Superman (Volume 3) #3 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 3) with a cover date of January, 2012. It was published on November 23, 2011.
Synopsis for "A Cold Day in Hell"
In the office of the Daily Planet, Bill McCoy pitches a documentary that seems to blame Superman for the numerous casualties as a result of recent attacks on Metropolis. He meets resistance from Perry White and Lois Lane.
Even so, McCoy hopes that Lois will okay the idea, and that she and Perry can convince Clark Kent to look into one of his leads. There was an apparently homeless man who seemingly kidnapped one of the victims of a fire caused by an alien being encountered by Superman recently. He hopes that Clark's articles about the homeless in Metropolis will give him an advantage in potentially identifying the vagrant.
Perry gets a hold on Clark in the Smallville Cemetery, as he is visiting the graves of his parents. Clark realizes that he is late for a video shoot with Heather Kelley, and rushes off, making excuses, and hanging up on Perry. Lois comments that Clark has seemed different lately. Perry agrees, having originally chalked it up to some personal issue he wasn't willing to talk about, but now with Clark's obvious displeasure with the merger with Galaxy Communications, it seems that something else is up.
In the Hob's Bay area, Heather, Jimmy, and Miko wait for Clark, annoyed that he left a message to say that he was caught in traffic despite the fact that he had already made them wait three hours. Heather is frustrated, but her obvious romantic feelings for Clark temper her anger. She and the others decide to go ahead with their piece on the City of Tomorrow Renovations and their effect on affordable middle-class housing in Metropolis without him.
Meanwhile, Lois oversees her news program as the weather is being presented. Despite announcements that clear skies and warm temperatures will be prevalent, there is a sudden disturbance near Hob's Bay which appears to be the beginnings of a massive ice storm. The news chopper nearby notices that Superman seems to be involved.
Superman marvels at the fact that he can actually feel the cold of this storm, just as he felt the last creature's fire and the impact of the invisible monster's punches. The cold of this storm is so much that it turns nearby buildings to ice. Turning his attention to the civilians, Superman tries to get them out of the area, only to discover that they too have been turned to ice - not just frozen, but turned entirely to ice; right down to their skeletons.
Looking to the eye of the storm, Superman notices an entity floating high above it speaking in the same alien language that the fire monster spoke in before. He realizes that the storm seems to be centered over his old apartment building, and then recognizes the voice of the entity. It is Heather. Heather is the creature at the centre of this storm.
She sends waves of cold across the city, turning everything they touch to ice. Superman barely manages to save the news chopper, but he turns around too late to stop the Daily Planet and everyone inside from being frozen as well. Turning his attention to the base of the storm, he sees Jimmy and Miko down below, but further down Heather is unfrozen, but trapped in some kind of stasis field which is the source of the storm. The voice from the alien above is muttering the name Krypton - a mystery for him to solve later.
With little alternative, Superman blasts the stasis field surrounding Heather with his heat vision. Seeing her wincing in pain, he relents, but it's too late. The alien is destroyed, and the storm collapses, unfreezing the city. He wakes in a hole in the ground, with Jimmy and Miko standing over him. Unfortunately, Heather is nowhere to be found.
Atop a building elsewhere, Heather stands, still speaking in the alien language. She meets with the mysterious homeless man and the man he abducted from the hospital - both of whom are also speaking the language. They mention Superman and Clark Kent in the same breath.
Appearing in "A Cold Day in Hell"
Featured Characters:
- Superman (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Glen Glenmorgan (Flashback only)
- Michael McLaughlin (Possessed)
- Santiago Velasquez (Transient) (Possessed)
- Professor Fleisher (Flashback only)
- Sky Raiders (Flashback only)
- Titano (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Jonathan Kent (Mentioned only)
- Martha Kent (Mentioned only)
- Morgan Edge (Mentioned only)
- William McCoy
- Heather Kelley
- Izzy Izquierdo
- Wayne
- Danny
- Derek Rich (On a TV or computer screen)
- Chuck Truscott(On a TV or computer screen)
- Detective Blake (Flashback only)
Locations:
- Metropolis
- Smallville
- Smallville Cemetary
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue was reprinted in Superman: What Price Tomorrow? and Adventures of Superman: George Pérez.