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"Countdown to Zero": Jeb Friedman is taunting Clark in front of Lois, while the concert is being setup. Lois and Clark leave and start to head back to the Planet, when Superman sees a message signalled to him in morse code. He changes into Superman and heads up to a roof where he meets [[Bruce W

Superman: The Man of Steel #37 is an issue of the series Superman: The Man of Steel (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1994.

Synopsis for "Countdown to Zero"

Jeb Friedman is taunting Clark in front of Lois, while the concert is being setup. Lois and Clark leave and start to head back to the Planet, when Superman sees a message signalled to him in morse code. He changes into Superman and heads up to a roof where he meets Batman (Earth-One). Superman doesn't recognize that this is the 1960s-1970s Neal Adams version of Batman. Batman says that he is there to warn him that there might be a time anomaly causing people from the past to appear in the present. Superman mentions his broken back, and Batman says he never broke his back. Meanwhile in space, a Kryptonian vessel is speeding its way towards Earth.

Jimmy and Ron arrive at the concert grounds excited for the concert to begin. While the new group Riot Girrrls are stopped by a bouncer from visiting Babe in her trailer.

A group of Mutants from Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns arrive and attack Jeb Friedman hoping to stop the concert and the funds it will attract towards the rebuilding of Metropolis. A second Batman (Earth-31) arrives, this one also from Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. He stops the Mutants and encounters Superman with the other Batman (Earth-One). He also mentions the time anomaly. A third Batman (Earth-Two) arrives, this one from the 1930s and also talks about a time confusion. As the first Batman (Earth-One) discusses the anomaly, he quickly morphs into the 1994 Kelley Jones Batman.

As the concert begins Perry White and his wife are sitting with Keith White, trying to enjoy the music ("noise"), when Keith thinks he sees his real mom and runs after her. The Batmans continue to morph into different temporal versions of themselves as a Mutant sniper shoots Babe on stage! Superman and the three Batmans jump into action to stop the Mutants including a large tank!

Babe continues on with the concert and as part of her finale turns into a large vampire bat and flies off. Jimmy Olsen, her friend, goes backstage with Ron to hang out with her, and he complements her on the great special effects of her show.

Superman takes the Batmen to Emil Hamilton to see if he can discover what is going on. They continue to morph and then eventually vanish, as Superman hears a high pitch signal. He leaves to investigate and it is the Batman from his timeline. He also mentions the time anomaly as Metron appears and warns of a cosmic crisis!

The Kryptonian vessel arrives at the Kent farm in Smallville. When Jonathan Kent answers the door, he is surprised to see Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van!

Appearing in "Countdown to Zero"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Notes

  • Part of the Zero Hour crossover event.
  • Superman navigation number 1994/33.

Trivia

  • The cover shows Batmen from different universes and periods of time; for example, there are different Earth-One Batmen, drawn in Dick Sprang, Neal Adams and Irv Novick styles.
  • Panels from this story pay homages to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Bob Kane's and Neal Adam's Batman.
  • Around the time this issue came out, there was a promotional poster with Batman surrounded by various interpretations of Superman by different artists that hinted at a similar meeting Batman would have with alternate-timeline variations of Superman.
  • Despite the Batman of DCAU's and Batman from 1943 serial's appearances of the cover, they do not appear in the actual story itself.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References


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Action Comics #702: 1994/32
Superman
1994 Navigation
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Superman (volume 2) #93: 1994/34


Zero Hour TP
Zero Hour Crossover
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The events from this issue or series are related to Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, or its successor event Zero Month. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Zero Hour category.

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