Reign of the Supermen
| "The Death of Superman" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Publisher | DC Comics | ||
| Publication date |
Over three arcs: "Doomsday!" October 1992 - November 1992 "Funeral for a Friend" January - June 1993 "Reign of the Supermen!" June - October 1993 |
||
| Genre | |||
|
|||
| Main character(s) |
Superman Eradicator Superboy (Kon-El) Steel Cyborg Superman Lois Lane Justice League Doomsday Supergirl (Matrix) Lex Luthor Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) Mongul |
||
| Creative team | |||
| Writer(s) |
(All 3 arcs) Dan Jurgens; Louise Simonson; Roger Stern (Arcs 1 and 2) Jerry Ordway (Arcs 2 and 3) Karl Kesel (Arc 2 only) William Messner-Loebs (Arc 3 only) Gerard Jones |
||
| Penciller(s) |
(All 3 arcs) Jon Bogdanove; Tom Grummett; Jackson Guice; Dan Jurgens (Arc 2 only) Dennis Janke; Denis Rodier; Walt Simonson; Curt Swan (Arc 3 only) M. D. Bright |
||
| Inker(s) |
(All 3 arcs) Brett Breeding; Doug Hazelwood; Dennis Janke; Denis Rodier (Arcs 1 and 2) Rick Burchett (Arc 2 only) Mike Machlan; Ande Parks; Josef Rubinstein; Trevor Scott; Walter Simonson (Arc 3 only) Romeo Tanghal |
||
| Editor(s) | Mike Carlin | ||
| The Death of Superman | ISBN | ||
| World Without a Superman | ISBN | ||
| The Return of Superman | ISBN | ||
| The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus | ISBN | ||
"The Death of Superman" is a 1992 comic book storyline that occurred mostly in DC Comics' Superman titles. The completed multi-issue story arc was given the title The Death and Return of Superman.
In the story, Superman engages in battle to stop a killing spree with an immensely powerful and seemingly unstoppable creature of unknown origin named Doomsday across the United States. At the fight's conclusion, both combatants apparently die from their wounds in the streets of Metropolis in Superman (vol. 2) #75 in 1993.
The crossover depicted the world's reaction to Superman's death in "Funeral for a Friend," the emergence of four individuals believed 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. The storyline was loosely adapted into a 2007 animated film, Superman: Doomsday.
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 miniseries "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, was changed. In a development based on events in 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.
...
Wikipedia