10 days after his son's death, depicts young Clark Kent's friendship with a boy named Sam who gets cancer. Tim Sale provides the art for the story in a style reminiscent of the Superman for All Seasons miniseries. Mark Verheiden Superman writer and Smallville producer Mark Verheiden took over Superman/Batman with issue #27. In "Never Mind" (issue #27, illustrated by Kevin Maguire), The Superman and Batman of Earth-Two discover that their minds have been transferred by the Ultra-Humanite and the original Brainwave into the bodies of Power Girl (Superman's cousin) and the Huntress (Batman's daughter). If they cannot reverse the process in time, the women's personalities will soon reassert themselves and destroy the men's consciousness, killing them. In "The Enemies Among Us" (issues #28–33, illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver for Parts 1–3, with Matthew Clark picking up Parts 4–5 and Joe Benitez concluding with Part 6), Superman, Martian Manhunter and other alien superheroes are being controlled by an entity known as Blackrock, which later infects Batman when he takes the rock to successfully stand up to Superman. After Superman visits Lois Lane to be reminded why he fights for Earth, he is able to force Blackrock to leave Batman by convincing it that he will kill his friend to spare him being used by the rock. Tracking Blackrock to its source, they discover that it was actually being 'led' by Despero, who convinced an alien race that Earth was not worth saving by giving them access to Superman's mind during a period of self-doubt. Challenging the aliens to read his mind again, Superman convinces them that they were wrong about Earth. In "A.I." (issues #34–36, illustrated by Pat Lee), Superman and Batman are introduced to Will Magnus and his malleable, shape-shifting Metal Men for the first time (in Post-Infinite Crisis continuity). Bruce Wayne hires the Metal Men as security guards. They go on a rampage and steal a prototype OMAC unit. Alan Burnett Known for his work on the DC Animated Universe and The Batman television series, Alan Burnett took over as writer of the series with issue #37. In "Torment" (issues #37-42, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen), Superman is psychologically tortured by the Scarecrow and brought to the war planet Tartaros by DeSaad. DeSaad plants a mind-controlling spike in Superman's head, and sends him to retrieve Highfather's staff from the Source Wall, which Darkseid plans to use to restore his