.
In the present, Perry White tells Clark Kent he should find friends his own age instead of Jimmy Olsen. Clark slips away as Superman when he sees Brainiac is attacking Metropolis. However, this turns out to be Brainiac 5 from the future, who restores Superman's memory of his first meeting with the Legion of Super-Heroes in high school. Superman now remembers how the Legion used to visit him before the Crisis, and then he never saw them again until recently in the Lightning Saga. Brainiac 5 transports Superman into the 31st century with a time sphere. He finds a familiar pre-Crisis Legion in an unfamiliar dystopian future where Earth's sun is now red.
Another new story arc begins while Last Son still hasn't been completed. Artist Gary Frank joins writer Geoff Johns for their first Superman collaboration. They would team up again a few months later for the Brainiac story arc, and later for Superman: Secret Origin.
Superman/Batman #41
On Darkseid's battleship planet, Tartaros, Batman and Bekka evade Darkseid's Parademons while Batman tries to resist Bekka's attractive powers. Desaad sends Superman, still under his mind control, into the Source Wall to retrieve Highfather's staff. Though he promised to restore Darkseid's Omega powers with it, Desaad persuades the dark lord to let him test the staff first. He sends Superman through a Boom Tube, and Clark Kent wakes up in a hospital bed but finds he's in a dream filled with familiar friends and enemies, and unfamiliar versions of them like Zebra Batman. Waking from his dream, Superman finds himself inside the Source and face to face with Highfather himself.
At this same time, the Death of the New Gods mini-series was leading into the upcoming Final Crisis. While that story ultimately had very little to do with Final Crisis, it did clear the DC universe of the lesser-known New Gods. As we would see in the next issue, not all of them would die within the pages of the mini-series.
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