Superman 700: Whenever a book hits a milestone number the publishers like to make a big deal of it. Issue 100, 200, sometimes a 50th book is a big deal. Of course, there are some asterisks involved. While this is issue 700 of "Superman," there aren't actually 700 issues of the same series, all with the title "Superman." Back in 1987 the original "Superman" series was re-titled "Adventures of Superman" starting with issue 424, while a new "Superman" series was introduced, and started with issue 1. But in 2006 that series was canceled, and "Adventures of Superman" was given its old "Superman" name back, starting with issue 650.
Anyway, this is issue 700 and in the wake of the just-ended "War of the Supermen," you'd expect a really special issue. And it is, in that it's got extra pages and three stories. But
the one that's the centerpiece is "a tale from Superman's early years," only a lot of it takes place in Gotham City and stars Robin (the first one, Dick Grayson) in one of his early adventures. He sneaks out to foil an illegal weapons deal alone (as Bruce Wayne can't get out of some Wayne Enterprises business) instead of staying in to do geometry homework. Superman helps Robin with both. It's cute and all, but not really something for a big anniversary issue.
It's preceded by a tale that takes place the day after the 100-hour war between Earth and New Krypton, and features the touching reunion of Superman and his wife (after he saves her from the Parasite). The book closes with a prologue to the next big Super-event, "Grounded," which starts in issue 701. After being confronted by a woman whose husband died while Superman was on New Krypton, he becomes concerned that the year he spent away from Earth has caused him to lose touch with regular folks that he's sworn to protect. So, according to the advance publicity, Superman is going to go across the country and reconnect. How will he travel across America? By walking.
Didn't Forrest Gump do this? (I know, he ran.) That was my first thought. Also: poor Lois. He just got back after, like, a year away and he's leaving you again already? (The story is supposed to run for a year's worth of books, but I don't know if it will end up being a year in continuity time. Would it take a year to walk across the country?) It could be an interesting story, or it could be a dreadful bore. But DC has only a general route lined up, and they're running a contest to have people in towns located 50 miles from larger cities on the route (including Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle) write an essay saying why Superman should stop in their town. If you're in Philadelphia, as I am, don't bother writing -- because they've already announced that Philly is the first stop. Issue 701 is out on July 14.
Whew. I'm sure that's the most I've written about one issue of a book in the year this blog has existed. So, I'll try to be brief about these other three...
Supergirl 53: Needless to say, in the wake of the destruction of New Krypton and the war and the death of her mother, Supergirl's got some stuff to deal with as well. Kara's method of dealing is to live as a regular person, giving up her Kryptonian name -- and the superhero business. (I predict it won't last long.)
Superman/Batman 73: So there's a cult that's so devoted to Superman that they want to burn Lois Lane at the stake because they think she should have married Superman instead of that lame-o Clark Kent. So foolish. I did enjoy the sequence where Superman, Batman and Lois separately investigate this cult, each using his/her own methods and each arriving at the same result. The whole storyline (which started in issue 72) revolves around worship -- this cult worships Superman, while Lex Luthor has a plan to get the people of a distant, more primitive planet to worship him.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 3 (of 6): Bruce has skipped forward in time to 1718, where he is still instinctively helping stop criminals (this time it's Blackbeard the pirate...really!) while trying to remember exactly who he is and how he can return home. But, as was previously revealed, if he returns home on his own "everyone dies." Why? We still don't know, and there's no appearance in this issue by Superman and the other time-travelers trying to track Bruce down.
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