Action Comics #837

"Up, Up, and Away! Chapter Two: Mild-Mannered Reporter"
Story by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek, art by Pete Woods

Superman's powers are still gone, and we still don't know why. Johns and Busiek use this as an opportunity for Clark Kent to act heroic in ways Superman can't: he displays physical courage, for instance, which is tough to do when you're invulnerable, and instead of getting demoralized he keeps fighting the good fight as a reporter. Again, the writers successfully misdirect without cheating. Again, they end with a twist I didn't see coming. Even the most familiar scenes, in which Lex Luthor rounds up a posse of supervillains, don't bog the story down, because (a) they're well-written, and (b) for once, we don't know what Luthor is up to: it's not yet another plan to kill Superman, because Superman's gone and Lex is over it. Johns and Busiek have figured out how to use One Year Later as a springboard for a fresh, surprising story about the most overexposed superhero there is. I'm genuinely psyched for the rest of this.