The Death of Superman
While the death of Superman is remembered for creating a market of speculators buying comics purely out of financial interest, it did also attract many genuine readers like myself to the medium. I had never bought a comic before at this time in my life, but like most of the Superman fans of my generation, this was the event that hooked us. Coming in after the death, I didn't even read Superman #75 until years later, and some of the issues this month I'm still reading for the first time.
Superman: The Man of Steel #19
Doomsday part 6Doomsday arrives in Metropolis. Cut down to two panels per page now, we see Superman and Doomsday causing a lot of property damage while Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen watch from a helicopter above, and Ma and Pa Kent watch on their TV at home in Smallville. Lex Luthor II finally lets Supergirl join the fight, but she's taken out with a single punch and falls to the ground as a mass of protoplasm. Professor Hamilton, the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, and Team Luthor all join in the battle but can't seem to stop the monster's rampage. Engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the beast, Superman vows to stop Doomsday "even if it kills me."
Side note: this was one of the first comics I ever bought.
Superman #75
Told entirely in splash pages, the final moments of the life of Superman seem to move in slow motion. In the middle of the fight, Superman rescues Lois when the Daily Planet's helicopter crashes. He promises her no matter happens, he will always love her, and then he jumps back into the fight. Superman and Doomsday punch each other so hard the windows shatter on the Daily Planet building. Then they simultaneously strike each other with a death blow, and they both fall.
In the last third of the book, the art starts to bleed to the full edge of the page. Full bleed printing is prevalent in every comic book these days, but at the time this was as dramatic an effect as the Cinerama screen expanding to full aperture. The last page of the comic is a glossy gate fold on the inside cover that opens up to show Lois Lane and the fallen Man of Steel on not just two, but three pages! Superman #75 featured different variant covers for newsstand and comic book stores, plus a limited edition foil "platinum" cover. Some of these effects are so commonplace today that modern readers can't fully appreciate the extent that they were considered gimmicks at the time. There's effectively only 26 panels to the story, so not much really happens while at the same time something major happens.
Justice League of America #70
Bloodywind declares Superman dead on the scene and the shattered Justice League goes back to their compound to recover. Other heroes start to convene, almost making this the first post-Crisis assembly of the original team (Flash, Aquaman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman). The gathered heroes all put on black Superman armbands, just like the one that came polybagged with Superman #75. Bloodwynd assures them all that the League will survive, this speech would have more relevance later when they find out that he's really the Martian Manhunter in disguise. Ice creates a statue of ice to memorialize the Man of Steel; although Guy Gardner takes her gesture as a personal sleight, he puts aside his differences and mourns Superman out of respect. Inside the compound, Booster Gold keeps watch over the comatose Blue Beetle, hoping that he won't have to mourn his best friend next.
Adventures of Superman #498
Back in Metropolis, the S.C.U. makes sure Doomsday is dead and several futile attempts are made to try to resuscitate the Man of Steel. Cadmus comes to the scene and tries to claim the bodies of both Doomsday and Superman for scientific research.
Watching the news with Cat's son, Jose Delgado contemplates bringing the Gangbuster out of retirement. Also watching on TV, Ma and Pa Kent cope with the possibility of losing their only child.
The Planet staff starts to realize that Clark Kent is one of the thousands of people who have gone missing in Doomsday's rampage. Lois tries to remain strong, but it's difficult having to maintain Clark's secret identity while also mourning her dead fiance in secret. Her well-meaning co-workers think they understand her anguish, but they don't know the half of it.
Action Comics #685
Funeral for a Friend part 2Cadmus creates a media blackout as they try to take the bodies of Doomsday and Superman. Furious, Lex Luthor II and the mayor intervene, and with orders from the White House they send Cadmus back to their base empty-handed. As they drive off, the Guardian starts to ask himself if director Westfield has gone crazy just like Dabney Donavan.
From a phone booth at a gas station, Lana Lang calls the Kents to share her grief with her two closest friends who knew Clark's secret identity too.
Lex Luthor II is taken to see Superman's body, but he loses control in a violent rage. They think he's just distraught because Superman has died, but he's secretly angry that he's been cheated out of his vengeance.
Incarcerated criminals and villains around the city start to hear about the Man of Steel's passing, and Supergirl goes into action to try to fill the void. Just like on the cover, she raises a car over her head in homage to Action Comics #1. To remind us that she's a different Girl of Steel, we even get a Matrix-like scene where she freezes some bullets in mid-air and then sends them back at her attackers.
At the Ace 'O Clubs, Bibbo closes the bar early, and in the darkness questions why God would let Superman die. With Superman gone, we really start to see how Kal El had a lot of complex relationships with the members of his supporting cast, and the different ways they process their emotions is what makes this story so unforgettable.
Starting this issue, we get a weekly series of remarkable HIV/AIDS pubic service announcements by DC Comics with the National AIDS hotline, the GMHC, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.
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