Superman's death

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Logo of the original 1993 comic book multipart The Death of Superman

Superman's death (in the original The Death of Superman is) the title of a multi-part comic story published by the American US DC Comics from the year 1992 / 1993 published as well as the designation for the cross to the real world media event that triggered by this comic story and the over-naming for various adaptations of the material under different (sometimes slightly different) titles in other media.

At the heart of the plot of the story is Superman's encounter and battle with a destructive alien creature named Doomsday . The argument between the two opponents culminates in the heroic death of the title character of the Superman comics , who is considered the founder of the superhero genre named after him .

The story arc of the first part The day on which Superman died runs through a total of seven individual issues and ends in the anniversary edition US Superman (Vol. 2) # 75, in which the hero is killed fighting Doomsday. Following Superman's death , DC released two more with the eleven-part story “Funeral for a Friend” and the twenty-three-part story “The Reign of the Supermen” Multi-part. The entire story was first published in German by Carlsen Verlag in seven anthologies. The German version of the novel by Goldmann Verlag was given the title Superman - The gripping story of his adventures .

background

The story of Superman's death dates back to the mid-1980s. At that time, the comics about the DC superheroes were given a general overhaul due to declining sales figures (see Crisis on Infinite Earths ). The old Superman stories from 1938 to 1986 were annulled and the stories (but not the comic series) about Superman were restarted. Mainly responsible for the revision of the material were the authors John Byrne and Marv Wolfman .

One of the most important innovations that Byrne and Wolfman built into the Superman comics was that they used the old relationship triangle (Superman loves Lois Lane , but wants to win her over in his secret identity as Clark Kent and therefore rejects her as Superman; Lois Lane, in turn, loves Superman, but does not want to know anything about Clark Kent). In Byrne and Wolfman's recast of the subject, Lois Lane's interest in Superman was reduced to a purely professional interest, while her romantic attention was now increasingly focused on Clark Kent.

By late 1990, this story arc was so developed that the Superman comics writing team (then composed of Jerry Ordway , Roger Stern, and Dan Jurgens ), under the guidance of editor Mike Carlin, carefully considered Clark Kent and Lois Lane to get married in a future issue . After the two characters were engaged in US issue # 50 of the main Superman series, the authors' plans were to start the television series Superman - The Adventures of Lois & Clark , which also shows the romantic relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent came into focus, initially overturned. The entertainment company Warner Brothers , owner of Superman publisher DC Comics and creator of the television series, saw it as more commercially promising to have the wedding of Lane and Kent in the comics happen at the same time as the wedding that would culminate the television series. Accordingly, the authors of the comics had to postpone their plans for the wedding until further notice - more precisely until the development of the television series had also reached the point of the wedding.

When the question of what kind of stories should be told instead of the planned wedding storyline was discussed during an editorial conference, Ordway jokingly suggested that Superman "just kill". The idea, which was not originally meant to be taken seriously, finally developed its own momentum. In spring 1992 the editorial team agreed to take the step and let Superman die (temporarily). The driving force behind this was Mike Carlin, who was fascinated by the idea of ​​“showing the world what a world would look like without Superman”.

The project was led by Dan Jurgens, who developed the framework and created the monster Doomsday, which was to play the role of the Superman killer. In addition to Jurgens, Stern, Ordway and Louise Simonson , the author of the series Superman: The Man of Steel , were the authors of the individual issues of the saga, which was initially divided into seven parts . These four also wrote the sequels "Funeral for a Friend" and "The Reign of the Supermen" together with Karl Kesel , William Messner-Loebs and Gerard Jones .

action

Note: The Carlsen Verlag chapter names are given. Panini Comics and Eaglemoss used slightly different names.

The day Superman died

The first indications that an important story about Superman would soon appear was built into the four Superman comic books published in November 1992 by the authors and illustrators of the various Superman series. In the US issue Superman: The Man of Steel # 17 appears on the last page, detached from the actual plot of the story in this issue, a sequence of panels showing a large gloved hand hitting a massive metal wall . At the end of the page it says "Doomsday is coming ..." (German roughly: "Doomsday is near ..."). This is repeated in the three following editions (US editions Superman # 73, Adventures of Superman # 496 and Action Comics # 683).

US- Superman: The Man of Steel # 18 finally begins with a scene in which you can see again how the hand from the previous editions hits the metal wall and finally breaks through it. On the following pages, a large, green hooded figure emerges from an underground room into the open air in a forest in the US state of Ohio . The stranger immediately proves to be extremely aggressive and begins to devastate the forest by killing harmless animals and destroying entire groups of trees with just one free hand. On its way, the creature paves a path through rural Ohio in a wild destructive rage. First encounters with forest rangers, sheriffs and highway crossings soon show that the creature is not only strong, but also extremely resilient. Neither bullets nor a direct impact with a truck can harm it.

The reports of what happened in Ohio call for the Justice League of America , a superhero team led by Superman. However, since Superman is currently in Metropolis , his teammates set off without him to deal with the danger. The team's superheroes ( Booster Gold , Blue Beetle , Guy Gardner , Ice, Fire, Maxima and Bloodwynd ) quickly prove to be inferior to the unknown, are easily defeated by the latter and sometimes seriously injured (US Justice League of America # 69 ). Now Superman arrives too and transports the creature to the bottom of a lake. After Doomsday has freed himself from the lake, he fights with Superman in a small town, where Maxima also joins them again. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are sent as a reporter, Lex Luthor Jr. on the other hand keeps Supergirl from getting to intervene in the fight.

After Maxima had a gas station explode, the Guardian came and offered his help. Superman follows the path of devastation, waiting for a chance to attack the monster. Meanwhile, Lex Jr. makes Supergirl fly to Metropolis while Superman fights elsewhere. While destroying an electronics store, Doomsday sees an advertisement on TV for a wrestling match taking place in Metropolis , and when he sees the road sign pointing to the city, he makes his way there. Superman hits him with a punch that hurls the creature in the opposite direction. He lands on the site of Project Cadmus , the area of ​​which is severely damaged in the battle between the two.

Doomsday nevertheless reaches Metropolis and is driven to a fight beneath the surface by Superman. Now Supergirl comes to the rescue, but a single blow from Doomsday knocks her down; since it consists of so-called "protoplasm", it loses the solid form of its body. Professor Emil Hamilton and Bibbo Bibbowski try to stop Doomsday with a laser cannon, but they don't succeed. Even the police cannot harm the overpowering enemy. Once again, Superman intervenes in the fight.

The two opponents attack each other so strongly that the pressure wave of the hits on each other causes all the panes in the area to burst. In front of the Daily Planet building , both of them strike a huge blow that causes both of them to collapse. Doomsday stops moving and the bloodied Superman dies in the arms of Lois Lane.

A world without Superman

Funeral for a Friend sets moments after Superman succumbs to his injuries at the scene of Superman's death on the street in front of the Daily Planet building. After the attempts of friends and helpers to bring the lifeless hero back to life with the help of a defibrillator and other aids fail, the following issues consistently investigate the impact of the death of the “man of steel” on his environment and the rest regularly appears in his adventures.

Lois Lane and the Kent couple - d. H. the fiancée and foster parents of Superman's alter ego , the reporter Clark Kent - not only have to deal with their grief over the loss of their beloved partner and son, but also come up with an explanation as to why Clark Kent, of whose double life only a few initiates know, disappeared without a trace at the same time as Superman's death. Other recurring minor characters of Superman comics, like the young photographer Jimmy Olsen (a protégé Kent), Superman's choice cousin Supergirl (Matrix), Superman's scientific advisor Professor Hamilton, or Bibbo Bibowski, Superman's self-proclaimed "biggest fan" in order in their grief shown the dead friend.

Superman's body is buried in a large-scale heroic funeral in a memorial in Centennial Park, the counterpart to New York's Central Park , in Superman's hometown of Metropolis . Not only do many of Superman's superhero colleagues like Wonder Woman , Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), The Flash (Wally West) and (as a secret observer) Batman attend the funeral , but also US President Bill Clinton , who gives the funeral oration , and his wife Hillary . A large gold-colored Superman statue will be erected above Superman's crypt in the middle of the park to honor the deeds of the dead, showing the hero in a classic pose with an eagle on his left arm.

While the petty criminals of Metropolis try to seize the opportunity for themselves, some of Superman's opponents ponder his death: Lex Luthor is bitter that what he sees as a "primitive monster" (ie Doomsday), him, the " great genius ”for the opportunity to kill Superman himself. The Toyman , on the other hand, is seriously worried about the death of his opponent, in whom he saw a “good man” despite his constant “interference” in his plans. The alien bounty hunter Lobo, on the other hand, is angry because Doomsday has robbed him of the opportunity to collect a "fat bounty" for the murder of Supermans at some point.

New difficulties arise as agents of the Cadmus project , a secret government project of the US government, which u. a. researching extraterrestrial genetic material, stealing Superman's corpse. The plan of the head of Cadmus (the resourceful Paul Westfield) is to clone the dead hero and thus create an army of supermen who are subservient to him. Lois Lane and the Fiends - a group of clones who fled Cadmus and now inhabit the Metropolis sewers - finally manage to break into Cadmus' laboratories, snatch Superman's corpse from Westfield's violence and bring it back to its grave.

Superman's return

In the final part "The Reign of the Supermen" (Eng. "The rule of the Supermen") is shown how different people take the place of Superman's; These are Steel (the mechanic John Henry Irons) , the Eradicator (the "last son of Krypton", an artificial intelligence ), Superboy (a clone of Supermans and Lex Luthors) and the cyborg Superman (Hank Henshaw) . As it turns out, he works with Mongul , an extraterrestrial dictator from the so-called Warworld ( Eng . "War World "). Originally they wanted to take revenge on Superman together, ruin his reputation, kill him and transform the earth into a new Warworld. At the start of this transformation process, Coast City , the home of the hero Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), is destroyed in order to build the so-called Engine City on its ruins . The place should serve Mongul as a nucleus for the transformation of the earth.

Superman's essence has meanwhile been collected in the fortress of loneliness and transferred back into his body so that he can return - now temporarily with long hair. With the support of Green Lantern, Steel, Supergirl, the Eradicator and Superboy, he ultimately succeeds in triumphing over Cyborg and Mongul.

Reactions

Superman's death generated immense echo in the American media. Among other things, the major American daily newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times as well as the major American television stations reported on the events of the storyline.

Dan Jurgens, who, as the creator of Doomsday, had realized what had been thought impossible - the defeat and death of the legendary comic hero after more than fifty-four years of uninterrupted adventure - became better known than the creature Doomsday itself through reports and feature articles on the subject, especially after him News stations like CNN nicknamed him "The Man Who Killed Superman". The response in popular entertainment programs such as the late night show hosted by Jay Leno , in which the presenter wore a black mourning bracelet with a red Superman emblem on his upper arm for several weeks, caused additional hype about the "icon butcher" Jurgens. The massive pressure with which the readers of the Superman comics and the general public reacted to the daring step of the Superman authors - even US President Bill Clinton made a critical comment on the storyline and called it sad that his term in office will be after the election Heralded in 1992 with the death of what is arguably the most important icon of American pop culture - ultimately resulted in a regular campaign to revive Superman. Many protest and threatening letters were received by DC. In the letters directed against DC, the Warner corporation as the owner of DC, and against Jurgens himself, it was emphatically demanded that the move be reversed. The authors of the Superman series gave in to some of the pressure and accelerated the hero's "resurrection", which had been planned and prepared in advance. Despite heavy public criticism of the event - which was later often referred to as artificial hype - the saga of Superman's death and resurrection sold millions of copies, making it Warner's top-selling project in 1993; For the first time in the company's history, no film was the most profitable project of a year.

Adaptations

The comic book writer and writer Roger Stern , one of the co-authors of the original comics, wrote a several hundred-page novel in the spring of 1993 - while the sequel to Superman's death was still on the US comic market - which retold the entire plot of Superman's death and return. The novel was published in the summer of 1993 under the title The Death and Life of Superman and became a great commercial success. He stood for several weeks in first place of the bestseller list of Time Magazine . The novel was published in German as Superman - The gripping story of his adventures by Goldmann Verlag . The content differs slightly from the comic template. B. Reduced the participation of the Justice League .

In the same year, Louise Simonson , also a co-author of the original comics , presented the novel Superman: Doomsday & Beyond , which was aimed at a particularly youthful audience and accordingly the plot in the depiction of brutality and romance compared to the comics and the star novel version throttled.

The British radio station BBC Radio 5 produced an audio book version of the material under the title Superman: Doomsday & Beyond (originally published as Superman Lives! ) In 1993. Directed by Dirk Maggs . The actors Stuart Milligan (Superman / Clark Kent) and William Hootkins (Lex Luthor) worked as voice actors on the audio book .

In September 2007, Warner Home Video released the cartoon Superman: Doomsday . This is based on "The Death of Superman" and the two following storylines and reproduces their plot in a strongly condensed and sometimes varied form. Large gaps in the original plot were inevitable , as the film's producer, Bruce Timm , told the online magazine Newsarama , in order to be able to reproduce the story in a running time of 75 minutes. Superman: Doomsday was in the United States as a direct-to-dvd releases. In the original English version, there were also some prominent actors who gave individual characters their voices. B. Adam Baldwin (Superman), Anne Heche (Lois Lane) and James Marsters (Lex Luthor).

As part of the DC Extended Universe , the theme of Doomsday is taken up again in the 2016 feature film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice . The three-hour long film not only processes content from The Day on which Superman died but also from Batman - The Return of the Dark Knight .

In 2018, The Death of Superman was again shown in an animated film, the story of the death of Superman.

parody

As a comic for the US cartoon series The Simpsons , the three-part story The Death of the Comic Type (originally five-part as Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book , 2010), which depicts the (apparent) death and return of Jeff Albertson, the comic dealer in Springfield , discussed.

Further development

Green Lantern

When Hal Jordan wanted to restore his hometown of Coast City and receive more power from the Guardians of the Universe , the Guardians refused to do so. Jordan killed all the Guardians and Green Lanterns that stood in his way, took the rings off them and became possessed by the almost almighty parallax from a dip in the central energy battery. In US Green Lantern (Vol. 3) # 48 (1994) Jordan destroyed the central battery. His desire to reverse the destruction of Coast City resulted in Zero Hour . H. almost the end of the universe, which could only be stopped with the united help of all heroes of the DC Universe . The last guardian, Ganthet, gave the last Green Lantern power ring to the Earth man Kyle Rayner.

Doomsday

In the miniseries Superman / Doomsday: Hunter / Prey , published in 1994 , the origin of the monster was examined: on the planet Krypton , the geneticist Bertron wanted to create an almost perfect being that defied death using evolution. The monster that was ultimately created destroyed all other living beings, including its creator. Doomsday began a path of death and destruction through the universe and eventually came to earth.

Savior

Savior (real name: Ramsey Murdoch; first appearance: US Action Comics # 705, December 1994) considered the returned Superman to be a fraud and therefore repeatedly attacked him directly.

Superman: Day of Doom

In 2003 the four-part mini-series Superman: Day of Doom (author and illustrator: Dan Jurgens) was released. In it, Daily Planet reporter Ty Duffy writes a report on the anniversary of Superman's death and looks back on the events.

Further deaths of Supermans (selection)

In comics, as well as in film and television, there were repeated deaths of Superman's, especially in stories (such as Elseworlds ) that have no further consequences in the normal Superman chronology.

Silver Age

In the imaginary story The Death of Superman! (OT The Death of Superman! ) From US Superman # 149 (November 1961, published in the so-called Silver Age of Comics ; author: Jerry Siegel , illustrator: Curt Swan ) becomes Superman from his eternal adversary Lex Luthor through the use of kryptonite murdered. Luthor is banished to the Phantom Zone by the Kandorians as punishment . Unlike the death of the hero in US Superman (Vol. 2) # 75, which is mentioned relatively briefly, this story was added to the collection of 1001 Comics You Should Read Before Life Is Over (2012).

DC Universe Online

The comics for the online game DC Universe Online (2011/12) tell how Lex Luthor , who is allied with Brainiac , kills Superman with the help of kryptonite , but then finds out that he has been deceived. Luthor travels back in time to warn the heroes about Brainiac.

The New 52

At the beginning of the US series Earth 2 (July 2012) it is shown that the Superman of the earth-2 (together with Batman and Wonder Woman ) was killed while defending the earth against Darkseid's army.

In the US issue of Superman (Vol. 3) # 52 (July 2016), Superman, weakened by kryptonite poisoning, tried to absorb a large amount of energy after one of his sun peaks, which consumed his body from within. At the end of The New 52 , the Superman of this release period died as part of the multi-series story The Final Days of Superman .

expenditure

comics

Original storylines:

  • "The Death of Superman" (includes US editions Action Comics # 683-684, Adventures of Superman # 496-497, Justice League of America # 69, Superman # 73-75, Superman: The Man of Steel # 17-19 )
  • "Funeral for a Friend" (includes US editions Action Comics # 685-686, Adventures of Superman # 498-500, Legacy of Superman # 1, Supergirl and Team Luthor # 1, Superman # 76-77, Superman: The Man of Steel # 20–21)
  • "The Reign of the Supermen" (includes US editions Action Comics # 687–692, Adventures of Superman # 500–505, Green Lantern # 46, Superman # 78–82, Superman: The Man of Steel # 22–26)

US anthologies:

  • "The Death of Superman" (reprint of the booklet of the storyline of the same name)
  • "World Without Superman" (reprint of "Funeral for a Friend")
  • "The Return of Superman" (reprint of the booklets of "The Reign of the Supermen")

Millennium Edition :

  • Superman (Vol. 2) # 75 (Reprinted Aug 2000)

Translation, Carlsen Verlag :

Translation, Panini Comics :

Translation, Eaglemoss :

  • DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection # 18: The Death of Superman , Hamburg 2015 (only part 1)

Novels

English:

German:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman (2006) on YouTube , accessed on February 24, 2017 (English).
  2. ^ Christian Heiss, Jörg Krismann, Heiner Lünstedt: The everlasting fight (1988 - tomorrow) ; in Hit Comics Spezial # 2, Karicartoon Verlag , March 1999, pp. 28-36.
  3. ↑ Superman Vol 2 75. dc.wikia.com, 2017, accessed March 7, 2017 (English).
  4. ^ The Writer Who Killed Superman Just Reinvented Him - In 1992, a mild-mannered writer from Minnesota killed Superman. It was kind of a big deal. chireviewofbooks.com, 2017, accessed December 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ So Superman's final battle with Doomsday takes place here at night, while in the comics it took place during the day; there is only one false Superman instead of four; Supergirl, Lex Luthor II and Mongul are not incorporated into the plot.
  6. ↑ German editions: Simpsons Comics presents: The Death of the Comic Type # 1–3, Panini Comics , June – October 2011; Simpsons Comic Collection # 24 , Panini Comics , February 2019, ISBN 978-3-7416-1076-9 .
  7. ^ German editions: JLA Special # 1 ( Green Lantern ), Dino Verlag , January 1998; JLA special volume # 3 ( Zero Hour ), Dino Verlag, February 1998, ISBN 3-932268-43-1 .
  8. ^ German edition: Superman / Doomsday , Carlsen Verlag , 1996, ISBN 978-3-551-72397-0 .
  9. ↑ Ramsey Murdoch (New Earth). dc.wikia.com, 2017, accessed March 5, 2017 .
  10. ^ Savior. comicvine.gamespot.com, 2017, accessed March 5, 2017 .
  11. ↑ German edition: DC Premium # 24 ( Superman: Todestag ) , Panini Comics , May 2003, ISBN 3-89921-502-8 .
  12. ↑ German edition: Superman Anthologie (= DC Hardcover # 27) , Panini Comics , August 2018, ISBN 978-3-7416-0783-7 .
  13. ^ Andrew Littlefield: The Death of Superman. In: Paul Gravett (ed.), Andreas C. Knigge (transl.): 1001 comics that you should read before life is over , Edition Olms , Zurich 2012, p. 224, ISBN 978-3-283-01157 -4 .
  14. ↑ German editions: DC Universe Online Legends # 1-5, Panini Comics , 2011/12.
  15. ↑ DC Universe - Lex Luthor kills Superman! (Animation film) on YouTube , accessed on March 4, 2017 (English).
  16. ^ German edition: Erde 2 special volume # 1 , Panini Comics , March 2013, ISBN 978-3-86201-591-7 .
  17. ↑ German edition: Superman: The last days of Superman , Panini Comics , February 2017, ISBN 978-3-7416-0101-9 .