Adventures of Superman #500 - 504

After “Funeral for a Friend” wrapped up, all the Superman titles suspended publication. After all, Superman was dead so there seemed little point in continuing his titles, right?  It was actually a nice stunt on DC’s part, as it did lend to the illusion that Superman truly was dead. Plus, it gave DC added publicity when it announced, three months after the titles stopped, that Adventures of Superman #500 would be released, and that Superman might not be dead after all.

Action Comics 800, 900

I like round numbers. In my review of Action Comics #600 I talked about the importance of milestone issues, how impressive and difficult it is for a title to reach 100 or 200 consecutive issues, to say nothing of 600. It had taken 50 years to reach that milestone, and another 15 years to reach #800. A lot had happened in the 15 years since then. In those intervening years, Superman had died and lived to tell the tale, had gotten married, and had much of the Silver Age trappings restored to his mythology. For the comicbook industry, it had seen the end of newsstand sales and the implosion of the direct market, with sales mere fractions of what it had been less than a generation before. And for me, I grew up, went to college, became an adult, and quit comics.

Quitting comics was mostly, though not entirely, a financial decision. I had lost my job in the Spring of ’02 and the job I found afterwards was paid significantly less money. Suddenly my $40 a week habit was a luxury I could no longer afford.  But I had also been culling the number of titles I was collecting throughout 2002. If my inventory database is to believed, I had reduced my comicbook buying by over 40% over the course of 2002. As these last few reviews can attest, there was a growing dissatisfaction with the stories being told --or at least in the stories being told in the comics I read. As I reach the titles I was collecting up until I stopped, I’m sure I’ll start to poke at the why’s and wherefore’s of this.  But for the moment I’m content to simply acknowledge that whatever satisfaction I was getting from comics was no longer enough for me.

But the truth is I’ve never quit comics completely. Yes, the weekly buying is gone, but I’m still picking up the occasional trade paperback, still browsing Wikipedia and various comicbook web sites to keep at least somewhat informed of the latest twists and turns. And every once and a while something happens that gets me into a comicbook store to buy an actual single issue. In 2003, that something was the 800^th issue of Action Comics. 

Action Comics 710 – 717

In issue 711, at the climax of “The Death of Clark Kent”, when Superman confronts Conduit, he does something very dramatic: Superman takes off his costume, offering to fight his enemy not as Superman but as Clark Kent. After all, Conduit is really Kenny Braverman (subtle, huh?), Clarks childhood friend. It is Clark that Kenny has grown to hate; it is Clark’s life that Kenny has been systematically attacking for the last two months worth of comicbooks. It’s a powerful moment, as it clearly illustrates that there is a difference between Superman and Clark Kent. Except everything else in this story, as well as what follows, shows there’s no difference between the two at all.

Action Comics 701 – 703, 0, 704 – 709

What if each issue of Action Comics really was a month in the life of Superman? It would mean his life would be like this:

May: Stop Lex from using Kryptonian battle suit to ruin city

June: Fight Bloodsport on a bridge

July: Participate in semi-annual DC Universe cross-over event; meet an alternate-timeline version of parents; watch the universe get destroyed (again).

August: Fight old home-town friend now out to kill me

September: Track down Eradicator because I think he’s making me crazy

October: Continue to go insane; steal a body from S.T.A.R. Labs and fight the Special Crimes Unit.

November: Let Supergirl take the spotlight while I share a plane ride with Perry White

December: Fight hi-tech ninja but finish in time to spend New Years with Lois

January: Get caught in a trap with Mr. Miracle

February: Fight a possessed Guy Gardner

Whew. No wonder they needed skip weeks.

Action Comics 692 – 700

Now that I’ve read the next eight issues of Action, after being significantly bummed out from reading the “Reign of the Supermen” stories, I’m now feeling a little more confident in the decisions my 18-year-old self made. Granted, deciding to collect (or not to collect) a comicbook isn’t exactly on the same scale of decision-making as, say, what college to go to, or what career path to take. But if my run of Action Comics were to be an encapsulation of my collection in total, based off my reaction to the last batch of issues I reviewed, it would be disconcerting to think the majority of my collection would be something that doesn’t hold up to more adult scrutability. This isn’t to say these eight issues are shining examples of the best the medium has to offer, but much like A. Bizarro, I found them to be (mostly) enjoyable for what they are: fun, slightly breezy, entertainment.
 

Action Comics 684 - 686

I remember the day I learned Superman was going to die. I was in some comicbbook store I had never been in before and the guy working the counter pointed to a small article they had posted up. I don’t know where the article was, but definitely some sort of trade magazine (Comics Buyers Guide, perhaps?) that announced DC was going to kill off Superman in the 75^th issue of his series. It was a small article, and it seemed so unbelievable that DC would truly kill one of the most widely recognized characters in the world.

A few months later my friend Scott Miller and I were at the Freehold Raceway Mall, checking out the mall’s comicbook store, Comic Relief. Superman #75 had been released and there was a massive line leading into the store. I think the size of the mob was also due to fact that the issue’s inker, Brett Breeding, was there to do a signing, although my memory may be playing tricks on me with that one. But the line was unforgettable. People who never read comics before were lining up to get a piece of history.  To witness the death of Superman.

Action Comics 662, 667, 674, 675

What is the difference between reading comics and collecting comics? Although, now that I’m asking, I realize that “difference” may be the wrong word to use.  I think the better question is: “what is the relation between reading comics and collecting comics?” I think it’s a Venn diagram, with collecting in one circle, reading in another, and me in the overlapping area. Such is the sort of things reading these next few issues of Action Comics have me thinking about.

As I’ve said before, I never began reading Superman stories because I liked Superman. I read them because I was hoping that particular issue would be worth money sometime down the road. But what soon started happening—and I see it happening in these four issues—is that while I first came for the collecting, I stayed for the reading.  Clark Kent revealing his secret identity to Lois—that’s a milestone that could be valuable down the line (it isn’t). All the double-sized issues celebrating the new Superman comics . . . well, that might be worth something for the Eradicator storyline (it isn’t). But buying all parts of “Panic in the Sky!”? Yeah, that one was definitely done just for the storyline.