The Death of Superman
At the time (1992-93) this comic was an event and caused a sensation. But then with its success (it sold over 6 million copies) it became a kind of trend. Now superheroes, and indeed whole universes, are dispatched with ease. Because you can always bring them back in another timeline. Or, as happened in the case of Superman, have him regenerated somehow. It wouldn’t take long before The Simpsons were even mocking the whole thing as a “fake-out.”
I wouldn’t be quite that cynical, and I am a cynical guy. Sure you could call this a publicity stunt, but DC is in the business of drawing attention and selling comics. I don’t knock them for it. I was, however, a little disappointed at what they came up with for the Man of Steel’s final act.
This comic only contains the first of three story arcs that make up the Death of Superman cycle. It’s called “Doomsday!” which is the name of the behemoth who takes Superman down. Nowhere is it explained who or what Doomsday is. According to Maxima, who gets inside his head at one point, “He’s hate, death, and blood lust personified! Nothing more.” Huh. Later comics would go into his background, and it is kind of interesting, but here he’s just a juggernaut who destroys everything in his path. Why it takes so long for him to get out of his straitjacket wasn’t clear to me. Once we get a look at him he didn’t seem that striking in appearance, with his most distinguishing characteristic being the horny protuberances that stick out of his joints.
What really let me down though is that he’s dumb as a bag of sand. I would have thought Superman might have used his had and come up with a winning strategy given how predictable Doomsday is, but instead they just go toe-to-toe in a series of slobberknockers that turns the story into a repetitive slugfest, punctuated with sound effects like “KRAKATOOM!” and bellows of “GRAAUHRARR!”
It’s not a bad comic, and given the stakes you can excuse how seriously it takes itself. I also liked how the final issue is presented entirely in full-page drawings, with a final double-page spread of Superman expiring in Lois Lane’s arms. They really wanted this to be a comic for the ages. I don’t think they did though just because Doomsday is so limited a villain and there’s no plot to speak of at all. It does have a kind of primitive force to it though and is easy to remember, even if the rumours of Superman’s demise were, as everyone guessed, greatly exaggerated.
So annoying. People should stay dead really.
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In the real world, they usually do. 💀
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My favorite Superman story arc.
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Not a Superman fan? Liked seeing him getting pulverized?
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Oh, I was being serious, not snarky. This, World Without a Superman and Return of Superman were and still are, some of my favorite comics.
The sequel about Doomsday’s history, Hunter/Prey, wasn’t nearly as good.
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You’re more of a Superman fan than I am. I actually don’t follow him much. I thought the action here got repetitive but if you just want to see the big guys pounding away it delivers.
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And considering this was a real threat, the first time, it really hit home. It wasn’t until after this and Batman that the whole “resurrect” with handwavium became so common.
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Yeah and Marvel really ran with things in the whole multiverse angle. So sure heroes could get killed off, but only on Earth 61803. Every story arc could be quarantined in this way. Which was liberating for writers who wanted the freedom to go in new directions but like you say there was no real threat anymore.
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You mentioned The Simpsons, I’ll mention SNL. I saw a clip the other day from way beyond when I stopped watching the show. The world’s mad scientists have gathered to win a prize for the most evil invention or whatever. The first has a shrink ray, the second a freeze ray, and then the third — well, he’s made a robot that molests children. All the other scientists are like, Ooh, what’s the matter with you?!
This reminds me of that in that it seems like they should have found a way to get to Superman, the man of truth and justice, in a less obvious, but more intrinsically evil way.
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I remember that skit! Dwayne Johnson was the evil scientist. Made me think of the Family Feud skit they had with Ryan Reynolds as Donny Osmond and Bill Hader as John Phillips. Very edgy.
The plot here had nothing sophisticated about it. Doomsday is just a dumb brute. I couldn’t figure out why Superman didn’t come up with some plan or strategy to use his robotic destructiveness against him instead of going toe-to-toe with him over and over.
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That Donny skit isn’t available. I could read the transcript, but that’s no fun. : -)
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Really? Usually we’re the ones who have SNL blocked in Canada. Link is here anyway.
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I see what you mean. But edginess aside, I think “potholders” was a great answer!
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Better than I could have come up with on the spot. I’d die on any of these game shows.
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Sounds like they were more laser-focused on creating an epic death than an epic villain. Final issue in full-page drawings…yeah, they wanted this to really hit home with readers.
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They were definitely going for an epic look.
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