Adventures of Superman 0, 517 - 531, 578, 582 - 583

There’s a scene in Adventures of Superman #583 where Batman, having been killed (again) by The Joker, revives and claws his way out of the grave Superman dug for him. It’s a splash page with two inset panels. The two panels show Batman’s gloved hand breaking out of the surface, in true horror movie fashion. The splash page itself shows a Batman, free from the waist up, continuing to claw his way out. His face is mostly in shadow, and with the pointed “ears” of his cowl, along with the agape mouth, he looks feral, driven by instinct as much as madness. The panel is both awesome and terrifying. At the same time, it took me out of the story completely because it reminded of a very similar scene, one written by the same man who wrote #583, J.M. DeMatteis. That other scene was written 13 years earlier, and was a Spider-Man story. That story, like this one, featured the apparent death of a hero, Spider-Man, who of course wasn’t really dead and who also had to claw his way out from his own grave while the rain pours down. Here are the two images, for comparison’s sake:
 

Adventures of Superman #497 - 499

It occurs to me that this November will mark the 20^th anniversary of the Death of Superman. It’s becoming somewhat disconcerting to reach the 20^th anniversary of my personal cultural touchstones. Last year it was a musical potpourri of anniversaries, as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, and U2’s Achtung! Baby hit the 20-year mark. (As did Rush’s Roll the Bones, but most of you are probably scratching your heads and going “Who?” rather than be overcome by visions of dancing skeletons pseudo-rapping , so let us stick with things more culturally shared. But if you want to know what you’re missing....)

Something tells me the death of Superman won’t be as popularly commemorated as much as Nevermind or Ten was, although I’m sure DC will be trotting out commemorative editions and special issues a’plenty when the time comes. But what may be forgotten is that when Superman died, the media frenzy was astounding. News programs led with the stoy, magazines featured it on their cover. Superman’s death was treated as a cultural milestone equivalent to the death of a king or president. While in current times you can kill off Captain America and every article ends with placing bets on his eventual return, when DC announced Superman would die, the media pretty much believed the hype that one of the biggest icons in America had gone to that great big Fortress of Solitude in the sky. It was like the death of a celebrity long passed their prime--nobody realized just how important Superman was until he was gone.

Action Comics 760 - 766, 769 -770

It’s been over two weeks since I started writing this entry. I still can’t figure out why I can’t say anything about these issues, although the three rough drafts suggest that there is something to say, even if’s to provide an excuse to italicize as many words as possible. There seem to be three threads running through these drafts. Let me summarize them:

1. Explaining why I would begin collecting a comic after I had stopped collecting it.
2. Explaining the editorial shift in the Superman comics circa 1999.
3. Analyzing the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman. Again.

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 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.