Superman: Redemption #[nn]

The Phantom Stranger comes to Clark at the Planet, and takes him away. Next, Clark is back home, and dreams of a world where Superman is ruler, and everyone is marked with his symbol. After awakening, he decides to go out, and Lois asks him to pick up pickles and ice cream. At the Foodopolis mart, he starts to lose his temper, and Zatanna appears, observing him. He sees her, and tells her since this is still a dream, he can blow off a little steam, and act however he wants. He literally blows her away, then is attacked by many of his old foes. He decimates them, killing many. He kills Jimmy and Perry, and destroys the Daily Planet. He goes to Washington DC, destroys the Washington Monument, and steals the throne that Lincoln sits on in the Lincoln Memorial, and sits on it in Earth orbit. He then goes to Smallville, creates an earthquake, and then enters into the earth, descending down into hell. The Demon confronts him, but is swatted aside, and Zatanna follows, watching. Superman confronts a ruler there. This ruler, named Rakkar, tells Superman that he is from Krypton's hell, and as Krypton died, its hell did too. But Rakkar managed to escape, but had nothing to feed on for years. But when Superman killed, it strengthened the demon, and he grew in power. His allies, the Lords of Hell, drew Superman into this corrupting dream. Now, Rakkar can attack Superman, and transforms his corrupted soul into a beast of hell. However, out of that transformed body pops Superman, normal as can be. He tells Rakkar that Rakkar's schemes were sensed, and the Phantom Stranger helped Superman divide his soul in two, creating a weak outer shell that was corruptible while his true soul stayed clean and unharmed to resurface later. Since Rakkar depends on the corruption, he is now powerless. Superman and the Lords of Hell strike a deal; they will withdraw their power from Rakkar and crush him, if Superman will just leave, and it is done.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).