THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN (DC, 1992-1993)
Authors: Mike Carlin (editor) Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel (writers)
Background: I originally wasn’t planning on covering this storyline here, since it only crossed over the Superman family of titles (Superman, The Man of Steel, Adventures of Superman and Action Comics) but, since it DID involve other superheroes partially (the Justice League in the beginning, and Green Lantern in the final part) I decided to do it.
The idea of killing off Superman was an old one when they came up with this storyline; he had died in at least one “imaginary story” (DC’s old term for out-of-continuity stories) and suffered false deaths in-continuity (in at least one Justice League story.) However, this was the first time the idea was considered seriously since the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, so technically, for the modern version of Supes, it WAS his first death.
Not that it fooled most of us comic book fans. We knew pretty well that DC wasn’t going to really kill off their major character. Like with many other “dead”characters, it was obvious Superman would only “die” for a while, only to be brought back later, and likely very soon (I gave it one year; I was wrong- he came back in nine months.) It was the general media, for once showing a hilarious amount of comics-related naiveté, who believed the story was meant seriously and ended up giving the crossover an unexpected ton of publicity, which in fact caused DC to extend the story further than originally planned to milk it out. Ironically, originally the storyline planned was to marry Superman and Lois Lane –they were already engaged, in fact. But DC’s owners, Warner Brothers, were already using the characters in the TV series “The Adventures of Lois and Clark”, and a wedding was planned there too. So they told DC to put their wedding on hold until the TV show reached that point. This forced DC’s Superman comics writing team to come up another major storyline, and they decided that the (fake) death was going to be it. Btw, technically speaking this is actually three story arcs (The Death of Superman, Funeral for a Friend, and the Reign of the Supermen) but they’re just parts of a single story, so I’m covering them together.
Synopsis: The crossover, which like Panic in the Sky was effectively a weekly story running from one Superman title to the next, began when an unknown (and new) monster, Doomsday, burst out from the ground somewhere in North America, and began destroying everything on his path, for no reason at all (and never saying anything but growls). At first its appearance was hidden by a “spacesuit” but it was soon tore open in battle, revealing a creature not unlike the Hulk, but with grey skin, sharp bony protrusions everywhere and long white hair. The Justice League came to deal with it only to be easily beaten, with some members incapacitated. (Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern, had a leg broken; while Blue Beetle and Booster Gold lost their equipment) Superman shows up only to get bloodied too!! When the monster arrives on Metropolis and also incapacitates Supergirl (who you’ll remember was actually an android at the time) Superman, apparently realizing there was no time for plans or for more help to arrive, decides to go all-out with his strength. After a mutual punch-out that shattered windows for blocks around, both fell down, dying. Supes lasted long enough to die in Lois’ arms after asking if he had succeeded in stopping the monster.
Despite the best attempts of paramedics, no vital signs could be detected and he did not respond to attempts to revive him. Superman was declared dead. Doomsday, as the media named him, was also dead. The creature was then carried off by Project Cadmus, a secret government genetic testing laboratory hidden near the city.
A public funeral was held for Superman in Metropolis, attended by Lois, the League, most heroes and even Lex Luthor! (Who at the time was still pretending to be an honest businessman; secretly he was furious HE didn’t get to kill him.) He was also at the time romancing Supergirl (who had been created by a Luthor from another world) although it took her a while to self-repair. Afterwards she decided to take over protecting metropolis.
Naturally, the people hit the hardest where the ones closest to him –Lois, Pa and Ma Kent- none of whom could publicly reveal their ties to the fallen hero (out of fear of revenge by his enemies.) Pa even suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma. (Hmm, I don’t recall how Clark Kent’s simultaneous disappearance was explained at the time. I think Lois (who yes, already knew his identity) said he was on a secret assignment overseas or something.
Superman was buried on a tomb in the Metropolis Park. (Now that I think of it, the League could have claimed the body and given it to the Kents… but maybe they felt this was more proper.) It didn’t stay there for long, though: Cadmus stole the body! They tried to study his DNA only to find that he was STILL invulnerable and they couldn’t even scrap his skin off (though they did confirm his invulnerability was due to a skintight force field. Yes, this is canonical!) Lois and Supergirl, working together, found the body and got it back, restoring it to the tomb. (You know, the fact that the corpse was STILL superpowered should have been a clue that, maaaaybe, he wasn’t THAT much dead…)
Afterwards, they actually “cancelled” the Superman titles, for three months!! (This part was probably to fool the still-gullible general public into thinking that they really were going to leave Superman dead… and to help sell the Superman related merchandise, like those black armbands with the “S” logo on it. While that surprised me, I STILL didn’t believe it. I KNEW they were going to bring him back. What I didn’t foresee was the way they actually extended the storyline even further:
By bringing in not one, not two, but FOUR Superman pretenders, at the same time!!
One was a mysterious cyborg, who claimed to be Superman rebuilt with futuristic technology, though he didn’t remember by whom; another was a teenage clone (who insisted on being called Superman, not Superboy) created by Cadmus; another was a total mystery, a ghostly Superman who cold-bloodedly killed criminals, and operated out of the Fortress of Solitude; and the last wasn’t really a pretender a all, but rather a hero inspired by Superman: Steel, sort of DC’s version of Iron Man. Each of them was actually given one of the Superman titles to star in for a while. Pretty clever!
With Superman’s body found to be again missing, the public began to wonder if maybe one of the newcomers was really him! Meanwhile, Pa Kent had a “near death” experience where he helped his son’s soul to escape from the demoness called Blaze (with a little help from the Phantom Stranger). Pa awoke, certain that his son was coming back.
The Cyborg Superman found Doomsday’s body, took it away from Cadmus and left it on an asteroid, with a chip on it that would notify him if the monster ever revived. The “Last Son of Krypton” met Lois Lane and insisted he had Superman’s memories, but obviously not his emotions. He also had to re-charge his powers from a “solar battery” regularly.
Things started going crazy, however, when the Cyborg Superman attacked and apparently killed the Kryptonian, and captured Superboy! It turns out that this “Superman” is actually Hank Henshaw, one of the new Superman villains- a scientist who had been transformed by radiation into a pure energy being with the power to “possess” machines. Having found the spaceship that brought Superman to Earth (which contained traces of his DNA) he reformed it into the false Superman body. It turns out he had allied with Mongul to conquer Earth and turn it into another Warworld! To do this, they had to destroy two American cities and replace them with city-sized engines. Metropolis was going to be one of them; the other was Coast City, home of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who arrived from space too late to prevent the destruction of his hometown.
Fortunately, Superboy escapes the villains, looks up Steel, and both of them run into a huge Kryptonian battlesuit… that has the REAL Superman –alive- inside!! It turns out that HE was the “solar battery” the Kryptonian was using! The Kryptonian was actually the Eradicator, the Kryptonian computer Superman had found in space. Superman had destroyed it after it tried to take over his mind, but it had reformed- except now, because it had Supes’ memories, it was confused as to who it really was. It was him who had stolen Superman’s body, in hopes of healing him (which succeeded, because Superman had only been in a coma because he had been buried, preventing him from getting the sunlight his powers needed.) However by draining him of his energies to power himself, the confused "Last Son of Krypton” had revived Superman- without his powers!!
Naturally this was a hard story to swallow, but the other heroes had no time to ponder it. Joining forces, the Supermen –plus Supergirl and Green Lantern- attacked the villains. Lantern defeated Mongul, and the Super-Team prevented the Cyborg from destroying Metropolis. The Eradicator was left in coma, but not before passing his powers back to the real Superman. Then Superman destroyed the Cyborg’s body, though his essence escaped.
Afterward, the story was made public, and people welcomed back Superman (who, btw, now had long hair- it had grown while he was regenerating, and he kept the long-haired look for a few years; it didn’t really fit him, if you ask me.) Struck over his loss, Jordan left for space. Steel and Superboy continued their heroic careers with Superman’s blessing (in their own series.) Even Eradicator eventually came back, as a hero. Henshaw, however, would remain a super-menace. Oh, and Doomsday came back, too, years later. See what I mean about comic book death?
(Oh, and eventually, Doomsday’s origin was explained: it turns out, it was created on KRYPTON, thousand of years ago, as a mad experiment to create a lifeform that could return from the dead. The result was an insane monster who hated all living beings. It rampaged across the galaxy until an alien race managed to kill it, and buried it in a primitive planet… Earth!)
This story was adapted –in a much more condensed form- as the Superman: Doomsday animated movie. I don’t recommend it, though. Although impressive, it’s also much darker than the comics were.)
Oh btw, this story also had a profound effect on Hal Jordan: he went mad with grief, killed the Guardians of the Universe and stole their power, becoming the menace called Parallax. This was done to replace Jordan and the Corps with a single, new Green Lantern. A pretty bad idea that most fans hated, though the new Lantern did eventually grow on us. They still brought back Jordan and the Corps and the Guardians, anyway, though it took almost ten years. More on this later.)
My Opinion: As I said, I could tell that TDOS was a publicity stunt from the start; but, it was pretty well handed, with good storytelling, nice ideas (like the four Supermen) and pretty good art throughout. Using a made-up villain, especially a brutish, mute one, to kill Superman seemed a poor choice to me, but they later made Doomsday more interesting. And while I feel they stretched things waaaay too long, in general I feel this was a successful Superman crossover.
My Rating: Good
NEXT: Infinity Gauntlet Part Three: Warlock’s good side unleashed… in “The Infinity Crusade!”
Incidentally, their current crossover is called “Final Crisis” (it’s their FOURTH crossover with “Crisis” in the title) and, since DC isn’t likely to stop their universe-threatening stories anytime soon, we fans are hoping that it will at least be the 
