Superman #23.3: H'el # 1 2013 3D Lenticular Cover 2013 NM

Superman #23.3: H'el #1 2013 is a standalone comic book published by DC Comics on September 18, 2013, acting as the finale to the Superman family titles during the "Villains Month" event.

The book is famously enclosed in a 3D Motion Lenticular Cover designed by Gene Ha. When tilted, the cover shifts dynamically between a portrait of Superman and the scarred, hollow-eyed face of his chronologically displaced adversary, H'el.

A Complicated Time-Travel Premise

Written by Scott Lobdell with pencils by Dan Jurgens, the issue serves as a direct epilogue to the H'el on Earth crossover event:

• Waking on Krypton: Following his climate-shattering defeat at the hands of the Superman family, H'el is sent backward through time. He awakens in a comatose state on Krypton roughly a decade before the planet explodes.
• The Care of Jor-El: He is discovered by a young scientist, Jor-El (Superman's future father), who monitors his recovery for six months. H'el still carries a shard of a green crystal embedded in his chest—a wound dealt by Supergirl.
• Astral Revelation: While floating around the laboratory in an astral form, H'el watches Jor-El design a secret prototype space ark. Jor-El explains his plan to seed the galaxy with Kryptonian artifacts and basic cells. The ship is named after the House of El—which is truncated directly as H'el.

The Mind-Bending Twist

H'el experiences a brutal psychological breakdown when he realizes that his entire life story—being a loyal astronaut chosen by Jor-El to preserve the planet's heritage—was a completely fabricated, artificial memory. He is not an actual Kryptonian explorer; he is merely an amalgamation of the basic test cells inside Jor-El's automated time capsule that absorbed deep-space radiation, essentially creating himself via a time paradox.

Driven mad by the truth, H'el breaks out of the medical containment bay, rampages through the facility, and alters the genetic material inside the ship to match his own cells before sending it off. The issue ends with H'el violently snapping General Zod's neck, setting up a dark, alternate timeline on Krypton.