DC should be breathing a heavy sigh of relief now that this issue has hit shelves. What should have been the greatest creative team to hit shelves in some time after the One Year Later jump finally finished their initial story arc. The comfort is now the publisher can collect the three issues and two annuals (if that tells you how long this took to wrap up) from Johns, Donner and Kubert and package it into a very nice hardcover edition and make all the real money from this triumvirate.

You know what's the best part of this series, now that we saw the finish? There wasn't a bad issue in the bunch. Sure there was a gimmick ending with the “rubber-banded spaceships from the Phantom Zone” thing, but at least he didn't use magic to get Zod and the rest of Krypton's criminals back into their cage.

I enjoyed this story not only because the Kryptonian general turned out to be the bad father we all knew he was, but Lex getting to play the good guy finally was a riot. Did you see the pure joy on his face as he put a beam of Kryptonite through one of the escaped convicts? It was satisfaction realized, yet part of me wonders if there wasn't a lack of satisfaction from Lexie that it wouldn't be the same unless it was Ole' Spit Curl himself.

The sacrifice by Lor-Zod was also very epic in emotion, mostly because of Clark's attachment to the boy. I don't know about referring to him as “Chris” from here on out, because that's not the kid's name. If the child is somehow found in the PZ, I suppose I'll share my first name with the character. Bad father or not, though, the boy is the product of Zod and Ursa. I thought the use of him as part of the heroic bookend was a nice touch from the writing duo. I'd love it if somehow in 15 years the character is dusted off and used as a new heavy in the Superman mythos.

Suffice it to say, while I'd love to throw sticks and stones at Geoff Johns and his script of this issue...it wasn't that bad. Yes, that's the best compliment I can muster for the man at this point; and yes, it carries with it a lot more weight than it would seem. I've read my share of horrible enders from this dude over the years. To have a broad canvas painted to sate the appetite of people clamoring for Zod, and give due justice to the Phantom Zone criminals was something we as readers deserved from this team.

Speaking of painted canvas, I'm sure glad I got to see Adam Kubert's pencils again. He was so gracious when I spoke with him at Wizard World Texas last November, and this story suited his talents greatly. I was struck with awe when I got to view the double splash of Supes standing on a semi that was lodged into the side of a skyscraper. I spent a bit of time this past weekend trying to summarize why this artist's work is of particular interest to me, and I don't know if I can. It just feels like you're reading a big story when he's involved. Much like JG Jones, Steve McNiven and Jim Lee, Adam Kubert brings a story up a level when he's involved. I hope to see him do more interior work in the future now that his health has improved.

Clark not only helped save the world yet again, but he was shown to be the father figure he should have been written as instead of the absentee superhero in the recent movie. I actually want to see him and Lois adopt now, although it probably wouldn't feel the same if it wasn't Lor-Zod. I'm going to bask in the glory of this story arc for some time, I can't even touch another Superman comic right now because it would cheapen the moment I had after closing the cover on the first read. It's doubtful we will see a creative team like this ever again, so be sure and reserve your hardcover of this when it comes out. I know I already have.

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