Story: "Death Be Not Proud" (22 Pages)

Credits:

Jeph Loeb (plot, script)
Ed McGuiness (pencils)
Cam Smith (inks)
Tanya and Richard Horie (colors)
Richard Starkings (letters)
Tom Palmer Jr. and Eddie Berganza (edits)

Feature Character:

Superman (last in Action Comics #780; next in JLA: Our Worlds at War #1)

Guest Star:

Supergirl (last in Supergirl #59; next in JLA: Our Worlds at War #1)

Villain:

Imperiex Probe

Guest Appearance:

Martian Manhunter (last in Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #171; next in JLA: Our Worlds at War #1)

Other Characters:

Soldiers
Caleb (a small boy)

Synopsis:

Superman surveys the destruction in Topeka, Kansas, where the first Imperiex probe has landed, and finds just one survivor, a small boy who he hands over to the arriving emergency services. The Imperiex probe stirs, and Superman goes into battle with it, believing it to be Imperiex itself. In the process of the fight, he ruptures its amour, causing all the energy within to leak out in a destructive burst. Superman emerges from the blast zone, watched by Supergirl and a member of the emergency services, and heads towards Smallville. When he arrives on his parents' farm, he finds it empty, no sign of life anywhere - he fears his parents died in the blast. Supergirl tries to comfort him, reminding him that the Kents weren't necessarily there when the blast hit. As Superman ponders what his parents mean to him, he receives an emergency signal from the Martian Manhunter - the JLA need him.

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