Superman #412 – “Luthor—Today You Die” – Cary Bates/Curt Swan/Al Williamson
This one starts with Clark Kent at the unemployment office after losing his job a couple issues ago when he wrote a story about Superman stopping a falling satellite that turned out to be only in his mind. (Clark doesn’t know that Luthor projected the fake satellite adventure into Superman’s mind hoping either Clark or Lois would file the story and be discredited.) Clark’s super-senses tell him there’s trouble at a construction site, so he leaves the Unemployment Office to change to Superman. Supes stops falling glass from a high-rise and the workers thank him, but Superman isn’t sure
if this incident really happened or if it’s just in his head. One of the construction guys happens to have a camera , so he shows Superman photos that convince the Man of Steel this adventure was real. At Galaxy Communications, everyone’s having a hard time dealing with Clark’s firing, especially Lana since she and Clark are dating. On his island, Luthor is gloating about how successful his plan has worked so far, thinking Superman must be guilty as hell over getting his “friend” Clark Kent fired. We see Luthor still has the same henchmen working for him on the island: Pluto and Plato, the dimwitted twins and Wanda, the blonde computer whiz who’s secretly 
hot for Lex. Back in Metropolis, Clark hangs out with another ex-Galaxy employee, Steve Lombard, who now runs a sporting goods store. I thought Clark might ask Steve for a job, but he doesn’t. Later, Superman lays the foundation for a new children’s hospital and Lana gives him shit for getting Clark fired. On his island, Luthor prepares to implement the next phase of his plan, planting four “scrambler rods” in precise locations around Metropolis. Luthor’s first rod just happens to need placing right where Steve and Clark are walking and Clark pushes Steve out of the way just in time, then takes off to change to Superman. He soon finds Luthor and jumps him, but Luthor releases a red-sun energy field that causes Superman tremendous pain. Supes goes nuts and slams his hand right through Luthor’s armour into his heart, killing him. As bystanders alternately praise and condemn Superman
for killing Luthor, Supes realizes that Luthor built a fail-safe into his armour that would detonate a nuclear bomb if he was killed. The bomb goes off, wiping out half of Metropolis and compounding Superman’s guilt exponentially. Superman is freaking out but comes to his senses, realizing this was another delusion. That actually doesn’t ease his mind much because he’s afraid he might be losing his grip on reality. We see the real Luthor placing the last of the rods and reflecting that the final part of his plan has now begun and not even he can stop it. While Luthor revels in his imminent triumph, Superman wonders if he can trust his own senses anymore … and if the world can trust him.
Action #572 – “The World of Superman Masqueraders” – Craig Boldman/Wayne Boring/Dave Hunt
This one starts with Professor Creighton from the Metropolis Observatory calling Clark Kent to show him a weird photo he took of the moon’s surface … which shows a number of Clark Kents wandering around. Clark is mystified, but gets distracted when he has to change to Superman to stop an elephant rampage. He gets help from a giant Superman who turns out to be Gollo, the shape-shifting alien Superman met way back in Action 234. Gollo tells Superman his planet is in trouble and leads Superman through a temporary space warp on the moon. Supes is astounded to find that all the members of Gollo’s race have taken the shape
of Superman (or Clark Kent, which explains the numerous “Clark Kents” Creighton saw on the moon) because Gollo convinced them Superman was the coolest thing he saw on his trip to Earth. Gollo tells Superman that some of the wildlife on the planet has suddenly turned hostile and keeps attacking them. Superman soon figures out that the aliens’ natural forms used to frighten the creatures away, but since they’ve started imitating Superman/Clark, the creatures have turned aggressive. Once Gollo and his people take their natural forms again, the creatures are scared away and everything’s fine.
“SOS From Nowhere” – Beppe Sabatini/Howard Bender/Bob Oksner
While Superman is out in space listening to his Walkman (as you do) he hears a cry for help, which should be impossible since sound can’t travel in space. He heads to the nearest planet and finds a bunch of canine aliens trying to hunt down a couple of cute fuzzy little creatures called Sarikars … apparently the last two of their species. Superman fights of all the hunters’ weapons and saves the Sarikars, forcing the hunters to promise to leave them (and Earth) alone. Superman
takes the Sarikars to his Fortress to put them in his alien animal refuge and he’s startled when a couple of adult Sarikars beam into the Fortress. They tell him they’re from the future and are here to thank him for saving their species from extinction. After receiving a medal from them, Superman asks the Sarikars how they were able to contact him over his Walkman. They mention that their race has always had telepathy and when it was first being developed, the ones who were able to receive distress messages easiest were the ones with the most compassion.
“The Puzzle of the Purloined Fortress” – Mark Waid/Rick Hoberg/Steve Mitchell
As far as I can tell, this is Mark Waid’s first published story. It’s obviously filler but not bad for a first effort, though it’s not as good as his later work naturally. This one’s about Pete Ross’s son Jon, who’s having trouble learning how to use a computer. Superman takes Jon to the Fortress of Solitude to show him around, but the place is completely deserted. Superman soon realizes what happened but decides to let Jon figure it out, as a lesson in deductive reasoning. Jon asks Superman about the last time the Fortress was intact and Supes tells him how he was playing chess with the Fortress computer when he had to stop an errant meteorite that was thrown off course (and magnetized) by the Aurora Borealis. Right after that, he headed to Pete’s place. After dismissing several possibilities (Superman’s enemies, the Phantom Zone, the stuff is
elsewhere on Earth), Jon concludes that the Fortress’s computer must be responsible. He figures the magnetic meteorite screwed the computer up, causing it to continue the chess game by ‘capturing” everything in the Fortress, by vibrating it slightly out of phase with Earth’s dimension. Jon also figures out how to bring everything back, getting Superman to melt the Fortress’s giant gold key into wire and whip up a storm so the lightning will create a magnetic field and get the computer—and everything else—back, Superman congratulates Jon on his deductive skills and Jon agrees that the human brain is still the most powerful computer there is.
DC Comics Presents #86 – “Into the Valley of the Shadow” – Paul Kupperberg/Rick Hoberg/Dave Hunt
This one starts in Chicago with Supergirl worrying about the weird weather that’s been happening lately and feeling like it’s a precursor to something much worse. (It’s because of Crisis on Infinite Earths, but she doesn’t know that yet.) After stopping some drunken car thieves, Supergirl goes home to worry some more. In Metropolis, Clark Kent is worried too, since all his super-senses can’t detect a reason for the chaotic weather patterns. He finally spots a dual black hole near the galactic center and figures there’s something strange about it, since neither black hole has swallowed the other. Meanwhile, Supergirl goes to Gotham to see Batgirl,
who’s even more freaked out by the unexplainable weather than Supergirl. Batgirl worries that it might actually be the end of the world and is afraid to die, but seeing Supergirl rescue a crashing plane makes her ashamed of being so selfish. On the way home, Supergirl runs into Superman, who tells her about the twin black holes that shouldn’t exist under the conventional laws of physics. They head for the galactic core and Superman knows something’s bugging his cousin, but she won’t talk about it … mainly because she’s not even sure why she feels so anxious. At the galaxy’s center, the super-duo find the black holes are actually giving off energy which is coalescing in the space 
between them. Out of the energy mass comes a woman (Blackstarr), who Supergirl has fought before. Blackstarr was a scientist who figured out the unified field theory, basically giving her power over the universe. Supergirl trapped her between two black holes, but now she’s free … and pissed off. Blackstarr hurls Superman away and prepares to take revenge on Supergirl, who begs her to stop screwing with the universe. Blackstarr says she’s not the cause of all the chaos, but since she wants to conquer the universe, she doesn’t want it destroyed. She proposes working together to figure out what’s going on and Supergirl agrees. Blackstarr’s connection to the universe tells her that whatever’s going on is happening right where she tossed Superman, so she assumes he’s the cause and wants to eliminate him. Supergirl asks her to
wait and tries to get Superman to leave, hoping to show Blackstarr that he’s not the cause of whatever’s going on. But Superman won’t listen and goes after Blackstarr, so Supergirl tries to stop him. Blackstarr uses her powers to send Superman into a black hole and Supergirl goes in with him, but they pop back out right away, this time behind Blackstarr. Superman is confused since they should’ve exited the black hole right where they entered, and Blackstarr is stunned since her “cosmic consciousness” didn’t warn her about them coming through the black hole. Superman notices a star going nova, but it’s far closer to them than it should be and Blackstarr realizes the 
entire universe is shrinking. (She detected the edge of the shrinking universe behind Superman, that’s why she thought he was responsible.) Blackstarr links to the super duo with her energy and has them fly in opposite directions to push the universe’s boundaries back to normal. When thy return, Blackstarr is gone, but they’re not sure if she escaped or was destroyed trying to save the universe. Supergirl is still worried and still isn’t sure why. Of course, we know she’s fated to die in the Crisis, so I guess she’s having a premonition of that. I suppose this issue is kind of a farewell for her, one last adventure with Superman before the end.
All-Star Squadron #50 – “Crisis Point” – Roy Thomas/Mike Clark, Arvell Jones/Tony DeZuniga, Vince Colletta
This one starts with a meeting of the JSA (except Dr. Fate, who hasn’t returned from England). As they’re discussing protecting America’s factories from saboteurs, some Nazis sneak into the building and withdraw all the oxygen, knocking everyone out … including the Spectre somehow. The unconscious JSAers are taken to a New Jersey farm where eight rockets have been set up to launch the JSAers to various planets. The architect of these marvels is Professor Gootsden, the guy who almost turned Captain Marvel into a Nazi back in issue 36. Gootsden tells his fellow Nazis that he’s been working on the rockets for a while (with help from the
Monitor apparently) and that Hitler wants the JSA launched into space so they’ll no longer be able to oppose him. As the rockets are launched, they vanish into thin air, but Gootsden figures Hitler doesn’t need to hear about that since the JSA are gone either way. Turns out Harbinger (Monitor’s assistant) is on Earth-2 to recruit some heroic help and her appearance has thrown the eight rockets into alternate dimensions, so the planets they land on won’t be like the ones we’re familiar with. In Germany, Commander Steel is sneaking into the Reichschancellry, where he finds a Nazi named Schmidt trying to interrogate his ex-girlfriend’s new husband (Farley) about Professor Giles’ 
bio-retardant … which is ironic, since Steel is the product of Giles’ formula. Unfortunately, Steel is captured by the Nazis and they decide to kick the shit out of him before they kill him. In New York, a group of All-Stars are being paraded like a circus act to sell War Bonds, but since it’s for a good cause they don’t complain too much. Firebrand and Phantom Lady are there in their civilian identities, as is Firebrand’s brother Rod (who was the original Firebrand). Hourman and Dr. Fate are there and we find out Hourman didn’t actually have a heart attack last issue, it was just a build-up of toxins from all the Miraclo he’s been taking. Dr. Fate cured him, but Hourman is afraid he might have to choose between being a superhero and being dead. Harbinger shows up to
recruit Firebrand, which gives Dr. Fate, Dr. Occult, and Robotman a weird chill. Harbinger finds she can’t leave the time period and realizes Schmidt (Gootsden’s lackey in Germany) is the cause. In Germany, Schmidt is trying to figure out what went wrong with Gootsden’s rockets, but he ends up getting electrocuted by feedback sent by Harbinger. Steel breaks free and pounds the guards and frees Farley, but finds out Schmidt is dead. Farley is startled when Steel and Schmidt’s machine both vanish. In New York, the All-Stars realize Firebrand is missing and start tracking Harbinger’s energy. Phantom Lady is ready to follow after changing into her costume behind a handy screen that turns out to be Plastic Man. She gets pissed off, but I’m not sure why; her costume is pretty revealing anyway, so it’s not like Plas saw anything new. Uncle Sam interrupts to tell them they’re needed on Earth-X because the Nazis are almost winning. They decide to go to Earth-X and help, even though Sam warns them there’s something wrong with the dimensional barriers and they won’t be able to get back. 
I guess this was Roy’s way of “saving” the Freedom Fighters (and Earth-X) from the Crisis. I think those adventures did turn out to be canon post-Crisis, so apparently it worked. In Boston, Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick 
are getting married in their civilian identities, but before they can enjoy their nuptials, Green Lantern shows up to tell them about the weird energy signal he’s been tracking. It turns out to be Harbinger and they show up just in time to see her taking Firebrand through a warp. They jump through the warp just before it closes, leaving the other All-Stars just a little too late to follow them. Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, and Green lantern emerge from the warp over New York, although something seems a little … wrong about the city. Meanwhile, Commander Steel finds himself in a different Reichschancellry and decides if he’s on an alternate Earth that maybe it’s time to make a new life for himself. Back on earth-2, the All-Stars get a dire warning from Dr. Occult that something sinister has entered the world from another universe entirely.
Infinity Inc. #19 – “Last Crisis on Earth-Two” – Roy Thomas/Todd McFarlane/Steve Montana
This one starts with Infinity Inc bursting into a hospital demanding treatment for Jade, who was affected by Mr. Bones’ cyanide touch last issue. Their attitudes don’t impress the doctor in charge (Beth Chapel), especially after mistaking her for a nurse, but Charles (Dr. Mid-Nite) McNider just happens to be there and takes charge of Jade. Apparently, Dr. Chapel is a protegee of McNider’s but doesn’t know about him being a superhero. The Infinitors are worried about Jade, so while Star-Spangled Kid gets in touch with Green Lantern, the others
(Nuklon, Silver Scarab, Fury, and Northwind) jump at the chance to investigate the skies that have suddenly turned red (thanks to Crisis). They can’t find anything but get a shock when two figures materialize on the hospital roof. It turns out to be Commander Steel (who we saw disappear in the above issue of All-Star Squadron) and a female robot called Mekanique (who’s obviously based on the robot from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis). Commander Steel explains that he ended up on Earth-1 when he vanished back in 1942 and since there were no superheroes on Earth-1 in the 40s he hid his cyborg nature and pretended to 
be plain old Hank Heywood, finishing his military career and making a fortune as an industrialist. He says a bunch of young punks (who he characterizes as evil) have taken over the JLA and he needs help to fight them. He had Mekanique use her dimensional powers to bring him here, thinking the youths of Infinity Inc would be a good match for the young members of the new JLA. The Infinitors aren’t sure what to do, but when Jade shows up to join them (having used her powers to purge the poison from her system) and volunteers to go with Steel and Mekanique, the others decide to come too. In Gotham, Dr. Fate has been using magic to probe what’s happening with the weird red skies and informs the JSA that whatever’s causing it could threaten the entire
multiverse. On Earth-1, Steel and Mekanique bring the Infinitors to JLA headquarters in Detroit and Steel tells them his grandson (and namesake) is part of the “rebel” JLA and Steel wants to handle him personally. They prepare to sneak in, but Fury prefers the direct approach and smashes through the front gates, alerting the JLA (who are watching Vibe breakdance and trying not to laugh). The two teams end up fighting even though the Infinitors recognize a couple of JLAers and wonder how they could be the bad guys. Commander Steel goes after his grandson and sounds like he’s really lost his mind; General Heywood was 
always kind of a dick, but now he’s ranting about traitors and enemies of America. Heywood knocks out his grandson and he and Mekanique teleport away with him. The Infinitors do pretty well against the JLA, but Martian Manhunter eventually uses his super-breath to blow his teammates to safety and follows them invisibly. The Infinitors start wondering if they were fighting on the right side and decide to find Commander Steel and Mekanique and demand some answers. We’ll see what happens next Monday in JLA 244.