Superman 675

Superman reaches a 75th issue, the first milestone since the book was restored to its original numbering after Infinite Crisis.  He faces off against some anti-science Daxamites, makes a cameo to stop the Toyman, and saves Smallville from a rampaging Doomsday-like creature.

Superman #675

Shadows Linger part 2 of 2

The Elder Priests of Daxam interrupt Paragon's fight with Superman and demand that the Man of Steel hand over the "heretic" Mon El.  Superman tries to explain that he can't do that because Mon El is trapped in the Phantom Zone with lead poisoning, but the elders won't listen.  Paragon decides to help Superman for now and returns with machine guns, firing several shots at the priests which begin to poison them.  The Daxamites retreat to their ship and unleash a fabled galactic golem on Earth.  Superman gets Paragon to reluctantly help him defeat the golem, while proving that with all his power Paragon is just a coward.  Superman tries to give the Daxamites a cure for their lead poisoning, but they reject modern science and go back to Daxam to die.  While at the time this seemed overdone for effect, it was astonishingly prescient of the anti-vaxx movement that would infect the country in a few years.

Alex Ross had just started as the regular cover artist on Batman last month and would concurrently be the cover artist on Superman for almost a year.  This 675th issue was extra-sized but DC didn't make any mention of that on the cover or anything.  If you didn't notice the cover was $1 more than usual, you probably wouldn't have noticed anything special about this issue.

Action Comics #865

The Toyman breaks out of Arkham Asylum, feeling he doesn't belong there because unlike the other inmates there, he's not a Batman person, he's a Superman person.  He kidnaps Jimmy Olsen to try to tell his side of the story.  He tells Jimmy a conflicting new origin story where his wife died and he unwittingly sold his toy empire to a weapons manufacturer.  Toyman claims that he never harmed any children, and his crimes like the murder of Cat Grant's son, were committed by his robots, which include all the alternate versions of the Toyman from the Golden Age to the present.  Batman tracks down the Toyman's trail and he and Superman bring him back to Arkham against his wishes.  He regrets not teaming up with the original Prankster when he was offered the chance.  In Los Angeles, Cat Grant reads Jimmy's story in the Daily Planet and calls Perry White to tell him that she's ready to come back.

This issue is a villain spotlight where Superman hardly appears.  Toyman had become an irredeemably dark character after murdering a child.  As was common after Infinite Crisis, this was an attempt to reconcile all the conflicting versions of the character over the decades, but there was still no bringing him back from his dark turn.

Superman/Batman #48

K part 5 of 6

Amanda Waller's secret anti-Superman weapon, the "All-American Boy" destroys Smallville while trying to kill Superman.  Fortunately, Batman raids Waller's computers and discovers this monstrous Kryptonite-powered Doomsday hybrid was once a volunteer soldier who conveniently still has family living in Kansas.  When Batman brings the monster's parents to see what he's become, that turns out to be the one weakness that gets him to stop his rampage.  Batman offers Waller to destroy the evidence of her operations in exchange for the Kryptonite she keeps in her facility.  Unfortunately, she reveals that the Kryptonite came from Lex Luthor, who has a lot more to spare.  The Kent farmhouse is the only house left standing in the aftermath, and at table with his parents he promises to rebuild the town.  

Ma and Pa Kent were amazingly lucky considering their house was destroyed only a few years earlier by Darkseid.  The first half of the K story arc read like a series of one-shots focused around the idea of ridding the world of Kryptonite, but the second half has been a more coherent story with cliffhangers and continuing plot points.