Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #3
Published January 2010
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 3.99 USD
Pages 44
Editing Matt Idelson; Wil Moss (assistant editor)
Notes This issue went on sale 2009-11-25 (on time). "Printed by World Color Press, Inc, Montreal, QC, Canada. 11/18/09." Two covers were done for this issue; one featuring the Daily Planet staff in front of the globe, and an alternate one featuring Superman and Lois Lane (10 issues for 1 issue mixture).

Cover Details

Characters Clark Kent [Superman]; Lois Lane; Jimmy Olsen; Perry White
Genre Superhero
Pencils Gary Frank
Inks Gary Frank
Colors Brad Anderson
Letters typeset
Notes This cover blends in with the other covers in this series to form one continuous image.

Cover Details - "Variant Cover"

Characters Superman [Clark Kent]; Lois Lane
Genre Superhero
Pencils Gary Frank (signed)
Inks Gary Frank (signed)
Colors Brad Anderson
Letters typeset
Notes For every 10 copies of the standard edition, retailers were allowed to order one copy of the variant edition.

30 page Superman story "Mild-Mannered Reporter"

Characters Superman [Clark Kent]; Rudy Jones; Ron Troupe; Steve Lombard; Catherine Grant; Jimmy Olsen; Perry White; Lois Lane; Lex Luthor (cameo); Professor Vale; Jonathan Kent (flashback, cameo); Martha Kent (flashback, cameo)
Synopsis Clark Kent arrives in Metropolis for his first day as a reporter at the Daily Planet. Running late due to backups on Luthor Avenue, he rushes into the building, running into (literally) Rudy Jones in the elevator, who proceeds to bum Clark's lunch from him. After meeting some of the staff, he helps out Jimmy, currently working as an unpaid intern. He finally makes his way to Perry's office, who is arguing with Lois about her articles on Lex Luthor. After meeting Clark, Lois gets an idea on how he can help her with her latest story. The Planet has been banned from covering Luthor, but Lois uses Clark as a distraction to sneek into his latest press conference, held on the roof of his building. At the conference, Luthor announces he has developed a new metal alloy, Metallo, and has it demonstrated as a remote-controlled exoskeleton, strong enough to lift a helicopter. Lois is recognized and runs to escape, but a pursuing guard interferes with the exoskeleton, dropping the helicopter and forcing Lois off the roof, followed by the helicopter. Clark sees what is happening, rushes into an alley to change to Superman, and rescues her and the helicopter. She is amazed by him, but before they can say much, they are surrounded by a crowd, and Superman leaves. He thinks back to Smallville when his folks warned him about what would happen when he went public, and he is concerned that he made a mistake by revealing Superman's existence.
Genre Superhero
Script Geoff Johns
Pencils Gary Frank
Inks Jon Sibal
Colors Brad Anderson
Letters Steve Wands
Notes Story continues in the next issue. There are a lot of allusions to Superman [The Movie] (1978), from the look and personality of Clark Kent to the rescue of Lois and the helicopter.

1 page promo (ad from the publisher) "House Advertisement"

Notes House ad for: Blackest Night Collector Action Figures. Appears on page 40 in this issue.

1 page DC Nation promo (ad from the publisher) "November 25, 2009"

Script Ian Sattler
Pencils Nicola Scott
Letters typeset
Notes Ian shows off pencil art from Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1. Appears on page 42 in this issue.

11 page advertisement "Ads"

Notes Total of 9 one-page and 1 two-page ads for: Skyrunners (TV, Disney), Dragonball Raging Blast (video game, Bandai Namco), MD Macro (music, MDMacro.com), Doctor Who (TV, BBC America), Powerless (book, Alfred A. Knopf), Tekken 6 (video game, Bandai Namco), Avatar the Game (video game, Ubisoft), DC Heroic Holiday Gift Guide (sweepstakes: graphic novels, video games, DVD, dcholidaysweeps.com, 2 pages), Dragonball Z Attack of the Saiyans (video game, Bandai Namco), and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (online game, Square Enix). Appear in various places in this issue.