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 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.