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The Death of Superman is a comic book storyline (culminating in Superman #75 in 1992) that served as the catalyst for DC Comics' crossover event of 1993. The completed multi-issue story arc was given the title The Death and Return of Superman. The Death of Superman wa

History

The Death of Superman is a comic book storyline (culminating in Superman #75 in 1992) that served as the catalyst for DC Comics' crossover event of 1993. The completed multi-issue story arc was given the title The Death and Return of Superman. The Death of Superman was reported to be the "best selling graphic novel of all time" in a commercial for the animated version of "The Death of Superman" titled Superman: Doomsday although the validity of the claim has been questioned. [1]

The storyline's premise is as simple as its title: Superman engages in battle with a seemingly unstoppable killing machine named Doomsday in the streets of Metropolis. At the fight's conclusion, both combatants die from their wounds.

The crossover depicted the world's reaction to Superman's death in "Funeral for a Friend," the emergence of four individuals claiming to be the "new" Superman, and the eventual return of the original Superman in "Reign of the Supermen!"

The storyline, devised by editor Mike Carlin and the Superman writing team of Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel, met with enormous success: the Superman titles gained international exposure, reaching to the top of the comics sales charts and selling out overnight. The event was widely covered by national and international news media.

Origin

The story of The Death of Superman's conception goes back to the 1985 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths. Following that event, DC Comics rebooted their continuity and relaunched the Superman character with the mini-series The Man of Steel, written by John Byrne. However, due to disputes with DC, Byrne left the Superman books and was replaced by Roger Stern. While the stories continued from Byrne's revamp, sales slowly dropped. In an effort to attract female readers, the Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman love triangle, in place since 1938, would be changed. Thanks to John Byrne's revamp, Lois was already falling in love with Clark Kent, rather than with Superman. In a story arc titled "Krisis of Krimson Kryptonite", Clark proposes to Lois; she accepts. Although the road was set for the marriage of Lois and Clark, an unforeseen event would change these plans.

Warner Bros., the owner of DC Comics, had canceled the Superboy television series produced by Alexander Salkind. (Salkind produced the first three Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, as well as the Supergirl movie. Warner Bros. created their own Superman television series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, premised upon a romantic relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman. One of the ideas that arose during production was the wedding of Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman. Warner Bros. learned that DC Comics was planning a similar plotline in the Superman comic books, and as a result DC, Warner Bros., and the Superman writing staff came together and reached an agreement: the Lois and Clark wedding arc in the comic book would be put on hold, to resume once the Lois & Clark TV show reached its wedding episode.

With the original storyline set aside in the comic, an original event was needed to replace it. According to a documentary on Superman: Doomsday, the Superman writing team members were miffed at having a year's worth of story planning put aside, and flustered for ideas. At the end of one meeting, Adventures of Superman writer Jerry Ordway suggested, jokingly, "Let's just kill 'im." The joke became a running gag in story meetings, but eventually gained traction with Superman group editor Mike Carlin. In the documentary film Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman Carlin states: "the world was taking Superman for granted, so we literally said 'let's show what the world would be like without Superman'."

Storyline

Doomsday

On the last page of several comics prior to Superman: The Man of Steel #18, a gloved fist is shown punching a steel wall, accompanied by the caption: "Doomsday is coming!" In that issue, Superman fights the Underworlders while a hulking figure in a green suit rampages through a pastoral field. This marks the first of seven issues in the "Death of Superman" story proper, which would continue through all four of the Superman books at that time, and one issue of Justice League of America, before culminating in Superman #75.

The Justice League (Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Maxima, Fire, Ice, and Bloodwynd) respond to a call from a smashed big-rig outside of Bucyrus, Ohio, and follow the trail of destruction which leads them to a confrontation with the mysterious creature. It Blue Beetle's aircraft and then systematically takes the team apart, finishing by punching Booster Gold into the stratosphere. Booster Gold is caught in mid-air by Superman, and declares "It's like Doomsday is here," thus providing the monster with a name.

The Man of Steel arrives on the scene, having cut short a television interview with Cat Grant in Justice League America #69. He and the able-bodied League members follow the threat to the home of a single mother and her two children, where their battle with "Doomsday" destroys the house. The League attacks Doomsday with all their energy-projection powers; the only discernible effect is that much of his bodysuit is blasted or burned off. Doomsday again defeats the League, causes the house to explode into flames, and then leaps away. Superman follows, having to ignore the son's cries for help if he is to stop Doomsday.

Superman throws Doomsday into the bottom of a lake, slowing him down long enough so that the Man of Steel can return and save the mother and her infant daughter. After Doomsday escapes from the silty lake bed, he and Superman tear up a city street. Maxima then re-enters the fray. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are sent to cover the battle for television, while Lex Luthor II dissuades Supergirl from joining the fight. The fight continues at a gas station, where Maxima rips a light post from the ground; the sparks from the wiring ignite the leaking gasoline and the station is destroyed in a huge explosion. Guardian arrives after Doomsday leaves, finding Superman and Maxima, and offers his aid.

Superman then follows Doomsday's trail of destruction, waiting for an opportunity to attack. With the monster's rampage drawing closer, Lex Jr. convinces Supergirl that she's needed in Metropolis while Superman is fighting elsewhere. While demolishing an appliance store, Doomsday sees a TV commercial for a wrestling show being held in Metropolis, and after seeing a road sign for Metropolis, heads in that direction. Superman engages him and throws him in the opposite direction, where he lands on the mountain housing Project Cadmus. They brawl throughout Habitat, a living forest connected to Cadmus, bringing most of it down. When the superhero Guardian arrives, Doomsday knocks him down and leaps toward Metropolis.

Doomsday is driven below ground, where he ruptures gas and electrical mains, leveling Newtown, a large section of Metropolis. Supergirl goes to Superman's aid, but a single punch from Doomsday knocks her to the ground, her form destabilized. Professor Hamilton and Bibbo, Superman's allies fire a laser cannon at Doomsday, but it does not harm him. The local police open fire on Doomsday, but again, he is not harmed. Superman returns to the fight.

Superman and Doomsday lay into each other with everything they have. They strike each other so hard that the shockwaves from their punches shatter windows. At the struggle's culminating moment, each fighter lands a massive blow upon his opponent. The two titans collapse and moments later, in the arms of a frantic Lois Lane, Superman succumbs to his wounds and dies. Jimmy, Ice and Bloodwynd are also present at the end.

The climactic event happened in Superman #75 (vol. 2). The issue only contains 22 panels, and every page was a single panel, which was a structure building on the previous issues—Adventures of Superman #497 was done entirely with four-panel pages, Action Comics #684 with three, and Superman: The Man of Steel #19 with two. The entire story was immediately collected into a trade paperback and titled The Death of Superman.

Funeral for a friend

The funeral that followed featured many of Superman's fellow heroes and friends, including most of the Justice League of America, and a mausoleum was built in Metropolis in honor of the Man of Steel. During this time, every hero in the DC Universe sported a black arm band featuring the S-Shield logo. Some time later, Project Cadmus stole Superman's body from his mausoleum. It was hypothesized that they were attempting to clone him. The body was recovered by Lois Lane and Supergirl.

The stories after the funeral often dealt with the emotions felt by the general public as well as specific characters entwined within Superman's world, including Lois Lane, Clark Kent's parents, and even a number of supervillains. Also, the (then) President of the United States, Bill Clinton and wife Hillary were included in a scene during the funeral. With Superman gone, crime rises up again and the costumed heroes of Metropolis rise to fill in as protectors. Supergirl, Gangbuster, Thorn, and even Team Luthor, a Lexcorp-sponsored team, all tried but were not sufficient. Meanwhile, Jonathan Kent (Earth-One) took the death of his adoptive son the hardest and as a result suffered a heart attack. At this point, all Superman comic titles went on a three-month hiatus.

The story was also collected into trade paperback form. Rather than using the banner title Funeral for a Friend, the title used for the collection was World Without a Superman.

Adaptations

Roger Stern adapted the Death of Superman storyline into a novel, entitled The Death and Life of Superman, in the summer of 1993. It was released in hardcover form and then in paperback a year later. (Hardcover ISBN 0-553-09582-X, Paperback ISBN 0-553-56930-9) A young adult version book was written by Louise Simonson under the title Superman: Doomsday & Beyond and released at the same time as the hardcover of Death and Life. It features cover art by Alex Ross, his first sale to DC.

Also in 1993, Dirk Maggs produced an audio dramatization of the story for BBC Radio 5, entitled Superman: Doomsday & Beyond! (retitled Superman Lives! in the US), featuring Stuart Milligan as Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El & the Eradicator, William Hootkins as Lex Luthor, Lorelei King as Lois Lane, Vincent Marzello as Jimmy Olsen, Garrick Hagon as Jonathan Kent, Kerry Shale as Connor Kent/Kon-El/Superboy & Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman, Eric Meyers as Guy Gardner, Denica Fairman as Maggie Sawyer, Liza Ross as Supergirl, Burt Kwouk as Doctor Teng, and Leon Herbert as Dr. John Henry Irons/Steel. Original Music by Mark Russell.

A scrolling beat-em-up video game called The Death and Return of Superman was released by Blizzard Entertainment and Sunsoft for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Mega Drive.

Coincidentally, The Death of Superman was also the title of the last episode of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, although its story was completely different.

Superman: Doomsday

At Comic-Con '06 Bruce Timm announced that he would produce the Death of Superman story as a Direct-To-DVD (or DTV) project, which was titled Superman: Doomsday, with Adam Baldwin as The Man of Steel, with Anne Heche as Lois Lane, and James Marsters as Lex Luthor (Earth-One).

During an interview with Newsarama.com, Timm explained that the story would cover the entire trilogy of The Death of Superman, World Without a Superman, & Reign of the Supermen. However, it was necessarily simplified since the film runs only 75 minutes.

A trailer released in June 2007 showed a slightly altered animation style from that of the regular DC animated universe. Lois and Superman have a relationship, but The Man of Steel hasn't revealed his identity to Lois until the end of the film, even though she already knows. Lex Luthor II and Supergirl are not in the film; present is a similar Lex Luthor to that of the DCAU — the corrupt tycoon of LexCorp; the fight between Superman and Doomsday occurs at night (instead of during the day, as it did in the comics); there are fewer Supermen; among other changes and differences.

The film was screened twice at the San Diego Comic-Con '07 as a special sneak preview on Thursday, July 26th. Both reactions and reviews were positive.

The DTV film was released on September 18th, 2007. It made its US broadcast premier on the Cartoon Network Saturday July 12 2008 at 9:00 pm EST.

Awards

The trade paperback The Death of Superman received the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Novel or Album for 1992. The storyline of The Reign of the Supermen won the Comics Buyer's Guide Award Favorite Comic Book Story for 1992.

Issues

Issues in event have not yet been added.


Recommended Reading

The Death of Superman, World Without a Superman, The Return of Superman, The Death and Return of Superman

Links and References

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