Issue Description

40th anniversary issue. Superman and Supergirl use the energy of a supernova to try and enlarge Kandor to its original size; Brainiac guest-stars.

Cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano."Let My People Grow!" "The Lilliput Problem!" (part 2) "All Creatures Great and Small...!" (part 3) written by Len Wein, penciled by Curt Swan, inked by Frank Chiaramonte, colored by Glynis Wein, lettered by Ben Oda and a special thanks to Marv Wolfman.

The story opens with Superman trying to get to the core of a supernova. He is clad in a space-suit and is armed with an energy absorption unit. He tries to absorb as much energy as the unit can take. With this energy, he will restore the Kandorians, inhabitants of the Bottle City to their original size. The Kandorians are relatives of Superman and Supergirl, who were shrunk by Brainiac’s shrinking ray.

Superman’s absorption unit’s shielding melts away in the extreme heat and the unit charges itself fully. Superman goes away from the Supernova. But returning to Earth, he feels dizzy due to the radiation overdose and faints. He starts falling through the atmosphere, but Supergirl catches him in mid-air. When Superman comes to his senses, he shows her the unit and says that the energy it contains might be enough to restore Bottle City to its original size.

They come to the Fortress of Solitude. Superman speaks to the Kandorians via the com-link, telling them of his success in assimilating the energy needed for their restoration. The Kandorians thank him. But when one of them asks if the energy will be safe for them, Superman falls deep in thought. One Kandorian offers to volunteer himself for the test, but Superman refuses. He later talks with Kara, saying that he will subject himself to the test and will lure Brainiac into shrinking him. Then they go out.

The next day, Clark comes to his office to find it empty. Lois comes and takes him to Perry White’s 40th anniversary celebration. Other friends are relieves to see him. But in the middle of the function, suddenly the city starts shaking. Clark knows that Brainiac has come for him and slips away.

Superman flies out of the atmosphere and confronts Brainiac. Brainiac says that Superman’s sonic signal has brought him here. Superman tries to force Brainiac to use his shrinking ray, but the latter just employs his force-fields to shake Superman off. Superman hurls a meteorite towards Brainiac’s ship. This time Brainiac deploys his shrinking ray. He targets the meteorite, but superman destroys it and takes the full brunt of the ray. He shrinks to an ant’s size. Brainiac fails to understand superman’s ploy and tries to shrink him further. But Kara comes between them and fires a short burst of the enlarging ray. This deflects Braniac’s shrinking ray back to him, shrinking him and his ship into nothingness within moments. Superman and Kara fly back to their fortress.

Later, upon the Kandorians’ request, Superman and Kara fly them to a lonely planet under a red sun. Upon landing, superman places the bottle city on the ground and fires the enlarging ray at full power. Inside seconds, the city of Kandor is restores to its towering heights. Kara meets her parents, Zor-El and Alura, while Superman wishes that his parents were still alive to see this. But suddenly, the buildings start turning to disintegrating. They shimmer and turn to dust, disappearing completely.

Superman realizes that his enlarging ray was designed to work on animate objects only. One Kandorian hurls abuses at Superman. But another one, named Van-Zee stops him. He comes to superman and thanks him for restoring them to their original size. Superman requests to stay back and help them rebuild their city, but Van-Zee declines. He then punches superman senseless. He tells Kara that they insisted upon bringing them to this planet, because this planet appears briefly in the known universe, due to a shift in the cosmic axis. They are grateful to Superman and Kara for looking after them, but now they must learn to fend for themselves. He then bids the duo goodbye.

By the time Superman regains his senses, the unknown planet has already disappeared. Kara prays that the Kandorians live safely.

Superman (1939)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

Superman launched May 18, 1939 with its first issue (that doesn't actually have a #1 on the cover) and although it was a seasonal book for its first five issues, with its sixth it began a bimonthly publishing rate and kept up with said rate until its eighty-fifth. With its eighty-sixth issue Superman began it's mostly consistent monthly publishing rate which it continued using up until 1986 when the series ended at 423 issues, the last issue featuring Alan Moore's acclaimed story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" After that, the title's numbering was continued through Adventures of Superman which lasted for several decades. It was in 2006 with #650 that the title returned to its original name, kicking off it's new era with the One Year Later storyline co-written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek. After the arc, the series was written by Busiek from 654-675, with James Robinson taking the reigns in 677 and holding them tight until the milestone 700th issue where JMS took over with an arc entitled "Grounded" that would feature Superman walking across America. However, JMS left the book earlier then planned and new writer Chris Roberson worked off of JMS' original notes and plotline. Unfortunately, Roberson never got to prove himself with his own story on the book as with the launch of The New 52 in September 2011, after 72 years and 714 issues (including Adventures of Superman) Superman Vol. 1 came to an end with the final chapter of the Grounded story arc serving as the final issue of the series. Superman will survive as an ongoing series at DC, with the month following the release of Superman #714 serving as the launching point of the third ongoing Superman series in DC history with #1.

For Post Flashpoint volume 3, refer to Superman.

General Notes

Superman #424-649 do not exist, however, the issues that took those numbers can be found on the Adventures of Superman page.

Another ongoing title from DC entitled Superman does exist and was published with its own numbering while Adventures of Superman was in print, thus even though this title began publication in the 30's and lasted until 2011, no two Superman titles were hitting shelves at the same time. The other Superman volume can be found here.

The main star of the series has of course been Superman but from #686-697 Mon-El was the star as Superman was away from Earth and the covers bore the banners "World Without Superman" for the first five and "World Against Superman" for the last six issues of this absence.

Collected EditionsSuperman Chronicles (Collects the earliest issues)Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus vol. 1 (#1-31)Showcase presents: Superman (late 50`s, early 60`s stories)Adventures of Superman: Gil Kane vol. 1 (#367, 372 & 375)Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (#423, Action Comics #583)Up, Up and Away! (#650-653, Action Comics #837-840 )Camelot Falls Vol. 1 (#654-658)Camelot Falls Vol. 2 (#662-664 & 667, Superman Annual #13)Redemption (#659 & 666, Action Comics #848-849)3-2-1 Action (#665, Action Comics #852-854, Legends of the DC Universe #14)The Third Kryptonian (#668-670, Action Comics #847, Superman Annual #13)Shadows Linger (#671-675)The Coming of Atlas (#677-680)New Krypton Vol. 1 (#681, Action Comics #871, Adventure Comics Special Featuring The Guardian #1, Superman New Krypton Special #1, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #1)New Krypton Vol. 2 (#682-683, Action Comics #872-873; Supergirl #35-36)Mon-El Vol. 1 (#684-690, Action Comics #874, Action Comics Annual #10)Codename Patriot (#691, Action Comics #880, Supergirl #44, Superman: World of New Krypto #6, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Special #2)Mon-El Vol. 2 (#692-697, Adventure Comics #11, Superman Annual #14, Superman: Secret Files 2009 #1)Nightwing and Flamebird Vol. 2 (#696, Action Comics #883-889, Adventure Comics #8-10)Last Stand of New Krypton Vol. 1 (#698, Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1-2, Adventure Comics #8-9, Supergirl #51)Last Stand of New Krypton Vol. 2 (#699, Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #3, Adventure Comics #10-11, Supergirl #52)Superman: War of The Supermen (#700)Grounded Vol. 1 (#700-706)Grounded Vol. 2 (#707-711 & #713-714)

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