Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinWhere legends live since 1969

Death of who now?

§ August 30th, 2019 § Filed under death of superman § 4 Comments

So J. Caleb sez on the Twitters, he sez

And yeah, ain’t that the truth, and if you don’t believe it, make with the clicky on that “death of superman” category link at the top of this post here. Longtime readers, and even shorttime readers, know I’ve been yapping about this stupid thing almost since Day One on this site, and just like clockwork, if said clock runs a little slow and the alarm is kinda sad and distorted, I’m back on my blogging nonsense about it every few months or so. I won’t say it’s me working out the trauma of having been behind the counter of a comic shop at the time of the original release of that DoS funnybook, purt’near 30 years ago, but it did something to my brain.

Anyway, there it is. And the reason I’m bringing it up yet again for you to read is, no, not because you lost a bet, but because there’s more Death of Superman stuff a’comin’. Yes, I said new stuff. How many big, specific comic book events can you name that have just kept on keepin’ on, with comic creators going back to that same well again and again for story inspiration, references, remakes, what have you? The Dark Phoenix Saga, maybe? For a while it felt like they were picking at that scab in every issue of X-Men, back when there was only one X-Men title. Infinity Gauntlet, to some extent? I suppose Crisis on Infinite Earths, in a way, as pretty much everything going on at DC now stems from dealing with how Crisis and creators responding to Crisis made things even more complicated, with more and more Big Events piled on that original one as “fixes.”

I mean, whatever, people build on what’s come before in these shared superhero universes. But the “Death of Superman” goose has continued to supply golden eggs of varying value in the nearly three decades since someone at the Superman plotting retreat finally got that “yes!” to their regular suggestion to off Big Blue.

One thing I discovered quite by accident was The Death of Superman: The Wake, a trade paperbck solicited in the August orders:

I was just browsing the digital comics on the DC Universe streaming service when I spotted Chapter One of this story, which it turns out was a 12-page digital-only mini-series. Well, digital-only until they were all collected in this paperback. It relates “what happened before, during and after the battle with Doomsday that cost Superman his life!” the solicit info says. From what I read of that first chapter, it looks like events may be tweaked slightly to match current (or semi-current) continuity. Those of you holding out hope that the Lex-Luthor-disguised-as-his-own-Australian-son storyline will hold true may find themselves disappointed.

Now here’s the title J. Caleb singled out in his post:

Speaking of comic stories that go back to a specific well, that DC Metal series is the gift that just keeps on giving, what with featuring the Dark Multiverse and all. Specifically, this story goes into how the Death went down on Evil Earth or whatever they’re calling it. I’m guessing “a lot more shadows,” but we’ll see.

And then of course what kid doesn’t want to play with the more cheery superhero action figure playset of all time:

Unclear if those sound effects are extra little props that come with the figures. In a good and just world, they would.

This of course isn’t the first action figure set commemorating the Superman/Doomsday battle, but, with doing no research into the matter whatsoever, it may very well be the first set with an alternate Dead Superman head:

…or maybe he’s just sleeping, they’re your figures, play with them how you’d like. That’s kind of what he was doing in the first place. …Oh, SPOILERS, by the way.