Comic Title: Best of DC #32
Publisher: DC (DC Comics Inc.)
Address: 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
Cover Date: January 1983
On Sale Date: October 7, 1982 Newsstand Date October 7, 1982
Source: Comic Reader, #205

Newsstand Date October 7, 1982
Source: Comics Journal, #76

Newsstand Date October 7, 1982
Source: Amazing Heroes, #15

Copyright Date September 14, 1982
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1982
DC publication dates beyond April 1981 listed by the LoC
represent shipping dates NOT newsstand sale dates

Frequency: Monthly
Cover Price: $1.25
Page Count: 96
Editor: Julius Schwartz

See Also: The Guide to DC Giants

Title: "The Ultimate Battle"
Pages: 22

Feature(s):
Superman (of Earth-1)

Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Murphy Anderson

Reprinted From:
Superman #242 (1971)

Feature Character(s)

• Superman (last appearance in Superman #241; next appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #139)

Guest Star(s)

• Diana Prince (last appearance in Superman #241; next appearance in World's Finest Comics #204)

Supporting Character(s)

• Jimmy Olsen (last appearance in Superman #240; next appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #139)

Villain(s)

• The sand Superman (last appearance in Superman #241; no further appearances)
• An entity from Quarrm (last appearance in Superman #241; no further appearances)
• Stewpot and Gemmi (small-time hoods; no further appearances)

Guest Appearance(s)

• I-Ching (last appearance in Superman #241; next appearance in World's Finest Comics #204)

Other Character(s)

• Several unnamed doctors (no further appearances)

Comments:
This story is continued from Superman #241.

Synopsis:
Superman confronts an entity from Quarrm who has taken the body of a demon. With his powers drained, Superman is unable to fight at full strength. Two small-time thugs, Stewpot and Gemmi, beat up the Man of Steel and leave him for dead. They then convince the entity to follow their orders. The entity then rages havoc across the city.

Jimmy Olsen finds the unconscious Man of Steel and gets him to the hospital. Doctors operate to save his life, while Jimmy, I-Ching, and Diana Prince wait out his recovery. Meanwhile, the sand Superman confronts the Quarrm entity. He only possesses a third of Superman's strength, while the creature has the rest, so he is defeated. The entity eventually stops following the orders of the hoods and heads for the hospital where Superman remains in bed.

At the hospital, the creature attacks Superman. The Man of Steel regains some of his power from the creature, then teams with the sand Superman to force it back through the tear in the dimensional plane to send it home. The sand Superman refuses to return home as well. It challenges Superman to a fight to the finish. I-Ching shows them both a vision of the world in which such a fight would occur. The world would be destroyed in the conflict. Horrified by the results, the sand creature agrees to return to Quarrm. It takes with it a portion of Superman's power, leaving him less powerful than before the creature's arrival.