"Superman" Comic Book Index
2024
Superman #8Cover date: January 2024
"The Chained" - Part Three
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Gleb Melnikov, Norm Rapmund, David Baldeón and Jamal Campbell
In a glimpse into the past, Sammy Stryker, as a child, embraces the powers given to him by Luthor but is far more inquisitive as to how far his powers go. Lex and Stryker had only ever thought tactile telekinesis meant to physically touch something on a basic level, but Sammy reveals that he can push physical contact to the molecular level so matter and reality are also his to control. Back to today, high above the destruction in Metropolis, Pharm and Graft propose a partnership and show The Chained everything Lex has done since meeting him. The dark horrors of Lex Luthor's past villainy enrage The Chained and he rushes to find Luthor. At the same time, on street level, Conner reveals that The Chained and he have identical tactile telekinesis powers and somehow bonded for a few moments. Superman realizes that Lex is the connection and leaves Kenan, Natasha and Kara to clean up the city while they confront Luthor. Upon the hero's arrival Lex is mildly perturbed that Superman ignored his pleas when he was stabbed and he confirms suspicions that he gave Sammy Stryker/The Chained his powers and that Cadmus replicated his process when creating Superboy, but that Conner had never reached the same potential. Suddenly Lena is pulled skyward and The Chained reveals himself crushing Stryker's island security into balls of broken bones. Lex begs The Chained to release Lena as Superman and Superboy use their combined speed and strength to fly Sammy far away from the island. Lex reveals to Superman that when Sammy grew too powerful and murdered his own father they had him locked away in Stryker's Island's secret cell because they simply couldn't deal with him and that Conner may one day face the same fate. Superman is horrified that they didn't try to rehabilitate the child and instead locked him away for decades, and demands to know how they were able to beat Sammy. Lex reveals that he had implanted a genetic weakness to kryptonite in him and that there was a suit at Supercorps waiting for him. At superspeed he returns in a containment suit with kryptonite gauntlets. What ensues is a victory to some and a horrible loss to others, leaving Superman at death's door succumbing to kryptonite poisoning.
Superman #9Cover date: February 2024
Chapter Nine: "Aftermath"
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Superman has been mortally wounded by kryptonite after defeating The Chained. Lois is by his side as his body is bathed in solar radiation reading him thank you letters in the hopes of his recovery. Perry, meanwhile, is announcing to the press that he is putting his mayoral campaign on hold while the city shows gratitude for Superman's selflessness and prays for his return. Lillian Luthor visits Lex in Strykers Island and tells him that his daughter Lena has decided to stay in Metropolis and use her superior intellect to work at Supercorp. She is supervising the containment of The Chained until he can be put in a more permanent cell. Lena is very inquisitive and her curious nature activates LL-01, the AI hologram Lex made to resemble him as a Kryptonian. LL-01 offers to answer any of Lena's questions... At the Daily Planet, a panicked Jimmy calls Lois and is stunned when she deputises him as Editor-in-Chief while 'she and Clark spend some time at the beach'. Clark wakes up mocking his wife for her white lies being almost as bad as his. Mercy enters and warns Lois and Clark to remember to cover up the fact she's been at Superman's bedside before others connect the dots. Clark is determined to hunt down Pharm and Graft despite the pleas of the two women to allow more time to heal from the poisoning. Superman asks Mercy to modify Luthor's power suit so he can get back in action faster and seek out Marilyn Moonlight. Later that night Graft has already tracked her down and Superman arrives to stop Marilyn getting hurt. Graft is not unprepared and transforms the wheelchair into a spider bot with kryptonite legs. Superman makes short work of the vehicle dodging the kryptonite claw and spider legs but is horrified to realize it was a trick so Graft could hit Marilyn with a beam of gold kryptonite. The overload of energy teleports Superman and Marilyn away leaving Graft triumphant and Mercy and Lex perplexed with what has just happened. In the 1800s onboard a steam train are a young Pharm, Graft, their silver haired mother and two vigilante protectors, Nighthawk & Cinnamon. The train journey is hijacked by a familiar face using heat vision rather than pistols... The Man of Yesterday...
Superman #10Cover date: March 2024
Chapter Ten: "Into the West"
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Bruno Redondo & Caio Filipe
Superman and Marilyn Moonlight have been transported to the 1800s. Supercorp meanwhile are desperately trying to locate them while their base is under attack. In the past Clark and Marilyn have taken on vigilante identities stopping robberies and rustlers. When they discover two burnt out and looted carriages and their murdered owners, they realise the damage was done by laser fire, and future tech could mean their way home. They follow the tracks to Metropolis town and are stunned to find the villain Terra Man living in the time period. Pharm, Graft are children and their grandmother has hired Terra Man to protect them, but he's enjoying the luxury of easy gambling and cheap liquor too much. Clark arrives and even though he's in civilian clothes Terra Man recognizes him immediately and presumes he's powerless as he's not flying around in his costume. They have a showdown in the streets but Clark outwits his opponent. Terra Man loses the gunfight and Marilyn appears and helps to capture him. At this point Superman notices a face in the crowd and realizes they have inspired a young woman in the crowd. Could there be a link to the present? As they investigate Terra Man's belongings and find his time travel tech, Clark and Marilyn reveal personal secrets. Superman promises that the Justice League will retrieve Terra Man and that if he can, he'll find out who resurrected Marilyn as a ghost. Now in the present and free from kryptonite poisoning, Clark dons his costume and races to reunite with Lois at Supercorp, what he finds however is an ultimatum he was not prepared for.
Superman #11Cover date: April 2024
Chapter Eleven: "Lex Luthor Revenge Squad"
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: David Baldeon
Pharm and Graft confirm what Superman and Lex have suspected all along, that they were the masterminds of everything to date; the transfer of Lexcorp to Superman, the power boosted villains, The Chained being freed and even destroying big pieces of the city. Lena remembers accessing her historical data from LL-01 hours earlier and confronting her grandmother with the information. Leticia questions why Lena remains at Lexcorp if she is fully aware of her father's selfishness. Lena reminds her mother that it's Supercorp now, not Lexcorp but before they can explore their family tree self deprecation Mercy interrupts, informing them that Superman has vanished. Mercy and Lex (direct from Strykers) theorize what happened when Superman and Marilyn Moonlight were hit by all variations of kryptonite at once. Lena meanwhile wonders how Pharm and Graft got hold of the colored kryptonite considering their rarity. A very angry Lois arrives demanding answers on Superman's disappearance and listens to Lex and Lena bicker between theories. They are no closer to a solution but it is then that Pharm and Graft arrive to free The Chained. The women are blindsided by someone in an original Luthor power suit and realize too late that they were betrayed from within. Returning to the present moment, Pharm and Graft reveal they were never able to secure real kryptonite, but had tested synthetic versions on Bizarro when they had captured him. Superman may be reluctant to join the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad but with their warped version of red kryptonite they've harnessed a way to make Superman perpetually (and unwillingly) angry. The Squad now complete, they infiltrate Strykers and Superman prepares to murder Lex as Lena watches helplessly. Graft instructs the power suited spy to execute the next stage of their plan and while they exit, Lex stands up and begins to smile. His puzzled enemies realize too late that Superman may be angry but Superman's rage isn't solely directed at Lex. Superman proves Lex right by making short work of each of the Squad. Lex uses the synthetic green kryptonite to stab Superman before dying and explains that green and red kryptonite cancel each other out. Graft reveals their final plan. They'd tinkered with kryptonite not only to create the Klaw but to master a gas that killed anyone it came into contact with. Superman stumbles to his feet horrified to see the missing Squad member spraying the city with the synthetic gas and Graft reveals that the master plan was never theirs... It was Lex Luthor's all along!
Superman #12Cover date: May 2024
Chapter Twelve: "Lex's Truth"
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: David Baldeon & Norm Rapmund
Leticia Luthor, now revealed as the secret member of the Revenge Squad, is spraying Metropolis with a mutated version of kryptonite gas. This gas is deadly to humans and Kryptonians. The Chained and Pharm are knocked out leaving Graft to hold Supercorp captive. Lex dons his Superman powersuit and offers to incapacitate his mother. Superman, helpless, decides to utilize Supercorp to fast track an antidote. While Lex uses his brute strength, Superman puts his intellect to use. Supercorp's employees work with Lena, Mercy, Lois & Superman to undo what Lex did to the synthetic kryptonite. Lex reveals that when he first moved to Metropolis and attempted to be a vigilante he happened upon Pharm & Graft and discovered that they had been experimenting using solar radiation to alter synthetic versions of the alien rocks. He stole their research and betrayed them. Leticia overhears Lex's confession and admits the reason she turned against her son was that Luthorcorp was the company she built, and Lex betrayed her by taking her empire as his own. Meanwhile inside Supercorp, Superman realizes that they have all the tools they need to save the day. Using the now reformed Parasite as a siphon, and remembering research he discovered in the Old West, they discover they can drain the effect that can kill humans. They transmit the Parasite's energy signature to Lex's powersuit and he is able to quickly reverse the gas effects and disperse it. Lena then realizes Supercorp's computers power Leticia and Lex's armor and deactivates them before they can engage in a fight. Superman captures them and the day, it seems, is saved with the Revenge Squad captured and Lex back in prison. When Lois and Clark finally return to normal life, Clark admits that one mystery remains unsolved. Why did the Revenge Squad stay silent for decades and pick this exact moment to reveal themselves?
Superman #13Cover date: June 2024
"House of Brainiac" - Part 2: "Last Sons"
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Warriors Bar patrons are surprised by the arrival of bounty hunter Lobo who was held captive recently by the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad. Superman arrives and the Main Man is shocked by how 'no nonsense' the Man of Steel has become. Aboard Brainiac's ship the evil mastermind examines all his captives, among them Livewire, Parasite, the Superman family, Lex & Lena Luthor. At his side are variants of himself and an army of Czarnians. This Brainiac has been collecting information from across space, time and the multiverse. However the price seems to be that Brainiac is dying or corrupted from excess data. Superman takes Lobo to Supercorp and shows him videos of recent events (seen in Action Comics #1064). Lobo is stunned to see General Chacal, a legend of his history, and they realize Brainiac has stolen a city from his homeworld. Lobo and Superman share a rare moment of reflection about how their lives have changed over the years as they soar into space to take on Brainiac. General Chacal and his army arrive to stop them. On board the ship, a temporarily recovered Brainiac demands power be drained from his captives to heal him and enable the next stage of his plan. Lex sees an opportunity and offers a deal to save his daughter's life. Meanwhile Kara and Conner hatch a plan of escape. [Continued in Action Comics #1065.]
Superman Comic Book Index
Introduction
Here is a listing of the regular Superman title since the 2016 Rebirth saga that started a new era for the DC Universe of comic books. The title ended in 2021, and then was relaunched in 2023. For accuracy almost every entry is based upon actually looking in the issue, and not memory or another source.This listing is done in the order for when a comic book issue was published.
Note: Remember, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.
The Writer, Penciller and Inker for each issue is listed under the Comic's Title and Date.
CONTENTS:
2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 20212023 | 2024
Back to Comic Book Index Contents Page.
You can read reviews of all the Superman related comics (from October 1999 onwards) in the Mild Mannered Reviews section of this website.