Superman: Up, Up, and Away, like the newly de-powered Man of Steel featured in this story, does not soar, though it does leap a few tall buildings in a rather impressive manner. Up, Up, and Away is a soft Super-relaunch, tasked with reinvigorating the Superman comics line in the wake of DC Comic's mega-crossover Infinite Crisis, without actually restarting Superman's continuity. The trade, written by DC superstars Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek, hits all the right notes and revitalizes all the right characters--Jimmy Olsen is loyal; Perry White's the gruff. cigar-chomping boss; Lex Luthor's the villain — and atones for plenty of Super-sins of the past, but at times the writers' apologizing gets in the way of the story itself.

One year after Infinite Crisis, Clark Kent is still without powers, though he's made great strides in regaining his previously lost Daily Planet job. Clark is investigating Lex Luthor and the Intergang criminal organization, making him a target for both, and a stream of his enemies, including the Prankster and Bloodsport, come after him. Clark is able to overcome his mental block to bring his old powers back (and some new ones), in time for Lex to take revenge on Metropolis with an ancient Kryptonian warship. Superman defeats Lex, receiving the crystal necessary to build his Antarctic Fortress of Solitude.

Up, Up, and Away has all the trappings of both an origin story and a classic Superman tale. The protagonist, our Clark Kent, starts out de-powered and unsure of himself, and finished confident and Super. The villain, of course, is Lex Luthor, as it should be, and the story's mystery is tied to Superman's Kryptonian origins. There are salutes here to both Superman Returns and the Smallville series, and aspects of the plot strongly mirror the movie. Moreover than the somewhat disappointing Superman Returns: The Prequels comic book released around the same time as the movie, Up, Up, and Away is a comic I'd be comfortable giving to a fan of the Superman movies and knowing they'd enjoy it.

One of the main tenets of Infinite Crisis was to rebuild the camradery between the superheroes, and Up, Up, and Away demonstrates this almost immediately. Supergirl swoops in to save Clark Kent without any of the previous awkwardness in Superman and his cousin's relationship. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl fill in for Superman at one point, and at another, a whole army of heroes tries to come to his aid. This is comforting, on one hand, as the great mistrust between the superheroes had become grating, but at the same time, I found myself skeptical that so many heroes would be allowed to know Superman's secret identity. Before now, Superman barely seemed to know Hawkgirl, but here she joins him on a secret mission. I was surprised that we did not see a reunion with Batman here, though that might have taken away from Superman's "return," and I imagine the authors were holding that for the beginning of the new Justice League of America series.