Issue Action Comics 841 Subtitle Back in Action Date September 2006 Writer(s) Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza Artist(s) Pete Woods storyline Superman went after Carapax as an unknown party watched from space. Police on the scene weren't sure what to do or whether or not Superman was Superman. Firestorm arrived to lend a hand. After they'd defeated Carapax, Superman flew away struggling with the idea of people not believing he was back. Aliens landed and seemingly appraised Earth. Firestorm gave chase when they stole a church. Jimmy ran in to Lois and Clark and let them know about the giant robots materializing all over the planet. Superman headed to New York, where Nightwing was already in action. They met up; Nightwing had Superman check to see where the stolen items were being sent. The aliens claimed to take the "aggression" from the National Guard members attacking them. Their leaders ordered Superman to stand down. The Teen Titans ran into trouble attempting to stop the robots at Alcatraz. Superman showed up and destroyed one of the robots. An even bigger robot, this one's foot larger than any human, arrived and towered above the Golden Gate Bridge.

Issue Action Comics 842 Subtitle Action & Reaction Date October 2006 Writer(s) Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza Artist(s) Pete Woods storyline Superman went after the "Auctioneer." The Auctioneer realized he was a rare Kryptonian and scanned the planet. There were two other Kryptonians. Superman disappeared. Reports began coming in from all over that other metahumans were being stolen, too. Nightwing formed a plan - he and Firestorm stowed away on one of the robot spiders. FS's powers stopped working once they were aboard the ship. They found Superman as he and a few cellmates broke free. The team was Nightwing, Firestorm, Superman, Livewire, Aquaman, Blue Jay, Skyrocket, and the Veteran. They defeated the first bot coming after them and headed on. While most of them debated on who should be their leader, Nightwing hacked a computer terminal. Livewire got them communications back to Earth; Superman contacted Mr. Terrific. He was able to guide them to a power source of the ship. Superman dove in while the others took it down.

Issue Action Comics 843 Subtitle All Out Action Date November 2006 Writer(s) Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza Artist(s) Pete Woods storyline The team succeeded - Superman destroyed the power dampening devices, restoring everyone's powers. He then explained to everyone that they'd never lost their powers - it had been psychological. They took down some more robots and realized they were nowhere near Earth (near Saturn). They began destroying the ship in hopes of getting the Auctioneer back onboard. They happened upon the communications center and put a major dent in it. When the Auctioneer "went offline," he returned to the ship. Livewire set the rest of the abductees free. When they threatened to destroy his database, the Auctioneer agreed to put everything back on Earth where it belonged. Back home, Clark wondered about the alleged third Kryptonian and the ship the Auctioneer had been chasing...