The Death of Superman was a huge moment for comics – both as a landmark event, and a turning point for the entire industry. Now, 30 years later, DC Comics is reuniting the original creative team behind the massive event for The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1.
The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 will arrive in stores on November 8, 2022, that features four all-new stories that “explore the lasting impact that Clark’s death had on his family and friends as well as nine pinups and variant covers by some of the top names in comics.”
DC Comics shared the breakdown of the issue:
- “The Life of Superman” by Dan Jurgens (W & A), Brett Breeding (A), Brad Anderson (C), and John Workman (L) – A young Jon Kent finds out in school that his dad had died years earlier, as his parents never told him about that fateful day. In the midst of dealing with this emotional news, Jon and Clark need to team up to fight a new villain connected to Doomsday called DOOMBREAKER.
- “Standing Guard” by Roger Stern (W), Butch Guice (A), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – The epic battle between Superman and Doomsday from the Guardians’ perspective.
- “Time” by Louise Simonson (W), Jon Bogdanove (A), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – The story of how the death of Superman looked from John Henry Irons’s perspective.
- “Above and Beyond” by Jerry Ordway (W), Tom Grummett (P), Doug Hazelwood (I), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – A powerful story of Ma and Pa Kent watching their son fight Doomsday live on television and going through Clark’s photo albums with the feeling that their son always prevails.
I’ll be honest, my first reaction to hearing this news was, “ugh…,” but when one thinks of what happened to DC Comics and the comic industry following that massive event and looking at where the comic book industry stands today – it makes perfect sense to revisit this event from a historical/anniversary perspective. While we don’t know if DC plans on expanding this special to include the current continuity, I am very glad this hasn’t turned into a “Let’s Kill Superman… AGAIN!” or a “Let’s Kill John Kent Superman… BECAUSE WE NEED SALES!” kind of event.
Dan Jurgens shared the following statement in regards to the upcoming release:
“Even now, thirty years after “The Death of Superman” first came out, every single convention or store appearance I do has at least one person who comes up to me with Superman #75 or the first “Death of Superman” collected edition and says, “This is the book that got me into comics. And I’m still here, reading, all these years later.” Most times, it’s more than one. Sometimes, multiple people arrive at my table at the same time and share their memories, which is always fun to experience.
Their tales are often quite similar. Typically, media coverage of Superman’s death compelled them or a parent to drop by a local store to pick the issue up. In some cases, their parents let them skip school the day of the book’s release so they could stand in line to get a copy. Some talk of how their store was sold out and they spent days looking all over town to find one.
I’m not alone in that experience. It’s common for the entire team of writers and artists who worked on Superman at the time. It was a singularly unique moment in comics, when a particular story was covered by every form of national and local media alike.
It’s hard to tell people what those days were like, but every comic shop in the country had long lines of people outside the door waiting to buy THAT BOOK.
All these years later, it’s a great pleasure to get back together with the story’s original creative teams to celebrate a truly exciting time in comics. For those of you who remember those days, The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special will reignite some memories. For those who weren’t around to experience it, well…we hope you get a hint of what it was like.
Most of all, we hope all of you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it all together.”
What are your thoughts and reactions to this news?
