The Death of Superman

[Damaramu 0]

Ok let me first say that you all know I got back into comics about 6 months ago. And on top of that I was really only ever into Marvel. Well my friend with his 170 some odd trades and about 130 of those being DC trades introduced me to the world of DC comics. Let me just say.....I haven't looked back. Oh sure I still enjoy Spider-Man but that's about it. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on: Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, JLA, JSA, Batman, Nightwing, and so on.

 

Well I borrowed the Death of Superman trade from my friend and read through it and I was just thinking this.......seemed kind of anti-climatic.

I know when it came out people were going nuts. Well now that you've had time to reflect does it seem that way to you to?

 

And to the people that were into the comic industry at the time.....did you have that feeling? Did you think it was a cheap marketing ploy? And because I haven't really read further.....who was Doomsday? It just seemed like they created this ultra strong badass out of nowhere one day just so they could kill Superman.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

Even though I liked it and still like it--I actually like when the Leauge gets demolished--I still wonder how Booster, Beetle, and Guy--heck even Ice lived. I know it's comic world, but someone stronger than the Hulk shouldn't slam a normal human face first through cement and steel pipes and have that person live. Or break a car on someone. Despite that, I liked it--it was the first TPB I ever got as a young kid.

 

 

Oh yea, also Superman being KOed by the gas station was crap too.

[Damaramu 0]

Well why did they do this? Were comic sales down? Did they do the breaking of the Bat for the same reason?

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

Well why did they do this? Were comic sales down? Did they do the breaking of the Bat for the same reason?

The reason I've always heard is that Superman and Lois were engaged and the marriage was soon--but DC wanted the comic marriage and the Lois and Clark tv show marriage to correspond with one another--so they did the whole death and return of Superman deal to buy time for the wedding to occur in the series--so they could then do it in the comic.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

What pissed me off the most was the 4 Supermen with the company leaving you guessing which one was the real one and it turned out none of them were, what a fucking swerve.

 

By the way, if somebody could help me out with Superman / Doomsday rematch stuff:

 

How did Doomsday come back if Superman "killed" him? Was Doomsday origin ever revealed? How did Superman defeat Doomsday the 2nd time around without dying again?

[The Buzz 0]

Didn't he render him unconcious, tie him to some big rock, and then hurl him into space? For some reason I remember reading a comic where this happens.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

I'll try to explain some of the questions about Doomsday. The stuff's in the spoiler area.

 

 

Here we go.... Superman did kill Doomsday. It's just that the beast can bring himself back to life and evolve to overcome what did him in before. So, the Cyborg Superman (really the only one of the 4 that I think the story showed could have been Supes) threw him into orbit strapped onto a rock, so that he couldn't hurt people--well then the Cyborg turns evil, and is destroyed by Superman and Hal and the gang. But, the Cyborg left a computer chip on Doomsday to monitor him--and the Cyborg came back to life due to using the chip to replicate himself. He uses Doomsday as his partner, Doomsday beats on Darkseid--Darkseid hit Doomsday with an eye beam (doubt it was the Omegas though) and thought he'd won, but Doomsday jumped out of the rubble and clobbered him.

 

So, they give Superman a Motherbox, and he still can't totally win--so Waverider and Supes hurl Doomsday back to the beginning of time. Doomsday eventually comes back under Brainac's command and fights the JLA--which seemed somewhat odd that he would do so good, since the Leauge he fought was filled with second stringers, but this is the one with Wonder Woman, Flash, GL, etc. etc. Back to the story though, Superman wired a bunch of the League's teleporters to constantly beam into one another, and he threw Doomsday into them. So the guy would just bounce around in a teleport wave forever.

 

Of course, he got free, evolved to fly and shoot his bone claws out as projectiles. Also, he became smart--which harmed him in the long run, because as a monster he didn't fear Superman. Now that he can think, he knows that Superman can and will harm him, which makes him fearful. As of OWOW, Darkseid was keepind Doomsday on Apokolips as a super science project. I think he still might be there.

 

 

Ok.... now for the origin. Doomsday is Kryptonian. Well, a Kryptonian experiment. Some scientist took an animal, let it loose on a planet just to get killed by predators, then would take it's body and regenerate it and make it evolve a little. Do this over time, over and over and over again, and it evolves to beat the whole planet and becomes uber powerful and becomes Doomsday. He eventually got sealed into the pod he was in at the beginning of Death of Superman. Also, a young Darkseid was scared of him at some point in his life (I think). Doomsday also took on a ton of Green Lanterns as well before coming to Earth. So getting to Earth, Doomsday started killing stuff, and he hates Superman subconsciouly because Superman is from Krypton. Also he showed that Energy attacks don't do much to him.

 

Oh, and most importantly, Booster Gold named him Doomsday.

 

There you go with some Doomsday info, hope it helps.

 

 

 

 

[JasonX 0]

Well why did they do this? Were comic sales down? Did they do the breaking of the Bat for the same reason?

Knightfall was in the works long before the Death of Superman story (which was actually a last minute thing the writers came up with, when they had to scrap at the last minute their original plans for Superman #75 featuring the long awaited Clark/Lois wedding).

[starvenger 0]

Well why did they do this? Were comic sales down? Did they do the breaking of the Bat for the same reason?

Knightfall was in the works long before the Death of Superman story (which was actually a last minute thing the writers came up with, when they had to scrap at the last minute their original plans for Superman #75 featuring the long awaited Clark/Lois wedding).

Really? That's pretty impressive, actually. Although Jan Bogdanove's art still sucks. Reign of the Supermen wasn't great, but it did serve it's purpose in having people realize that the DCU needs Big Blue around.

 

Which leads me to another question:

- When did Superboy go to Balco or go on the HHH diet?

[Youth N Asia 0]

Also, there was some reveal that Doomsday saw Supes as his father, or the little grey man that was his head scientist...thus the urge to kill him. At least that's what they put in the Hunter/Prey mini

[pochorenella 0]

Very good recap, PlatinumBoy.

 

I do have the Death of Superman TPB, but it was mostly a case of being curious in the way he died 'cause God knows I don't like the Superman character AT ALL. In the end it was pretty disappointing IMO. Of course the mainstream media made it to be a huge event and with all the publicity the actual comic sold like 4 million copies or so. I mean really, like somebody else said in this thread, quite a few guys were totally massacred by Doomsday and ended up only with bruises and the like. For example, that Ice girl should be dead at least three times with the amount of punishement she got, and maybe even Gardner, too. And the final battle itself seemed so anti-climatic with all those single page spreads and that awful pacing. It didn't help that Supes gave perhaps the stupidest fight of his career when he's supposed to be uber-smart or something. No wonder Batman can kick his ass ever day, he's an incompetent fighter it seemsn at least from the looks of that fight.

 

And even the quality of the Trade itself is poor. What a piss-poor paper quality it has/had, and I know that's not the case with other DC trades. In the end it was just a big publicity stunt that breathed life to the near-death (sales-wise) title, but it proved short term only. Now they need people like Jim Lee to bring that blue boy scout to the top of the sales charts. When Lee leaves, watch those comics go down in sales as usual.

[Guest SP-1]

If you're referring to the old school "Super-Intellect" it's now kind of in the same limbo as him being able to contort his facial muscles all kinds of way and such. Alot of that disappeared with CRISIS.

 

I believe Superman has the potential to be the best. And within the confines of the DCU, he's recognized as the best and as the de facto leader. But it only works when the writer's focus on the MAN more than the SUPER.

[Damaramu 0]

Ok.....that's a pretty good origin. But still he just came out of nowhere. You would figure someone like Luthor or Braniac would do him in.

Can someone give me a rundown on the Supermen? Like who each one was and where they came from? And why they all appeared after Superman died?

 

Oh yeah and.......what was up with the blue superman?

[Guest BDC]

Okay, here's the breakdown as best I understand it.

 

There might be SPOILERS.

 

 

Cyborg: Actually someone that had the same DNA as Superman, but lots of technology. That was Hank Henshaw, someone that blamed Superman for his wife's death and had the identical DNA, but was human. (I don't get it either.) Turned out he was in league with Mongul and destroyed Coast City in an attempt to make Earth into a new Warworld.

 

Last Son of Krypton: It was the Eradicator, the weapon sent in Superman's capsule. I don't remember the full history, but he was the one responsible for Supes' actual return. But put plainly, he felt he was Supes' stand-in while trying ot recuperate Big Blue.

 

Superboy: a clone, but not of Superman. He was actually from Dubblix (I believe) and the human side was Lex Luthor. He was created at Cadmus and escaped before he knew what exactly his powers were. He had tactile telekenesis (namely could throw around things he could touch) and was pretty much less powerful that he thought he should've been.

 

Man of Steel: John Henry Irons, aka Steel, was pretty much the most out there character. Irons was a big black man originally from DC that had a connection with Superman from being saved when he fell off the upper levels of a construction site. He got trapped under the rubble when Doomsday and Superman knocked it down in their fight and clawed his way out. He had the ability to make weapons and armor because he had been a weapons designer that would literally blow you in half called a Toastmaster.

 

That's a quick n' dirty breakdown.

[Damaramu 0]

Those were pretty good. Anyone else want to add anything?

And there's still the Blue superman......and what happened to him exactly if he didn't die?

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Actually Superboy does have Superman's DNA, however at first they said that his human half came from Paul Westfield( The guy that ran Cadmus Project) now they changed it to Lex Luthor's. Superboy now appears to have Supes powers as well but has no idea how to use them. He has unknowningly triggered Super hearing, heat vision and x-ray vision during his run with the Teen Titans.

[Steviekick 0]

Those were pretty good. Anyone else want to add anything?

And there's still the Blue superman......and what happened to him exactly if he didn't die?

I'm assuming your talking about this:

 

Basically, Supes lost his powers for a while, they came back all crazy and energetic like for a while. Then back to normal.

[JasonX 0]

Basically, Supes lost his powers for a while, they came back all crazy and energetic like for a while. Then back to normal.

There was also a nonsensical twist where it was stated that him gaining the Electrical Powers and being split in two was part of a convoluted prophecy regarding Earth being attacked by a group of cosmic giants that would attempt to destroy the Earth.

[Steviekick 0]

Basically, Supes lost his powers for a while, they came back all crazy and energetic like for a while. Then back to normal.

There was also a nonsensical twist where it was stated that him gaining the Electrical Powers and being split in two was part of a convoluted prophecy regarding Earth being attacked by a group of cosmic giants that would attempt to destroy the Earth.

Ugh. That was during a really bad time in comics where I just couldn't get interested in anything due to it being crappy.

[Damaramu 0]

So does anyone here consider the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen good storylines?

And Doomsday didn't do the typical show up and be like "I'm an ultra badass! HAHAHA!"

*his next storyline*

"Ouch I'm a pussy! Don't hit me!"

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

So does anyone here consider the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen good storylines?

And Doomsday didn't do the typical show up and be like "I'm an ultra badass! HAHAHA!"

*his next storyline*

"Ouch I'm a pussy! Don't hit me!"

Maybe because it was my big opening into DC--I still remember reading only Marvel and then getting into Flash and being amazed Wally called people bastards and said damn--but I enjoy both for what they are. I like the early parts of Death, where the leauge throws everything at Doomsday, and some parts of the end, where they are slugging each other and getting nailed with energy bolts. Reign/Return was good I thought, Steel was fun and the assault on the Engine was good. Making Hal evil was not, but he was portrayed as the badass he should be in the comic (they show Hal > Supergirl, Superboy, and Steel all put together).

[Steviekick 0]

They actually made Hal cool during RotS.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

They actually made Hal cool during RotS.

I love the scene where he returns to earth and then just beats the living hell out of Mongul. Then later when he can't lift the sledgehammer and Mongul says he broke Hal's will and he comes back with something like "You broke my ribs, you broke my knee..." and then a green explosion and Hal emerges in a badass suit of futuristic armor and continues, "... but my will is something you will NEVER touch!" and then blasts Mongul.

[Guest JMA]

I really liked this storyline as a kid. In a way, it got me to start collecting Superman comics again. Now however, I'm not such a big fan of it. The super-mullet, the gun-totting Superman, Mongul being the Cyborg Superman's bitch, the typical "unstoppible monster" offing Supes, ect. If Superman HAD to die, it would've been better to have someone like Luthor, Brainiac, or Darkseid do the deed. But the story is fun in a beat 'em up, action movie kind of way. It also explored what exactly the DCU would be like with Kal-El dead.

 

The Cyborg Superman was really overexposed after this story. I always thought Parallax should have killed him for good.