Writer: Kelley Puckett
Artist: Aluir Almancio
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: Marie Severin
Letterer: Clem Robins
Cover Art: Mike Manley & Terry Austin

Summary:
When Superman begins to shrink down after an alien attack, will S.T.A.R. Labs be able to save him before he shrinks into infinity?

Description:
This issue opens with Superman taking on an alien craft and down below Jimmy and Lois are doing their best to get the scoop. Superman grabs the craft and is able to fling it into the park where the alien creature emerges. The creature shoots some laser at Superman which has no effect on him. So Superman takes him out with one punch. After the short battle Lois and Jimmy approach him for pictures and an interview where Superman begins to feel a bit funny, and Jimmy notices that Superman looks a bit shorter then usual. Hamilton decides to take Superman to S.T.A.R. Labs, as well as that alien gun, to do tests on it. Lois is evidently worried. Lois arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs and is shocked to see that Superman has shrunk down to the size of an action figure and still going.

It turns out that gun was a shrink gun, and had a delayed reaction on Superman because of their different biological make up. They're trying to reverse the effects so Superman will stop shrinking...until he reaches infinity. If he does he will fall between the cracks of reality. They try their first attempt, which is a laser emitted from the gun, but that fails, or so they think. We cut to Superman to see him smiling. When they look at him through a video screen, they see a foggy outline of him waving. The we cut back to Superman who seems to have it figured out. It's not his body that is shrinking, but the space around him body. So to escape his shrinking state, he'd have to escape the space his body inhabits, and to do that he'll have to rip open space/time itself. He switches to X-Ray vision so he can actually see his surroundings and what to do. He begins to fly to speed up and as he flies his mass becomes infinitely greater and eventually shrinks down until he can an atom, and gets inside of one. Then he reaches the nucleus. He goes faster and faster and then FLASH! He's "in" it. But he is still shrinking. Then he looks over and sees...a tiny galactic super cluster.

Then cut to Lois who has arrived back at the Planet, upset at Superman's apparent demise. Jimmy updates on the fact that a whole alien armada is arriving towards Metropolis. Then a big section of stars just blink out. Lois grabs Jimmy's telescopes and sees a huge Super "S" in the sky. It turns out that Superman did rip through space/time and is know 20 times the size of earth, but is still shrinking. He arrives and disables all of the alien crafts, stopping the invasion. Superman then continues to shrink to his normal size, and lands on the Daily Planet roof. It turns out that when Superman entered the Atom's nucleus, he "doubled back" into this one. While the explanation is not entirely clear, that one will suffice. Superman flies off the building reminding Lois:

"For all we know, Miss Lane, you may still have me in the palm of your hand."

Review:
It was great to see Puckett helming my second favorite hero! He did a great job on The Batman Adventures and did a bang up job on Batman: Gotham Adventures #13. He took a tired concept and put a great spin. It was awesome actually seeing the world at a sub-atomic level. And Aluir's Almancio's art has always been a treat. He draws the best rendition of an animated Lois. Sexy, yet distinguished. Although my one complaint about his art was that it strayed so far from the animated concept this month. You could see it was influenced but at some times it looked unrecognizable. His art was still good and he put in a beautiful 3 panel scene on page 21. So overall, this issue was another treat. Although this series has yet to find a successor for Mark Millar, I'm enjoying these one-shot issues. And when will this series establish and acknowledge the events of the episode "LEGACY"??

Rating: