Superman #148
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman (Vol. 2) #148 is the sole issue that returns the pre-Crisis fan-favorite Vartox to DC continuity after a thirteen-year absence caused by the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot. By reintroducing the character as a post-Crisis construct with revised powers and a new supporting cast of alien champions, the issue demonstrates how the late-Triangle Era writers were actively mining the Bronze Age Superman mythology to refresh a continuity that had deliberately written those characters out. The issue also sits at the very cusp of a major editorial handover—it falls within the final issues of Dan Jurgens's long stewardship of the title before Jeph Loeb's team took over—making it a transitional artifact of the post-Crisis Superman's last days under its founding creative architect.
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The story, titled 'Champions!', was scripted by Dan Jurgens and drawn by Steve Epting (pencils) with inks by Joe Rubinstein, a creative pairing that had been working together on the title through much of 1999. It falls at Triangle Number 1999/36 in DC's coordinated Superman publishing system, a cross-title chapter numbering scheme that had guided readers through interconnected storylines across multiple Superman books since the early 1990s. The issue appeared just before a significant editorial transition: in October 1999, new group editor Eddie Berganza replaced the outgoing team, bringing in Jeph Loeb as the new Superman writer starting with issue #151. Jurgens's decision to revive Vartox for his penultimate story arc echoes the Bronze Age cosmic-adventure style that defined much of his own tenure on the character.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First post-Crisis appearance of Vartox, a character who had been absent from DC continuity since Action Comics #583 (Sept. 1986) due to the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot.
- Also features the first appearances of two new alien characters, Vestion and Paz, who accompany Vartox in the story.
- The story is titled 'Champions!' and is written by Dan Jurgens, with pencils by Steve Epting and inks by Joe Rubinstein; colors by Glenn Whitmore; letters by John Costanza; edited by Joey Cavalieri and Maureen McTigue.
- The issue carries DC's Triangle Number 1999/36, placing it in the interconnected weekly-style reading order shared across the four Superman titles of the era.
- The pre-Crisis Vartox was originally created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan in Superman #281 (Nov. 1974), openly modeled on Sean Connery's costume from the 1974 sci-fi film Zardoz.
- The post-Crisis version of Vartox introduced here has noticeably reduced powers compared to his pre-Crisis incarnation, and wears a redesigned costume.
- The subplot involves Lois Lane learning the name of Lana Lang's baby—'Clark Ross'—setting up personal drama tied to Lana's history with Clark Kent.
- This issue is one of the final few written by Dan Jurgens before the Superman title was handed to Jeph Loeb beginning with issue #151, marking the end of the Triangle Era's original creative core.
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