Monumental Filler
Superman's 700th issue is a stock filler issue. It features three stories, and none of these are bad. They're solid enough stories, but they are also completely forgettable and really lacking in anything new or interesting.
The first story is a War of the Supermen epilogue from James Robinson and is basically a sappy story between Lois and Clark about how much they missed each other. The chemistry between them isn't very strong here, nor is this one of Lois Lane's stronger portrayals in general. An argument could be made that she has reason to be weak and vulnerable after all she has just gone through, but it's a disappointingly predictable response. Lois Lane should be a more interesting character than that.
The second story is a strange choice by Dan Jurgens. It is set back in Dick Grayson's Robin days and features one of the early team-ups between him and Superman. The story is fine, but it reads like one of those inconsequential stories you have read a million times before. I would think if Jurgens wanted to tell a story between Superman and Dick Grayson a better one would have come out of setting it in the present day with Dick as Batman.
The final story has JMS starting his run on the book. I hate to say it, but JMS kicks off his run with one big, tired cliche. Yet again, we have a powerful superhero confronted with the illogical idea that he's too busy saving the world from big dangers while individual people die from things he could have prevented. No superhero suffers from stagnation quite as much as Superman does. The last thing the character needs is to be involved in painfully cliched stories like this, and I really don't need to read a story with Superman plagued with self-doubt about whether he has lost touch with common people.
The only reason to pick up this issue is for the number so you can have Superman's 700th issue. The content isn't bad, but it is far from anything special. It feels like something DC slapped together without much care to make this anniversary issue something monumental.
