The Man of Steel: Superman vs. the Demons of Deep Space

By Laurie S. Sutton, Luciano Vecchio and Laurie Sutton

Darkseid has always been one of SUPERMAN'S strongest foes, so when the MAN OF STEEL discovers that the Dark Lord and his demonic minions have located the Infinity Particle, SUPERMAN realizes he’s in deep trouble.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Jun 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781434265814

Laurie S. Sutton

Laurie Sutton is a comic book writer and editor. She is also the author of The Mystery of the Aztec Tomb and The Secret of the Sea Creature from the You Choose Stories: Scooby Doo series. She currently resides in Florida.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

TWO NEW GODS

Mayday! Mayday! the pilot called into the radio. This is Metropolis Airlines, flight 319. We’ve lost an engine!

The pilot looked out the cockpit window and back at the wing. What he said on the radio was not an exaggeration. Something had struck the passenger jet and ripped the engine turbine off the wing. Stray wires and chunks of metal flapped in the wind where the turbine once was.

We can’t stay in the air, the co-pilot said. We need help!

We need Superman! the main pilot said. Where is he?

The Man of Steel was nowhere near the falling airplane. He was a hundred miles away on the bottom of the sea. A submarine was sinking and he had to save it.

Superman used his power of super-speed to swim faster than any fish in the sea. He was a mile under the water before he saw the experimental vessel. The pressure was tremendous this deep in the ocean. Superman could feel it pressing against his body. He was invulnerable, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the pain of thousands of pounds of pressure. The submarine, however, was not invulnerable. It was in danger of being crushed by the strain on its hull.

CREEEEAAAKKKK!

The steel plates started to give way and water gushed into the sub. It began to flood. Superman knew he had to get the vessel to the surface immediately. He swam under the sub and placed his hands under the bottom of the hull. Then he kicked his legs at super-speed, turning himself into a propeller. As his legs pumped through the water, the sub started to move up, up, up toward the surface.

Superman and the submarine broke the surface of the ocean with a huge SPLAAAASSSSH! Water sprayed into the air and drained out of the sub. After a few moments, the main hatch popped open and the captain climbed out.

Thanks, Superman! he said.

The Man of Steel could hear the cheers of the crew from inside the sub. He heard something else, too.

Mayday! Mayday! came a distant call.

Superman turned his gaze toward the blue sky

Reviews for The Man of Steel

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The latest offering in Capstone's DC Super Heroes chapter book series is a renaming of Superman to "The Man of Steel". There are tons of Superman books in the series already and I presume the new name will now be where the new titles will be listed. Throughout the book "Supe" is alternately called by both names. The first part of this story was great as Superman was called upon by Orion and Big Barda to help stop Darkseid's newest devastating plot. Granny Goodness and Kalibak show up briefly trying to stop O. and BB from arriving but they are too late and Darkseid shows up as everyone is postulating anyway. I loved the showdown between Superman and Darkseid but as their encounter takes them to Jupiter I found the writing devolved into an astronomy lesson about the planet. Other than that I appreciated the number of heroes/villains present in this title, along with cameos of Lashina and Mad Harriet, a virtual Kirby reunion!