Superman #687 - DC

With Superman off planet for the foreseeable future, there's still quite a lot of stuff going down in Metropolis. But, just like anyone else, in their absence . . the world still has to go on, with or without them. Superman has his 'friends' watching the city for him . . Mon-el, Guardian, John Henry, along with some of his various JLA teammates . . but there's still some people out there who have plans and ideas for the vacuum created by the 'man-of-steel's' absence. We get a look at a few this issue, and how their trying to gauge the current state-of-affairs of the city. Chief among the culprits is Lex Luthor and General Lane with their Project 7734. Jimmy noticed that '7734' looks like 'hELL' upside down on a calculator. I'm not sure what the signifigance is, but . . when I see the text I'm already starting to call it Project Hell in my mind. Anyways, they're keeping an eye on Superman's 'friends', and I think trying to figure out what to do about them. Also don't forget that Intergang is still out there. They're lying low right now, but . . you never know when they'll make a return appearance. Atlas is also trying to figure out more about the 'city-from-the-future' that he's come to. Right now, under guise, he's got John Henry showing him around. And now Parasite is on the scene. He hasn't done anything yet, but it's only a matter of time. Actually, there seems to be a lot of Superman's 'rogues' popping up. Shrapnel also makes an appearance this issue. I think they're all testing the waters . . as it were. The issue ends with 2 major things happening . . first Jim Harper is putting together a special team to go and get Tellus. He's that Legion telepath that lives in the water tank, like a big fish. I'm interested in that storyline because I am kind of wondering what he's doing back in our time anyways. And it seems that someone has decided to step up and take action against Mon-el because on the final page, as he's flying across the city, his powers go out. I think James Robinson is doing a good job of weaving many various things into the storyline here. I really like that about his style . . his stories are very multifaceted. I'm still not thrilled with Renato Guedes pencils, but . . he's the regular artist on this series, so I think I'm getting used to them. He seems to have a pretty good feel for this book and the characters, his style just doesn't overly excite me. But . . that's just me.