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The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1
30 years ago, the unthinkable happened. The Man of Steel died. After sacrificing himself to stop the unstoppable global threat, Doomsday, Metropolis and the rest of the DC Universe mourned the loss of their greatest hero. To mark this monumental moment in comics, DC has reunited the complete creative team behind the original event for four brand-new stories. Led by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding, the special kicks off with a new Superman story and villain…DOOMBREAKER! Followed by a series of short stories revisiting some of Superman’s greatest allies and exclusive pinups done by some of comics’ greatest artistic talent including LEE WEEKS, GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, and WALTER SIMONSON.
87 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 8, 2022
About the author
Dan Jurgens
2,322 books276 followersDan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Booster Gold, and for his lengthy runs on the Superman titles Adventures of Superman and Superman (vol. 2), particularly during The Death of Superman storyline. Other series he has been associated with include The Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1), Thor (vol. 2), Captain America (vol. 3), Justice League America, Metal Men, Teen Titans (vol. 2), Zero Hour, Tomb Raider: The Series, Aquaman (vol. 3), and the creator of DC Comics' imprint Tangent.
Jurgens' first professional comic work was for DC Comics on Warlord #63. He was hired due to a recommendation of Warlord-series creator Mike Grell who was deeply impressed by Jurgens' work after being shown his private portfolio at a convention. In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Jurgens would make his debut as a comic book writer with Sun Devils he began scripting from Conway's plots with #8 and fully took over the writing duties on the title with #10. In 1985, Jurgens created the character Booster Gold, who became a member of the Justice League. His first work on Superman was as penciller for Adventures of Superman Annual #1 (1987). In 1989, Jurgens began working full-time on the character when he took over the writing/pencilling of the monthly Adventures of Superman.
Dan Jurgens was the penciller of the 1990–1991 limited series Armageddon 2001 and co-created the hero Waverider with Archie Goodwin. In 1991 Jurgens assumed the writing/pencilling of the main Superman comic book, where he created a supporting hero named Agent Liberty. During his run on Superman, Dan created two major villains, Doomsday and the Cyborg. Doomsday was the main antagonist in the Death of Superman storyline. Jurgens wrote and drew Justice League America for about one year and in 1993 pencilled the Metal Men four-issue miniseries, which was a retcon of their origin story. Jurgens wrote and pencilled the 1994 comic book miniseries and crossover Zero Hour. He wrote and penciled layouts (with finished art by Brett Breeding) to the Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey miniseries, which was a follow-up to the successful Death of Superman storyline. In 1995 Jurgens and Italian artist Claudio Castellini worked on the highly publicized crossover Marvel vs DC. In the same year, he gave up the pencilling duties on Superman.
Jurgens scripted and provided layout art for the Superman vs. Aliens miniseries. The story was about a battle between Superman and the aliens created by H. R. Giger (a.k.a. the Xenomorphs), from the Alien film series. It was co-published by Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics in 1995.
In January 1996, Jurgens was writer and penciller of the new Spider-Man series, The Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1), at Marvel Comics. The title was initially conceived to be the flagship showcase for the new Ben Reilly Spider-Man (it replaced the Web of Spider-Man series). The initial seven issues (#0–6, January–July 1996) were written and pencilled by Jurgens. Jurgens pushed strongly for the restoration of Peter Parker as the true Spider-Man and plans were made to enact this soon, but Bob Harras, the new Editor-in-chief, demanded the story be deferred until after the Onslaught crossover. Jurgens had by this stage become disillusioned with the immense amount of group planning and constant changes of ideas and directions and took this as the last straw, resigning from the title. In a past interview several years after his Spider-Man run, Jurgens stated that he would like to have another chance on the character, since his run was with the Ben Reilly character during the Spider-Man Clone Saga, and not Peter Parker.
Jurgens had also written and pencilled Teen Titans (vol. 2) for its entire two year, 24 issue run. New Teen Titans co-creator George Pérez came on board on this incarnation of the Titans as inker for the se
Jurgens' first professional comic work was for DC Comics on Warlord #63. He was hired due to a recommendation of Warlord-series creator Mike Grell who was deeply impressed by Jurgens' work after being shown his private portfolio at a convention. In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Jurgens would make his debut as a comic book writer with Sun Devils he began scripting from Conway's plots with #8 and fully took over the writing duties on the title with #10. In 1985, Jurgens created the character Booster Gold, who became a member of the Justice League. His first work on Superman was as penciller for Adventures of Superman Annual #1 (1987). In 1989, Jurgens began working full-time on the character when he took over the writing/pencilling of the monthly Adventures of Superman.
Dan Jurgens was the penciller of the 1990–1991 limited series Armageddon 2001 and co-created the hero Waverider with Archie Goodwin. In 1991 Jurgens assumed the writing/pencilling of the main Superman comic book, where he created a supporting hero named Agent Liberty. During his run on Superman, Dan created two major villains, Doomsday and the Cyborg. Doomsday was the main antagonist in the Death of Superman storyline. Jurgens wrote and drew Justice League America for about one year and in 1993 pencilled the Metal Men four-issue miniseries, which was a retcon of their origin story. Jurgens wrote and pencilled the 1994 comic book miniseries and crossover Zero Hour. He wrote and penciled layouts (with finished art by Brett Breeding) to the Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey miniseries, which was a follow-up to the successful Death of Superman storyline. In 1995 Jurgens and Italian artist Claudio Castellini worked on the highly publicized crossover Marvel vs DC. In the same year, he gave up the pencilling duties on Superman.
Jurgens scripted and provided layout art for the Superman vs. Aliens miniseries. The story was about a battle between Superman and the aliens created by H. R. Giger (a.k.a. the Xenomorphs), from the Alien film series. It was co-published by Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics in 1995.
In January 1996, Jurgens was writer and penciller of the new Spider-Man series, The Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1), at Marvel Comics. The title was initially conceived to be the flagship showcase for the new Ben Reilly Spider-Man (it replaced the Web of Spider-Man series). The initial seven issues (#0–6, January–July 1996) were written and pencilled by Jurgens. Jurgens pushed strongly for the restoration of Peter Parker as the true Spider-Man and plans were made to enact this soon, but Bob Harras, the new Editor-in-chief, demanded the story be deferred until after the Onslaught crossover. Jurgens had by this stage become disillusioned with the immense amount of group planning and constant changes of ideas and directions and took this as the last straw, resigning from the title. In a past interview several years after his Spider-Man run, Jurgens stated that he would like to have another chance on the character, since his run was with the Ben Reilly character during the Spider-Man Clone Saga, and not Peter Parker.
Jurgens had also written and pencilled Teen Titans (vol. 2) for its entire two year, 24 issue run. New Teen Titans co-creator George Pérez came on board on this incarnation of the Titans as inker for the se
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 29, 2022
Is it blasphemy to say I enjoyed this more than the original?
This issue compiles four supplementary stories that consider the effect of Superman's death on others, as well as a bonus story along similar lines to the original.
The first story, in which Supes battles a Doomsday-like opponent, was a bit meh. I think because it was so much like the original that there wasn't really anything to get excited about.
The other three stories, however, were a fair bit of fun! Clark's parents reminiscing about all the good he's done really hammers home the loss of Superman, and was probably my favourite for that reason. It's a bittersweet blend of hope and tragedy. The story of Guardian and his attempts to reach Superman in time was okay but didn't contain a lot. The final story was another excellent contrast of good and loss - a man Superman saved once attempts to reach his side but is constantly held up trying to save others - just as the hero himself would have done.
I loved the emotions this collection invoked. It's a lot more personal, and we get to see how the death of Superman really impacted the world.
The art is stunning and there are some clever symbols hidden in amongst it, adding more strength to this issue. Plenty of nods to the original to keep the OGs happy.
I really enjoyed this, so can easily recommend this to others like myself that are fairly new to comics. Thankfully they re-released the original at the same time so it's easy enough to read both the old and new to compare. However those who remember the original will also appreciate this throwback.
An entertaining collection that does justice of remembering the original.
This issue compiles four supplementary stories that consider the effect of Superman's death on others, as well as a bonus story along similar lines to the original.
The first story, in which Supes battles a Doomsday-like opponent, was a bit meh. I think because it was so much like the original that there wasn't really anything to get excited about.
The other three stories, however, were a fair bit of fun! Clark's parents reminiscing about all the good he's done really hammers home the loss of Superman, and was probably my favourite for that reason. It's a bittersweet blend of hope and tragedy. The story of Guardian and his attempts to reach Superman in time was okay but didn't contain a lot. The final story was another excellent contrast of good and loss - a man Superman saved once attempts to reach his side but is constantly held up trying to save others - just as the hero himself would have done.
I loved the emotions this collection invoked. It's a lot more personal, and we get to see how the death of Superman really impacted the world.
The art is stunning and there are some clever symbols hidden in amongst it, adding more strength to this issue. Plenty of nods to the original to keep the OGs happy.
I really enjoyed this, so can easily recommend this to others like myself that are fairly new to comics. Thankfully they re-released the original at the same time so it's easy enough to read both the old and new to compare. However those who remember the original will also appreciate this throwback.
An entertaining collection that does justice of remembering the original.
January 7, 2023
This was alright.
The thing is Death of Superman is a big shifting point, both bad and good, for comics in general. But revisiting it 30 years later, can't help but feel was just a decent outing. Basically a retelling, mixed with different view points. Strongest being Clark's parents for sure. But the whole thing kind of feels just there, and doesn't add much. But I guess that's the point of a anniversary.
The thing is Death of Superman is a big shifting point, both bad and good, for comics in general. But revisiting it 30 years later, can't help but feel was just a decent outing. Basically a retelling, mixed with different view points. Strongest being Clark's parents for sure. But the whole thing kind of feels just there, and doesn't add much. But I guess that's the point of a anniversary.
November 14, 2022
A huge collection of mostly short stories directly tied into the original stories surrounding the Death of Superman.
These mostly range from Great to just OK, but there is enough here and it expands so directly from the original stories that you get a sort of series of preludes to the main event or at the very least different perspectives of major events.
I enjoyed the stories and the art was fantastic.
These mostly range from Great to just OK, but there is enough here and it expands so directly from the original stories that you get a sort of series of preludes to the main event or at the very least different perspectives of major events.
I enjoyed the stories and the art was fantastic.
November 19, 2022
Has it really been 30 years? The DC comics event that made national news is back for a special anniversary story. With original writers returning, we get a nice anthology of tales dealing with the people and the heroes that experienced the day Superman died. While good heroes never stay dead, the story captures the disbelief the masses were experiencing while watching the Last Son of Krypton give his life for his adopted planet. Some stories deal with personal experiences of being saved by Superman, while others deal with not so glamorous but just as vital feats of heroism. Superman delivering a heart across the country to a transplant patient is particularly showcased. All of this accumulates to the people of Earth expressing their thankfulness for Superman, pondering what would have happened if he wasn't there, and now realizing this horrible thought may come to fruition. Overall, the writers have created something fresh for new fans, and a bit of nostalgia for those of us that experienced this comic event 30 years ago.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2023
Toda uma geração foi abalada com a morte do Superman nos anos 1990. Ela foi exaustivamente noticiada por todo o mundo, ganhou destaque no Jornal Nacional e foi tema de redação em vestibular. Pessoas usavam bandanas pretas no braço com o símbolo do Superman em sinal de luto. E, um ano depois, o Superman voltou da morte. Trinta anos depois, os principais desenvolvedores dessas histórias retornam ao personagem e ao tema. A maior e melhor história desta edição é feita por Dan Jurgens e mostra como foi que Jon Kent, o filho do Superman, ficou sabendo da Morte e do Retorno de seu pai, através de uma luta com uma espécie de Apocalypse. Completam a edição pequenas histórias curtas revivendo aquele momento através da visão dos pais de Clark Kent, do Guardião de Metrópolis e de John Henry Irons antes de se tornar definitivamente o Aço, herói inspirado no Superman. É bem legal reviver esses momentos principalmente num momento em que a Panini Comics Brasil traz A Saga do Superman para as bancas brasileiras.
November 14, 2022
While the ending to the first story was a little sappy it brought back the original story and his ‘death’. The other ones fleshed out some of the other characters and made me nostalgic for the 90’s once again.
January 6, 2023
Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics.
The actual 1992 "Death of Superman" story remains a pivotal moment in comics publishing regardless of one's personal feelings as to the quality of the story itself. Due to various factors that I don't really feel like going into here, the mainstream news media latched onto the news that DC was "killing off" Superman and next thing you know oodles of non comic book reading people were pouring into comic book shops buying up copies of "Superman" #75 (cover dated January 1993, released on November 19, 1992) because, not being regular comic book readers, many of them believed that Superman would stay dead and not be brought back (which he was less than a year later) and that it would one day be worth lots of money (which was pretty much impossible because DC printed reportedly over six million copies to keep up with the demand).
The "Death of Superman" was also a creative key point in DC publishing history as it was at a high point to many Superman readers, all four of the monthly Superman comic book titles ("Superman", "Adventures of Superman", "Superman: The Man of Steel", and "Action Comics"; later including a quarterly "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" title, as well) continuing one into the other every week as if all one big single weekly Superman title. Some didn't care for this approach as each title's creative team was very much restricted from telling their own individual stories under this approach, but at the same time many did really like these "triangle number years" (referring to the small triangle numbers put on the covers to indicate the suggested reading order) because it resulted in, as a I already mentioned, a new continuing Superman story each and every week.
"The Death of Superman" also resulted in two even better (in my opinion) follow up story arcs, "Funeral for a Friend" (a.k.a., "World Without a Superman" for later reprints), which detailed the DC superheroes and general world reactions to the loss of Superman, and "Reign of the Supermen", which introduced four new Superman stand-ins (including John Henry Irons "Steel", who is in this special, and a new "Superboy" clone who would much later play a key role in one of the biggest DC events of the mid 2000s, "Infinite Crisis" (2005-2006), and, for better or for worse would start of chain of subsequent "big character events" (or "stunts", if you prefer) trying to repeat the Death of Superman's commercial success, such as the "breaking" of the Batman ("Knightfall" (1993-1994)) and the fall and replacement of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern ("Emerald Twilight" (1994)).
Okay, enough preamble. As I said at the top, this is the "Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special". It has a #1 on the cover and in the inside indicia (small print publishing information section) but it is almost certainly a one-shot (no further issues planned). It's only date inside or out is copyright 2022. It's official release date was November 8, 2022, which, if it had a cover date matching the other DC comic books released that week would have been January 2023 (just as with the original Death of Superman "Superman" #75 issue).
As is the custom these days, it was released with a "main cover" illustration (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding) and many "variant cover" editions by other artists (ones by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, Dan Mora, Francesco Mattina, and Rafael Sarmento; I choose to buy the Rafael Sarmento variant cover).
This special is essentially the comic book equivalent of a short story collection, as it is not one long single story but is instead one 41 page lead story ("The Life of Superman") followed by three other shorter stories ("Above and Beyond", "Standing Ground", and "Time", all ten pages long), interspersed with single page pin-ups by various artists (Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey, Lee Weeks, Walter Simonson and Laura Martin, Fabio Moon, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jamal Campbell, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Cully Hamner).
"The Life of Superman" is by Dan Jurgens (story and pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and John Workman (lettering) (the same creative team as was on the "Superman" montly title at the time the Death of Superman story happened). It, like the special itself, takes place in the now current DC continuity on the anniversary of Superman's death while fighting Doomsday. The story focuses on Superman and Lois Lane's son, Jon*--a character that I'm not at all familiar with as I haven't read a new in-continuity Superman comic book in probably ten years or more; but, then again, I haven't read hardly *any* new comic books in that time frame, not out of disinterest, just out of me taking a ten year hiatus away from the hobby while other things were going on my life--discovering for the first time in school the story of how his father "died" years ago, and the arrival of a very Doomsday looking "monster" suddenly showing up in Metropolis on this anniversary day, one that Superman immediately has to confront. (* It amuses me that an indexer at the Grand Comics Database website has added this note for this story: "Story is set in the past when Jon Kent is still a boy attending school, but several years after the "death" of Superman during the first encounter with Doomsday". That I obviously have missed quite a bit because this story doesn't even take place in the current DC "present" but in the "past" because Jon is only a boy here. I obviously am waaay behind what's going on these days.)
I like the plot here and also very much the art. Dan Jurgens was always one of my favorite Superman artists of the post John Byrne run era. My only hesitation in really liking this story a lot is Jurgens dialogue. It is excessively wordy and exposition-driven for much of the story (especially the parts where Lois is explaining to Jon what Doomsday was and what happened when his father had to fight Doomsday the first time). I understand that Jurgens was trying to frame this story as a remembrance of that now 30 year old story and to also explain it to today's younger readers who were not old enough to have read the original release (or any of the many reprint editions DC has released over the decades since then), but it come across as very clunky. And a lot of his little bits of character dialogue with the characters talking to each other seems rather dated, too. I don't know if he was emulating his writing style back then or if that's just how he still writes dialogue, but this story would have benefited from a separate dialogue writer, I believe. Still, it was a good story overall (if very conveniently wrapped up in the end, the key piece to defeating the monster being an item Lois discovers in... well, I don't want to spoil it.)
"Above and Beyond" is by Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Doug Hazlewood (inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the creative time back from the 1990s "Adventures of Superman" monthly title). This ten-page story is entirely on Superman's Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, in real time at the same time as Superman is fighting Doomsday the first time, at home in Smallville fretting over what they are watching on the television about what's happening in Metropolis. They decide they must break away from the coverage for awhile because it is too stressful for them and begin to reminisce about some of the other dangerous circumstances their son had been in up to that point and how he repeatedly was willing to sacrifice himself for the well being of others. A nice little story. Again, overly expositional (as is the entire point of the story, so hard to avoid here) that at times comes across as unnatural/forced. And Grummett, another favorite Superman artist of mine from the 1990s, is just okay here (some of his Superman figure work doesn't look quite as good as it did back then, although I don't know if that is him or his inker, Hazlewood; their Ma and Pa Kent are fine). In the end, the least memorable story in this special (but, again, not a bad story by any means).
"Standing Guard" is by Roger Stern (writer), Butch Guice (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Guice was usually inked by Denis Rodier). This is my favorite story in this special. It follows the character of the Guardian (the 1990s clone of Jim Harper who was a product--and security head at--the secret Cadmus Project. I'm not even going to try to explain all of that here.) He is shown meeting up with Superman at least twice on that fateful day during Superman's cross country battle with Doomsday, who was relentlessly marching towards to Metropolis, wrecking death and destruction along the way. In the second scene, Guardian himself briefly sees the power of Doomsday which briefly knocks both him and Superman out. When he catches up with the battle again in Metropolis, it's too late. It's all over and both are dead. Everything is top notch in this short story, the plotting, the dialogue, and especially the art by Guice. This is perhaps the first artist to successfully depict well the extent of the injuries the normally "invulnerable" Superman was taking from Doomsday. His Superman looks genuinely beat up in the scenes he shares with Guardian. Truthfully, it is this story along with the Jurgens-Breeding lead in that I would recommend fans to buy this special for.
Lastly, "Time" is by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Bogdanove was usually inked by Dennis Janke and some other inkers). This is another "in between scenes" (like with the Ma and Pa Kent story) of what John Henry Irons (later dubbed Steel) was doing that day, fitting in between scenes depicted in the "Superman: Man of Steel" story introducing him back then. As depicted in the previous story, John Henry Irons had been saved (or so I seem to recall) by Superman some how and on the day Doomsday arrived Irons was buried in his collapsed building during the battle. He dug himself out and immediately went to try to help Superman. This new story picks up with him trying to get to the battle but repeatedly having to help others also impacted by the catastrophe along the way. Like with Guardian, he arrives too late to help Superman. A nice character piece on Steel (and it's nice to see Jon Bogdanove's art again after all these years), but like the Ma and Pa Kent story is in the end not very memorable.
Overall, this is a decent collection of stories, so I gave it an overall three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to have read the original 1992 "Death of Superman" story and enjoyed it (or, at the very least, didn't hate it), and who, like me, were regular Superman readers throughout that time period as it does bring back some nice, nostalgic memories of looking forward to each week's new issue of whichever Superman title was coming out that week.
The actual 1992 "Death of Superman" story remains a pivotal moment in comics publishing regardless of one's personal feelings as to the quality of the story itself. Due to various factors that I don't really feel like going into here, the mainstream news media latched onto the news that DC was "killing off" Superman and next thing you know oodles of non comic book reading people were pouring into comic book shops buying up copies of "Superman" #75 (cover dated January 1993, released on November 19, 1992) because, not being regular comic book readers, many of them believed that Superman would stay dead and not be brought back (which he was less than a year later) and that it would one day be worth lots of money (which was pretty much impossible because DC printed reportedly over six million copies to keep up with the demand).
The "Death of Superman" was also a creative key point in DC publishing history as it was at a high point to many Superman readers, all four of the monthly Superman comic book titles ("Superman", "Adventures of Superman", "Superman: The Man of Steel", and "Action Comics"; later including a quarterly "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" title, as well) continuing one into the other every week as if all one big single weekly Superman title. Some didn't care for this approach as each title's creative team was very much restricted from telling their own individual stories under this approach, but at the same time many did really like these "triangle number years" (referring to the small triangle numbers put on the covers to indicate the suggested reading order) because it resulted in, as a I already mentioned, a new continuing Superman story each and every week.
"The Death of Superman" also resulted in two even better (in my opinion) follow up story arcs, "Funeral for a Friend" (a.k.a., "World Without a Superman" for later reprints), which detailed the DC superheroes and general world reactions to the loss of Superman, and "Reign of the Supermen", which introduced four new Superman stand-ins (including John Henry Irons "Steel", who is in this special, and a new "Superboy" clone who would much later play a key role in one of the biggest DC events of the mid 2000s, "Infinite Crisis" (2005-2006), and, for better or for worse would start of chain of subsequent "big character events" (or "stunts", if you prefer) trying to repeat the Death of Superman's commercial success, such as the "breaking" of the Batman ("Knightfall" (1993-1994)) and the fall and replacement of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern ("Emerald Twilight" (1994)).
Okay, enough preamble. As I said at the top, this is the "Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special". It has a #1 on the cover and in the inside indicia (small print publishing information section) but it is almost certainly a one-shot (no further issues planned). It's only date inside or out is copyright 2022. It's official release date was November 8, 2022, which, if it had a cover date matching the other DC comic books released that week would have been January 2023 (just as with the original Death of Superman "Superman" #75 issue).
As is the custom these days, it was released with a "main cover" illustration (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding) and many "variant cover" editions by other artists (ones by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, Dan Mora, Francesco Mattina, and Rafael Sarmento; I choose to buy the Rafael Sarmento variant cover).
This special is essentially the comic book equivalent of a short story collection, as it is not one long single story but is instead one 41 page lead story ("The Life of Superman") followed by three other shorter stories ("Above and Beyond", "Standing Ground", and "Time", all ten pages long), interspersed with single page pin-ups by various artists (Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey, Lee Weeks, Walter Simonson and Laura Martin, Fabio Moon, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jamal Campbell, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Cully Hamner).
"The Life of Superman" is by Dan Jurgens (story and pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and John Workman (lettering) (the same creative team as was on the "Superman" montly title at the time the Death of Superman story happened). It, like the special itself, takes place in the now current DC continuity on the anniversary of Superman's death while fighting Doomsday. The story focuses on Superman and Lois Lane's son, Jon*--a character that I'm not at all familiar with as I haven't read a new in-continuity Superman comic book in probably ten years or more; but, then again, I haven't read hardly *any* new comic books in that time frame, not out of disinterest, just out of me taking a ten year hiatus away from the hobby while other things were going on my life--discovering for the first time in school the story of how his father "died" years ago, and the arrival of a very Doomsday looking "monster" suddenly showing up in Metropolis on this anniversary day, one that Superman immediately has to confront. (* It amuses me that an indexer at the Grand Comics Database website has added this note for this story: "Story is set in the past when Jon Kent is still a boy attending school, but several years after the "death" of Superman during the first encounter with Doomsday". That I obviously have missed quite a bit because this story doesn't even take place in the current DC "present" but in the "past" because Jon is only a boy here. I obviously am waaay behind what's going on these days.)
I like the plot here and also very much the art. Dan Jurgens was always one of my favorite Superman artists of the post John Byrne run era. My only hesitation in really liking this story a lot is Jurgens dialogue. It is excessively wordy and exposition-driven for much of the story (especially the parts where Lois is explaining to Jon what Doomsday was and what happened when his father had to fight Doomsday the first time). I understand that Jurgens was trying to frame this story as a remembrance of that now 30 year old story and to also explain it to today's younger readers who were not old enough to have read the original release (or any of the many reprint editions DC has released over the decades since then), but it come across as very clunky. And a lot of his little bits of character dialogue with the characters talking to each other seems rather dated, too. I don't know if he was emulating his writing style back then or if that's just how he still writes dialogue, but this story would have benefited from a separate dialogue writer, I believe. Still, it was a good story overall (if very conveniently wrapped up in the end, the key piece to defeating the monster being an item Lois discovers in... well, I don't want to spoil it.)
"Above and Beyond" is by Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Doug Hazlewood (inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the creative time back from the 1990s "Adventures of Superman" monthly title). This ten-page story is entirely on Superman's Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, in real time at the same time as Superman is fighting Doomsday the first time, at home in Smallville fretting over what they are watching on the television about what's happening in Metropolis. They decide they must break away from the coverage for awhile because it is too stressful for them and begin to reminisce about some of the other dangerous circumstances their son had been in up to that point and how he repeatedly was willing to sacrifice himself for the well being of others. A nice little story. Again, overly expositional (as is the entire point of the story, so hard to avoid here) that at times comes across as unnatural/forced. And Grummett, another favorite Superman artist of mine from the 1990s, is just okay here (some of his Superman figure work doesn't look quite as good as it did back then, although I don't know if that is him or his inker, Hazlewood; their Ma and Pa Kent are fine). In the end, the least memorable story in this special (but, again, not a bad story by any means).
"Standing Guard" is by Roger Stern (writer), Butch Guice (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Guice was usually inked by Denis Rodier). This is my favorite story in this special. It follows the character of the Guardian (the 1990s clone of Jim Harper who was a product--and security head at--the secret Cadmus Project. I'm not even going to try to explain all of that here.) He is shown meeting up with Superman at least twice on that fateful day during Superman's cross country battle with Doomsday, who was relentlessly marching towards to Metropolis, wrecking death and destruction along the way. In the second scene, Guardian himself briefly sees the power of Doomsday which briefly knocks both him and Superman out. When he catches up with the battle again in Metropolis, it's too late. It's all over and both are dead. Everything is top notch in this short story, the plotting, the dialogue, and especially the art by Guice. This is perhaps the first artist to successfully depict well the extent of the injuries the normally "invulnerable" Superman was taking from Doomsday. His Superman looks genuinely beat up in the scenes he shares with Guardian. Truthfully, it is this story along with the Jurgens-Breeding lead in that I would recommend fans to buy this special for.
Lastly, "Time" is by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Bogdanove was usually inked by Dennis Janke and some other inkers). This is another "in between scenes" (like with the Ma and Pa Kent story) of what John Henry Irons (later dubbed Steel) was doing that day, fitting in between scenes depicted in the "Superman: Man of Steel" story introducing him back then. As depicted in the previous story, John Henry Irons had been saved (or so I seem to recall) by Superman some how and on the day Doomsday arrived Irons was buried in his collapsed building during the battle. He dug himself out and immediately went to try to help Superman. This new story picks up with him trying to get to the battle but repeatedly having to help others also impacted by the catastrophe along the way. Like with Guardian, he arrives too late to help Superman. A nice character piece on Steel (and it's nice to see Jon Bogdanove's art again after all these years), but like the Ma and Pa Kent story is in the end not very memorable.
Overall, this is a decent collection of stories, so I gave it an overall three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to have read the original 1992 "Death of Superman" story and enjoyed it (or, at the very least, didn't hate it), and who, like me, were regular Superman readers throughout that time period as it does bring back some nice, nostalgic memories of looking forward to each week's new issue of whichever Superman title was coming out that week.
February 1, 2023
This doesn't really add anything to the original story. I'd suggest you just go back and read that instead. It does have stories by each of the creative teams working on the Superman books back then. In the main story, Clark's son, Jon, finds out he died while fighting Doomsday. (This takes place before he was aged up by Bendis.) It's part retelling, part introducing a new character, Doombreaker. Then Guardian, Dubilex and John Henry all have their stories around the event expanded a little bit. It's all superfluous.
December 31, 2023
Man what can I say about Dan Jurgens man!!!! I wasn’t alive when the original death of Superman came out but Jurgens wrote the action comics run for DC rebirth in 2016 as well as Lois and Clark before that so I can just tell he loves Superman and understands the character and what makes him great. This whole special highlights this and makes me wish Jon Kent was still a kid in the main continuity. Definitely worth the read!!!!
November 26, 2022
“lois. i’m tuned to hear her voice, no matter how far away she is.”
wanted more clois content but the jamal campbell variant cover for this special is gawjus and the only reason i tuned in tbh !
wanted more clois content but the jamal campbell variant cover for this special is gawjus and the only reason i tuned in tbh !
December 14, 2022
This was well done. It's a collection of short stories that tie into the events of the original. It was a lot of fun to see some of the things that were going on behind the scenes while Superman was dealing with Doomsday. The old school art was also a great treat. Well done and quite enjoyable.
February 4, 2023
Once in a while you read something so terrible, that you assume it's someone in the industry throwing an older creator a bone. And while Dan Jurgens has never been an especially good writer, this is bad by any standards.
December 8, 2022
Kind of ho-hum stories that don't really expand the story of Superman's death. It's more of a nostalgia trip, revisiting this milestone event.
December 18, 2022
It was okay. Just some very basic stories of what other people were doing while Superman was fighting Doomsday and one story about a dude infected by some Doomsday memorabilia. It’s fine.
April 8, 2023
These member-berries are delicious.
Great Holy Saturday reading.
Great Holy Saturday reading.
July 28, 2023
4.25
Pretty good and fun little stories. Jeez...30 years.
Pretty good and fun little stories. Jeez...30 years.
May 30, 2024
Yeah ok …..4 arms ….and talking ish
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 22, 2023
This book was so much fun! I know that it was just a marketing thing but so was the original death of Superman, and I love that story. Bringing back the four teams from that original story and giving them all a short story was really fun! Dan Jurgens still writes and draws probably the best classic Superman for my money. I just love how these teams told stories which add extra little depth to the original story.
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