How The Death of Superman BROKE Comics

In this video, Owen explains the history of the Death and Return of Superman, the real reason why DC Comics killed the Man of Steel and how this story changed the comic book industry forever.
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▶ Special thanks to @captainmidnight @ComicDrake @FancyGeeks @Readus101 @TheLoneChemist @MattDraper and @MikaylaJLaird for providing additional voiceover!
▶ Further Reading:
Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (2006)
Reed Tucker, Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC
Requiem & Rebirth: Superman Lives! (2007)
Sean Howe, Marvel Comics The Untold Story
www.syfy.com/syfywire/an-oral...
▶ Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
2:25 - To Kill a Superman
4:20 - Enter Doomsday
11:39 - A Funeral For a Friend
17:49 - Reign of the Supermen
22:36 - Legacy
28:14 - Outro
▶ Music Used:
'Aso - Caught in the Rain'
/ aso-caught-in-the-rain
'Aso - Sunsets'
chillhop.bandcamp.com/track/s...
'Fantompower - Blankets'
/ blankets
'Harris Cole - Larkspur'
/ larkspur
'Leavv - Driftwood'
/ driftwood
'Lee Rosevere - All The Answers'
freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee...
'Lee Rosevere - Looking Back' freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee...
'Matt Quentin - Just a Moment'
/ matt-quentin-just-a-mo...
'Moose Dawa - Menti'
/ moose-dawa-menti
'Sleepy Fish - Falls Echo'
/ falls-echos
'Sugi.wa - Memories'
/ sugiwa-memories
The Death of Superman is a 1992 storyline that served as the catalyst for DC Comics' crossover event of 1993. The completed multi-issue story arc, with Funeral for a Friend and Reign of the Supermen, was given the title The Death and Return of Superman. The storyline, devised by editor Mike Carlin and the Superman writing team of Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel, met with enormous success: the Superman titles gained international exposure, reaching the top of comics sales charts and selling out overnight. The event was widely covered by national and international news media.
#Superman #DC #ComicBooks

[@OwenLikesComics]

▶ This video is an updated and reworked version of my two-part Death and Return of Superman video from June 2019, with new sections, quotes and info added, as well as improved audio and visuals. Hope you like it! If you enjoyed this video, consider supporting Owen Likes Comics on Patreon: www.patreon.com/owenlikescomics

[@TevyaSmolka]

Gotcha

[@kd7100]

Always love death of Superman content; I was a kid when this story was going on, and damn was I… shocked, to say the least. Definitely an interesting time in comic book history.

[@Akkbar21]

Mo’ Superman, less problems.

[@Akkbar21]

@@TevyaSmolkahey Tevya 😂 you’re always showing up when I least expect ya.

[@TevyaSmolka]

@@Akkbar21 lol 😂 indeed

[@Elementa2006]

I remember that this event was so huge that news about it even reached newspapers back when I lived in Egypt. Simply put, The Death Of Superman was the most prolific death of a fictional character since Sherlock Holmes' fateful encounter with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls

[@andrescorcoll1477]

In Uruguay was similar! We were like minimum 6/5 Tess behind. From Editorial Novaro from Mexico. But the Dead was a news important for a week.

[@leejee88]

I remember waking up getting ready for school .came down stairs my uncle telling me superman was dead I'm like wtf..sure enough good morning america came on and announced they were killing off superman..I was such a superman fan I didn't read the death of superman till after he came back from the dead

[@General_Klytus]

The Black Plastic version came with a Funeral Arm Band

[@mallninja9805]

Even then I was cynical enough to know he wouldn't stay dead.

[@rexcatastrophe]

do you know what prolific means

[@bZman]

I genuinely love how Death of Superman lead to so many massive character shifts like Parralax and Knightfall in DC. It made it feel like Supermans death and rebirth had a genuine world wide effect.

[@hammerheadcorvette4]

Literally killed an entire industry. . .

[@graefx]

I forget where i heard this line, but its always stuck with me, "The death and return of Superman didnt kill Superman, it killed death" in the aftermath of using such a high stakes plot point it basically ruined it going forward. Death is now is just a story beat and killing a character has become almost a right of passage. Kamala Khan just got killed off to be revived a couple months later

[@RealTimmyT]

That is an excellent point. It removed the stakes and left death as an inconvenience. Once you have died and come back…what’s next?

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

erm idk where you get your info from but kamala's funeral was last week, she is certainly not back from the dead

[@StudioInkblot]

@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868They already announced she’s returning in August

[@looniemoonie5955]

I am 99 % sure this line is from "Death and Return of Superman" short

[@talljoke]

It's from the Max Landis short film.

[@AllMightyLantern]

The worst impact of the Death of Superman is that it’s the most adapted Superman story outside of his origin. There are so many other stories I want to see adapted, but because Death sold so well, movie executives keep going back to it.

[@Courageous91]

I mean...you're kinda right. We've had two animated versions of it (3 if you count the JL episode where he gets sent to the future by Toyman) and the end of BVS. Between this and him fighting Zod, there's so much more you can do

[@WalkerRileyMC]

I feel the same about The Flash. Just how many times do we have to see Flashpoint before we get sick of it? But I get it...when you adapt comics with close to a century's worth of stories, you pick the ones most people know. Just...gah...so many other interesting stories to tell....we don't have to keep coming back to the same ones over and over again.

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

@@Courageous91 I'd rather see them adopt the episode where he dies, but actually gets sent to the future. And just mesh it with some elements for the death of Superman. That's what I would do. Except I would also add, that when he gets sent to the future it's actually because the Legion of Superheroes teleported him to the future at that exact moment. So his future adventure is actually with the Legion.

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

@@WalkerRileyMC I know it's the same thing with Batman and adapting one story, but I do feel like creators seem to only want to focus on certain specific aspects of the character. This is kind of one of the reasons i didn't care for Matt Reeve's The Batman movie. I wish they wouldn't run from the other aspects of the character such as his campiness. I've been wanting the definitive live action version of Batman that brings together all the aspects that make up Batman. Taking the best from the previous live action movies, animated content, comics, video games, etc. and just putting it all together like a puzzle piece.

[@ashenking5013]

Not just the movies. Even TV shows as Superman and Lois seems to be going in that direction as that takes place after the standard mainstream storyline. Even Smallville did the death and rebirth and even brought in Dooomsday.

[@OptimusMaximusNero]

"Oh, don't act so shocked, you phonies! You know how this works. In a few months, some magic amulet will bring him back, or, we'll find some alternate dimension Superman that's exactly like the one we had before. HOW MANY OF YOU HERE HAVE ALREADY DIED?!"

[@arachnidcomics6404]

I was hoping someone would comment this. XD

[@davidrojas8061]

🤡🤡🤡 comment

[@efxnews4776]

The first one was Jean Grey...

[@danielasarmiento3101]

God, I love robot chicken D.C specials

[@shawnamiller191]

And Oliver is sitting there 😂

[@joeycoe85]

I think FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is the unsung star of this run. Pretty much EVERYONE weighs in on how Clark’s death affects them, and it’s all very real and heart-felt. Everybody focuses on the BATTLE (which is, admittedly AWESOME!) and the RETURN (the mystery IS well written), but the actual FUNERAL is INCREDIBLY moving.

[@General_Klytus]

Was that the Comic that came with the Funeral Arm Band?

[@Drakkin2001]

@@General_Klytus i think that the Superman 75 was the one with the Arm Band polybagged inside.

[@shawnmwilson]

Facts. Funeral for a Friend was by far my favorite series in comic book history. You almost felt like you were a part of that universe mourning with others over the death of a friend.

[@r4z0rv1n3]

Absolutely Funeral for a Friend is one of the best-written storylines ever... Because it really examined death in a way that most comics hadn't before that time... It was the first series to actually have death have an impact on the world on such a grand scale... It actually took the time to slow down and tell stories that were incredibly thoughtful.

[@dangerousdays2052]

I'm disappointed that they didn't show the villains partying and high-fiving each other at Clark's funeral.

[@abdelali9279]

I know the death and return of Superman was just to drive sales, but I really loved how the writers really setup to make a really dignified story that doesn't feel rushed and with convenient plot points or having to break character

[@projekttaku1]

I really think the way they handled clark's death was great and gave him quick but good closure on his relationship with lois. However doomsday in this is honestly a pretty lame villain that's really just a plot device, which can work for some characters, but for superman's killer you'd expect something more from him, or if you want to use a preexisting plot device, have supes killed by kryptonite that's used by a more interesting villain like hank henshaw or lex (maybe even have lex find some way to absorb green K like ultraman, so he and supes can have a climatic physical struggle). I like what S&L is doing with doomsday tho, having him be bizarro who's been killed and revived multiple times, carrying over what made doomsday cool, adapts to what killed him and big monster, but making him more interesting as he's just another form of another character, bizarro, which hypes him up even more since bizarro is established to be an (opposite) equal to clark, and doomsday is his hulked out form with less weakeness's and stronger.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

Pretty sure "this new character that coincidentally is the only thing in the universe that can kill Superman kills Superman" is a convenient plot point.

[@evacody1249]

​@@projekttaku1expect the fact that you learn that Doomsday was made on his hone planet makes it much more shocking.

[@projekttaku1]

@@evacody1249 maybe, but doomsday was made so long ago and not even by his father or an ancestor of his, so at most he's a slightly worse version of a silver age phantom zone prisoner who escape.

[@preachcaleb]

@@projekttaku1 Kryptonite was too obvious. Yes, Doomsday is a plot device, but he was a necessary one. As the video states, none of Superman's gallery was worthy to be the one to kill him. They'd been trying for decades, many of them even using kryptonite, and they had failed. What was needed was a villain who would be nothing more than an unstoppable force. Someone the general audience could buy would truly test Superman's power.

[@magnumcornetto]

To be fair, there had been plenty of "The Death of Superman!" comics during the Silver Age... when half of the stories were imaginary. Also, even back in the 90s it said that there were only 3 permanent deaths in comics: Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy and Bucky. In the 90s I would've also added Jason Todd. With Tim Drake as the new Robin, and Nightwing around, it felt like keeping Jason dead made more sense than even bringing him back. I guess Uncle Ben is the only permanent death then.

[@robertt9342]

Too bad the use him so much in alternate universes. The death of superman was good, it’s unfortunately that everyone copied it.

[@feenix219]

Barry should have stayed dead.

[@balrog262]

And Thomas and Martha Wayne.

[@jbrisby]

I really felt sorry for Jimmy Olsen in this story. The shot of a lifetime presents itself, and he's standing in the exact opposite of the right spot.

[@mcurran6505]

"I've got some things to say. I should have said them when you were here, but... Despite our differences I have nothing but respect for you. I hope you knew - know that. You showed me that justice doesn't always have to come from the darkness. I'll miss... What did you always call it. Clark? The never ending battle." - Batman (Kevin Conroy), Justice League S2 Ep. 19: Hereafter [Part 1] (29 November, 2003)

[@Andyjoe522]

A note for anyone who hasn't seen the episode, an explosion went off right as he was saying "I'll miss...". That last bit was delivered with a tone of "not this shit again," rather than the emotional heart-to-heart (er, heart-to-memorial) of everything before it.

[@jasonking3466]

The biggest problem with this idea is that Villians have been "dieing" since the beginning of comics, only to return later. This was going on before comics as well. Go back and see how many times Joker, Magneto, etc. died. Once the precedent was set, it would eventually extend to heroes as well.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@analu-alp1372]

Can't say about Joker, but Magneto hadn't die before? He had the whole "turned into a baby" in 77, but he just went comatose in 93 and later had the fake-out death in Genosha in 2001 and death of Xorn in 2003. Besides the insta revival of Krakoa, Xorn mess and Secret Invasion, he only died in 2022 and was ressurrected last month

[@jasonking3466]

@@analu-alp1372 go back to the beginning. Magneto died by falling off a helicopter into some rocks. Joker was on a boat that blew up on rocks. Then, a year or two later, they're back again. No one asks why, they just are. The X'Orn one though, were Wolverine cuts off his head and the next issue Mags is on island with Xavier was just bad writing.

[@analu-alp1372]

@@jasonking3466 don't know about such instance, are you talking about his asteroid being hit in New Mutants #21? Or Doctor Doom just jumping from airship in Fantastic Four #17? Dr Doom is the one about fake-out deaths, and still, they weren't treated seriously

[@jasonking3466]

@@analu-alp1372 That's exactly what I am talking about. When the death of villains doesn't matter, why should the death of heroes?

[@redskared8093]

The thing was that this wasn't a bad story. It was a really good one. Which is the problem. Everyone wants to make the next Death of Superman.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@thursdaye201]

Why who would take his place

[@RandomRamblings86]

My dream is a world where all these changes actually stuck and comics didn't revert back to the status quo. Imagine if Clark stayed dead with Steel and Superboy having to carry on his legacy. Or if Hal stayed dead after becoming Parallax and Kyle was the permanent new Green Lantern. Or if Barry stayed dead and didn't push Wally out of the spotlight. Or if Peter actually was the clone and moved away with MJ while Ben took on the role of Spider-Man and training Miles. Or if Batman's back was prominently broken and Tim and Dick had to defeat Azrael themselves while Bruce took on the role that he has in Batman Beyond.

[@camerondalton1495]

Problem is the books likely would not have sold as well and long time fans of those characters would have been alienated.

[@asura7915]

@@camerondalton1495 exactly

[@edmaldonado8207]

In hindsight I do wish that was the case though I think fans also wouldn't let that happen so fans are also to blame for this unfortunately. I sometimes like to imagine not only death sticking, but also instead of multiverses, we'd get family trees. Imagine a world where Batman and Superman started out in the 30s like they originally did, aged, and the mantles get passed on to their sidekicks or children. Every generation would have their own unique version of the same basic character. That said though, hindsight is 20/20 right? Back then no one thought those characters would become pop cultural icons like they are today.

[@camerondalton1495]

@@edmaldonado8207 Yeah, fans were mad that Hal Jordan turned into a villain. I don't think they would've wanted their favorite characters to go out like that.

[@edmaldonado8207]

@@camerondalton1495 Yeah. I get it too.

[@georgelea4297]

I remember this being a big deal in my local comic shop, when each issue came out you'd see people buying it just to see if he was going to die or come back a few issues later

[@MetalMike38]

Just hearing the words “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” gives me a headache 🤕😂

[@jmen4ever257]

The entire mess costed over 350 bucks, and I regret, i bought them all.

[@MetalMike38]

@@jmen4ever257 I’m not far behind, I bought about three quarters of it and I’m not even going to try and add up how much money I wasted on it. It’ll just make me cry.

[@Mephiestopholes]

I still have my trade version. When I was a kid, I was a skulking presence at my local comic shop. Hard to believe it's been 30yrs.

[@tigerbread78]

That's how I first got into it. Back in mid '93 I bought the "Death" and "Funeral for a Friend" trades, then I got Adventures #500, and dove straight into the weekly "Reign" arc. I loved every minute of it

[@patstar5]

Oh ya I remember going to the comic store to pick up my copy along with my pull list. The store was full of normie moms waiting in line to prick up a copy for their kids.

[@TighelanderII]

I experienced this in real time while working as an artist at Wildstorm. Sales started falling right after this. Marvel tried some shady $hit that back fired, and brought down the whole retailer eco-system. By 1999, a lot of comics were only selling about 45K copies.

[@davidmcmahon4633]

I remember buying two copies of that comic with the armband. One to keep and one to open and wear the armband.

[@DVX_BELLORVM]

The Death and Return of Superman happened at just the right time to become iconic. There was still a big market for traditional comics (I was part of it) and still a dominant traditional media to push the narrative. It's inconceivable now to imagine such a broad awareness of a comic book event in pop culture.

[@mikedunlock]

I collected comics from 1985-1996ish. It was the Spider-man clone series that made check out. Your analysis is correct. I think the industry forgot how to just write a good story with one hero. Also, once you sell 4 million copies, anything less becomes a failure.

[@VenkCutterman]

It’s still amazing how the story left so much of an impact not just in comics but the world over

[@ssppeeaarr]

i dont think it was that hype in japan tho....

[@OptimusMaximusNero]

The opening video showing the announcement of Superman's death gets pretty Epic if we consider it an in-universe material. I literaly imagine that blonde reporter chick being a live-action version of Cat Grant

[@Caitlin_TheGreat]

I was a kid, but I was around when the Death of Superman became this big thing. And I recall it being predicted almost immediately that Superman would come back to life. It wasn't an unheard of thing in comics. But it's more disappointing how _quickly_ it happened. Right away DC went to work on the storyline that very clearly was going to have Superman return. And that really cheapened it, but also ruined an opportunity for them to do something different for at least a little while. Imagine if it had been a whole year before even the suggestion of Superman coming back? While DC probably would have still fumbled things, it could have been a far more interesting matter of the other heroes needing to fill that role and the DC world actually changing -- progressing forward in time -- in the absence of Superman. But also, the better "death of Superman" story that unfortunately came after this was the one where Superman's very cells were no longer properly absorbing solar radiation and he had to prepare for his demise even as Luthor was concocting a way to take his place. If _that_ had been the story that ended in the actual burial of Superman I think it would have been a much more powerful and memorable matter. And again, the trick would have been to keep Superman dead for _at least_ a year if not two and have the ripples of it truly pass through the entire DC universe so that when they eventually lost their courage and brought him back there would be genuine changes in the narrative world and _maybe_ even a question of whether or not the DC universe _needed_ Superman. It's that latter question that I'm sure DC was the most scared of and purely for the financial impact it would represent. But as I recall, it was a pretty short-lived stunt that was kind of like blink and you miss it. Because the whole thing was an act of desperation specifically to sell Superman comics.

[@Will-pg4bh]

I read this as 10 year old and Bibbo always stuck with me-especially his generosity towards a kid who’s struggling at his bar. He lends him some money for the bus and he asks if there’s enough. He replies ‘there’s enough there for plane money! Kid’ Weird how that line stuck with me but I think it taught me the importance of being generous and kind in times of hardship.

[@outpostalpha]

I knew that the Reign of the Supermen and the return of Superman didn't draw the same kind of attention as the Death of Superman did, but it's fascinating to learn just how steeply the readership dropped off after the initial gimmick. Excellent video!

[@TheSalemCrow]

Thanks to speculators buying the death issue by the truckload thinking they could make a killing on them like some of the earliest superhero comics were getting. Once they realized it wasn't going to happen, they bailed. The people who were left were generally already reading the books, and if they were lucky, they picked up some new folks to replace the ones who may have stopped after the stunt.

[@chancepaladin]

I think one should also take into consideration, the fact that there was a very solid trade paperback of the entire saga, so people didn't have to hunt and peck down every issue. And I think that trade paperback was extremely popular. Which reminds me. I have the entire original series of this, and left it when I moved on accident.

[@ShadowWingTronix]

It's annoying that the TV show could have that much influence on the source material that it held back the marriage of Clark and Lois, which ended up being rushed to match the show's doing the story. They were even forced to have the couple split up to hold on but then had to backpedal in one issue to get it all to happen and kind of weakened the whole experience. This is an example of a comic death done right however. The death mattered in-universe, they explored how important Superman was to the DC universe, and we got +2 superheroes out of the deal when it was all done who are still appearing in comics today. It did do a few things wrong, like destroying Coast City in a non-Green Lantern comic (Coast City being Hal Jordan's city in the comics), but overall it was a great story, something that so much of the "eventitis" driven stories they make now fail to do by placing epicness and deconstruction over good storytelling. I would hope they'd back off from that in the future but there's no indication that in the trade-driven story structures they make now there's a chance they'll fix that mistake.

[@OptimusMaximusNero]

*Fun fact:* There is a "what if...?" Dark Multiverse story in which Lois obtains Clark's powers after his death and becomes a sociopathic killer that destroys everyone who gets in her way (including Batman). I love how accurate the author of this modern comic imitates the aesthetic of the 90s "Death of Superman" saga, especially the gorgeous design (brown and curly long hair, crimson full lips) Lois had at that time. A TRUE Superman fan 👍

[@HishamA.N_Comicbroe]

Damn that's interesting.

[@stevenfunderburg1623]

Which Elseworlds (What If ...? is Marvel) comics does that happen in? I would check that out.

[@OptimusMaximusNero]

​@@stevenfunderburg1623 Check the "Tales of the Dark Multiverse" one-shots

[@revanwintersoldier2789]

I own that whole collection! Fantastic!

[@DaveGrean]

@@stevenfunderburg1623 ... do you actually think Marvel has some kind of trademark on the term "what if"? It's a universally used term across all of fiction, lmao. If it didn't happen in the canonical main continuity, it's considered a what-if scenario.

[@efxnews4776]

Actually the responsible for doing that was the Dark Phoenix saga...

[@husseinrose4883]

Death of superman started a chain reaction of poorly planned event comics, that is still going to this day

[@THE_bchat]

"Crisis on Infinite Earths" and "Secret Wars" had already done that about a decade before.

[@husseinrose4883]

@THE_bchat eh not really. You'd think so but, COIE was completely planned out and was well executed by everyone involved. Whereas secret wars was made because marvel was approached by a toy company to do it. Death of Superman happened because DC just wanted to shake up sales, and what came after was a bit messy for other titles. And that did so well that marvel and DC have been doing half thought out events to get sales ever since. There are exceptions though.

[@THE_bchat]

@@husseinrose4883 Legends, Secret Wars II, Acts of Vengeance, Millenium, Xtinction Agenda, Armageddon 2001, Mutant Massacre, Inferno, Invasion, Infinity Gauntlet/War, and I'm probably missing a few. Marvel & DC saw that big events sold well because of "Crisis" & "Secret Wars", so they started cranking them out, long before "The Death of Superman".

[@dsalvatier]

Who else gives Owen an automatic thumbs up even before the video has started? Amazing work as always, Owen. The nuance you add to big events in comic’s history is always top notch. Can’t wait for the next video. 🙌

[@TokenDrew]

For me, it's that death isn't permanent in comics. I remember this event well, I was like 9 or so when it happened

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@wtk6069]

One thing I never understood about the death of Superman: When the media first reported it would happen, they described Doomsday as an "intergalactic escaped mental patient". Then, a few days later, the news had another story about mental health advocates protesting in the streets in front of DC offices. And so DC hurriedly removed all backstory from Doomsday, making the published story read oddly uneven. They later replaced Doomsday's origin with a one connected to Krypton, but it never seemed legit. What I still don't understand is, why did they cave to protesters and diminish their story? And I would love to see someone fully document how it all occurred.

[@jliller]

"why did they cave to protesters" Reason$$$

[@preachcaleb]

I don't see it as diminishing their story. After all, none of that was actually present in the story. Doomsday was just a mysterious force when he killed Superman. His origins were never explored until Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey several years later. But as for caving in, why not? After all, as mentioned, it really had no impact on the story they were telling. And plus, it's not a bad thing to realize that maybe it's not a good idea to compare a psychotic, mass murderer to mental patients.

[@vaiyt]

That original idea was stupid

[@barq6994]

I wish they had gone with an already established character to do it like Mongul. Using Doomsday means this is his most defining arc and Doomsday has been a boring yawn in every story afterwards.

[@timothylewis2527]

It's crazy that, while Marvel was destroying DC in book sales, they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

[@rollierick2232]

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Dan Jurgens at multiple cons with my dad. It’s awesome talking to him about this story and hearing what he thinks about adaptations of this story and seeing him interact with other creators from this era

[@TheACcam]

I love Jurgen's art. From the details like arm hair to how expressive all the characters are. One of the things that annoyed me when I was a child reading this story when it came out was how each chapter was done by a different artist because each chapter was in a different title. I didn't really understand all that at the time. The only thing I knew was that the art kept going from good to bad and back again. 😁

[@pious83]

You could almost equate the intent and scope of this story to the myth of Icarus. The universal reaction to the death of Superman representing the flight towards the sun. In my view, the short term planning and return of Superman represented the crash and burn.

[@kingdave31]

This was the event that got me back into Superman fandom. I was a big Superman fan as a little kid because of the Christopher Reeve films, but as I got older I decided that Superman was lame and I was way more into characters like Todd MacFarlane's Spider-Man. So when I heard that Superman had been killed I was shocked. I started reading Superman comics starting with the Reign of the Supermen arc and loved it. That awesome Dan Jurgens 2-page spread of a restored Superman flying away from Engine City after defeating Henshaw practically made me stand up and cheer.

[@Mephiestopholes]

Great essay, Owen. I was ground floor at that time. Marvel kid, but read Wally's books. It was a shocker. I hate the bubble burst all those years ago.

[@Temple277]

Tbh i think that the short answer for this is that if Superman would never be made ( which thankfully he was), then we wouldnt have DC, we wouldnt have Image, We wouldnt have Marvel and all that, the reason "death of Superman" broke comics is because the most iconic and arguably the greatest superhero to ever be created has died, and i think that "death of Superman" has showned what our world has turned into by killing the most optimistic and hopefull character to ever live in fiction.

[@HishamA.N_Comicbroe]

Wow... That was really nice & thoughtful.

[@MEtALCoRE452]

I love Superman but when I hear the words optimistic and hopeful used to describe a fictional character, the character that comes to mind 1st is not clark but Luffy from One Piece

[@HELLO_KORO]

The modern audience became Lex Luthor sadly

[@DanV900]

The Death of Superman broke comics because he was brought back to life so quickly. The sales proved that and we were on our way to that already with Image starting in 1992.

[@n.d.m.515]

Finally, someone explaining how non- comic book readers felt. They were ANGRY that such an iconic character was killed. Unlike so many comic book readers commenting here, there was no hint that he would come back to life. It was believed his death represented the last Superman comic to ever be written. His return, although a sigh of relief, was seen as a cynical response to all the protests.

[@HishamA.N_Comicbroe]

I have never actually seen a video on this story arc & I have to say this is very interesting. Great work.

[@OwenLikesComics]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MrLourie]

The fall of comic sales also has to do with a maturing readership who lost interest in reading comics, and a generation never introduced to the comic book medium because of their computer screens, cellphones, and video games. There also are many who enjoy superhero movies but have never read a comic book, which some would argue is obvious due to the fact of how badly written and portrayed heroes are on the screen. For me the death of Superman was a story that in the end revealed another power and ability of the Man of Steel's in the form of being able to regenerate from near death and return to life. Just like when they turned Superman into Electric Blue and Electric Red Superman, I knew it was only temporary no matter how they tried to sell it and I simply enjoyed reading it all. And don't forget, when we speak of the (temporary) death of Superman we must also remember it was the (temporary) death of Doomsday, and Superman was the one and only hero capable of accomplishing the task.

[@Galvatronover]

can you rephrase that? more people enjoy superhero movies because the movies portray superhero Badley?

[@projekttaku1]

Not really, as kids nowadays still read japanese comics and they have far more tech then 90s kids. Its more how they were produced (and still are). In Japanese (and old) comics like shonen jump, each issue there are multiple stories from different writers and artists, meaning if you read shonen jump for one story, lets say one piece, you could also get interesting in another story like naruto, achieving the same effect comic events do without being as annoying or interfering with the stories, and then you throw the weekly/monthly issue away, and if you want to reread one story, you buy the volumes. However western comics nowadays have 1 story each and are treated more like collectors items, where you collect each individual one and buy multiple of the same for "variants" and what not. If comics were produced like japanese comics, lets say dc released "Young dc" where they rolled most of their individual comics into each issue, then events would be less common and comics would also be cheaper and easier to get into.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

I'm not sure where you're getting your ideas from. Growing up in the 90s, I was exposed to comics THROUGH my computer and video games and television. I'd have never known about them otherwise. My nephew, closing in on 10, is the same....his exposure to Superman was via videos and the lego games and whatnot. He found out about comics on his own.

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

I've been wanting a definitive version of the DC cinematic universe.

[@MrLourie]

@@DavidMartinez-ce3lp To achieve a definitive DC cinematic universe the writers and directors must be superhero comic fans, understand and accept that the origins, relationships, and histories of the heroes are already established, perhaps we don't need their personal vision and lack of respect for the subject. Stop reinventing that which has already been invented, it's often not an improvement.

[@HappyBirthdayRoboto]

This was an amazing video, well done Owen. When I was a kid I first heard about the death of Superman from my dad when he read it in the paper and it was the catalyst that got me into taking comic collecting more seriously, I never bought them to resell them when they went up in value, I bought them because I loved the stories. The Death and Return of Superman made me fall in love again with the character I had first been enamoured with through the Christopher Reeve films. The idea of killing a sci-fi/fantasy character then bringing them back is a really good story idea, however like a good trick or spice, it really only works when it's only done rarely, the problem is everyone else jumping on the bandwagon! As the years passed everyone, Ironman, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, Optimus Prime and let's not forget good old Kenny from South Park all got killed and came back and then it became silly. The key is to kill the character, let life go on without them, then when things are at their worst they come back but most writers kill the character and bring him back within the same story. It's a good idea that's been copied improperly too many times.

[@franklinthomas7213]

I’ve heard this argument before. The Death of Superman “broke comics” or “broke death in comics”. Yet here we are 30 years and billions of dollars later, and these characters are still popular. Turns out the Death of Superman was just a story that came and went.

[@jliller]

"Turns out the Death of Superman was just a story that came and went." And that's the problem. A comic book storyline made international news, and then it became just another thing that happened. It's not just that a major character's death was trivialized; it's that a major event of any kind was trivialized. Something that should have been important in the long run meant nothing. It doesn't matter how much money was made; that represents a tragic failure.

[@preachcaleb]

But they're not as popular as before and comic sales aren't close to what they were before the bubble burst.

[@propheci]

I admit, i actually thought this death would be permanent back then(i mean, death typically is permanent after all). The mid 80s to mid 90s was the "grimdark" era of comics back then. I figured DC would make some lousy anti hero to take Supes' place as the cornerstone hero. Thankfully it didn't stick, although Batman got simliar treatment with "Knighfall", and about 4 years later after the grimdark era was at last put to bed. Kingdom Come was the unofficial rebuttal of the last decade of grimdark, followed by Grant Morrison and Mark Waid's runs on JLA. The late 90s really turned things around for the industry.

[@otakurocklee]

Really? I had no question he'd be resurrected. Was just a big gimmick to me.

[@feenix219]

I much, MUCH preferred the art and writing of the first half of the 90s.

[@avisionleshawn1116]

We should all look back on the death of Superman storyline as one of The Greatest High points and low points of the comic book genre It paved the way for storylines like Batman Knightfall And Spider-Man's Clone Saga I realized the late 80s and early 90s had a struggling time for comic book sales but it was also the greatest time period for comic book sales I love comic books Since I was a kid watching Spider-Man the animated series at 4 years old Which introduce me to the comics of Spider-Man And Batman the animated series introduced me to Batman Knightfall Along with Superman the animated series introducing me to comic books Such as The death and return of Superman Thank you Owen once again for an inciting video regarding one of the greatest Superman stories to ever change the course of comics history as we know it

[@andyrandall9289]

Superman's death and Batman's broken back, by Bane, put the characters in the forefront. I was collecting Superman comics when artist John Bryne revamped him in the late 80s, early 90s.

[@hurricane7727]

That was Pre Zero Hour Dc as Well( They are in DC Convergence).

[@owensreviews625]

The rare instance where the remake is better than the original!

[@Tre_Ason_Number7]

I was 9 years old and captivated. DC lifer 💯

[@maxordman4100]

You truly are a wonderful storyteller and you deserve a standing ovation for your work on this event! One of the very best Superman stories ever written and I certainly think that you did an excellent job explaining the ins and outs and the ups and downs of its execution! Your videos are truly incredible. This story was so powerful and emotional. It truly is a staple of Comic Book history! Excellent job with this presentation! A Superman series I will always look back on fondly for sure!

[@dravin815]

I think it made the shock value of death too prominent in comics esp with him coming back. Now death is nothing i comics cause, like superman, we know they will be back. Hell ms marvel died and is back within a month

[@themax316]

Great watch. Thank you for all the research and effort put into this

[@OwenLikesComics]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ziggyzero]

The Death of Superman start a whole new cult for comics in the 90s, a lot of comic books shops opened by that time, and the death of superman has a lot to do with that, the death of superman gave a new energy to the comics in the 90s

[@THE_bchat]

Image & Valiant were already super popular by the time "The Death of Superman" rolled around, and comic shops were opening because of them. No need to rewrite history.

[@hummakavula3750]

A key additional point is Investors, not readers, were fueling the boom in the 90s. Some journalist pointed out that iconic issues of classic comics outperformed most other investments in the long run. Demand surged for these issues sold to old guys who never intended to turn a page. They overbought and the industry was happy to oversell, but they didn't know when to slow it back down. Unfortunately, no one in the comic book industry has read about the Tulip Bulb crash 100 years earlier.

[@joebaumgart1146]

Imo All Star Superman was the best Superman story. Seeing Supes as a vulnerable good man trying to make things right before his impending demise actually made me cry. He was still Clark Kent, Jon and Matha's baby boy from Smallville. Raised to help people and live a honest humble life. Even when that life was soon to end.

[@murilofer52]

I love your vídeos Owen! As a suggestion, I would like to see your analysis about the confusing Donna Troy origin stories. Take care!

[@OwenLikesComics]

Great suggestion!

[@seizie_]

Bro wtf that bimbo line and readin brought me to tears 13:53

[@macahdahma7382]

When this happened, I was sin Boston. It was MASSIVE NEWS!!!!! I remembered how stunned I was that he was killed, and I was/am a Marvel fan back then...everyone was talking about it...

[@General_Klytus]

Thank you for this Video. As a Comic book reader back in 80s and 90s I can say this Series from the Death of Superman Did kill the entire comic book industry creating a frenzy of books sold to people who only purchased the books to Sell for profit after comics made multiple Covers for books and started sealing comics in plastic. It destroyed the market for readers.

[@marcomacias1824]

I love how you say literally so often, it's so originall and fresh.

[@paulwoida8249]

One important thing that drove sales of Superman #75 so high was the fact that all issues were shrink wrapped. This forced the serious collector to buy a second copy to have a "mint" condition copy which was unopened.

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

I still have my copies. One opened and two unopened.

[@JoeLovesComics]

Great video!

[@mathieuleader8601]

the creation of Doomsday gives me flashbacks to the Simpsons when the Simpsons created the new Itchy & Scratchy character of Poochy

[@kieranbenclarke9821]

That storyline Geoff Johns can't decide if he likes it or not...

[@Gap_Toothed_Wonder]

Great video. The Death of Superman trade paperback is what made me a life long fan of comic books and their characters. I've read it MANY times over the past 40 years. For my age group, this book...was everything. The only downside was like you said, the entire industry became too event heavy. Thankfully the books bounced back to respectable numbers and acclaim during the early aughts due to the intro of Ultimate Spider-Man

[@yourfatboy5359]

Looking forward to this video, I'm so hyped!

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

I have to admit... The insistance on Superhero comics or at least the Big Two, on sticking to a single continuity is also a reason why deaths have no meaning. If they planned ahead and rebooted every 10 years or so, deaths and the like would be more impactful.

[@pious83]

It's less that continuity is a factor. It's more a case of reluctance by the big two to let popular characters die and remain dead. Bruce Wayne's death defeating Darkseid in Final Crisis. Kraven the Hunter ending his own life in Kraven's Last Hunt. Green Goblin impaled by his own glider. Jean Grey choosing to die in the Dark Phoenix Saga. These are all key moments with defining characterisation that brought all these characters to a satisfying narrative conclusion. But Marvel and DC just can't let them go.

[@FemboyCatGaming]

@@pious83 I think there is a difference between say batmans death that was never intended to be permanent and say kraven where the death was intended to be permeant until later writers intervened

[@pious83]

@@FemboyCatGaming That difference shouldn't have existed in the first place. Bruce Wayne was given a fitting end. A mere man facing down the God of Evil. In the follow up story - Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader? He was given an effective send off too. Wherein it was stated there will always be a Batman. But it won't always be Bruce Wayne. Morrison should have omitted any reference to his return. Dick and Damian were the new Dynamic Duo. Which paid homage to the legacy of the mantle.

[@FemboyCatGaming]

@@pious83 the ending of whatever happened the cape crusader is that Bruce Wayne will always be Batman. His reward for dying is getting a brief period of happiness as a child before being Batman again. There is a reason why you see many deaths of Bruce Wayne. He’s trapped in an eternal cycle

[@pious83]

@@FemboyCatGaming Well no. You’re confusing stories. The ‘death loop’ plays out in Morrison’s Return of Bruce Wayne. ‘Whatever Happened’ is Neil Gaiman. It’s metaphor. The end you cite is Bruce Wayne saying goodbye to his life. Having it all flash before his eyes before he finally lets go. The quote I cited happened before that last scene.

[@preachcaleb]

I can still go back and re-read this epic saga, and it hits just as hard as always. I love that it's told in three acts: His death is just a kickass battle spread across several issues with each one building to #75 told in just full on splash pages. The Funeral for a Friend issues are beautiful, meditative moments for the characters and readers. And his return is another epic saga bringing together a variety of characters into one big confrontation. So overall, it's still a good story. Very well done in terms of pacing and storytelling. But like all things that make money, the corporate suits took away the wrong lesson and just wanted to rinse and repeat hoping for the exact same level of success. It's very much the exact same thing that happened with the MCU. They made so much money, others rushed out to repeat that success and bombed spectacularly. The reason is they only see the bottom line. All those dollar signs. And not the context that led to that success.

[@pacman4568]

The death of comic books started with the over complication of a simple superhero, the sheer number of superheroes left a yawning gap between them and any possible villains to fight. It all went from backstreet thugs mugging old ladies to literally unbelievable intergalactic super villains. Then came the old multiverse, which confused the hell out of every one. It all simply went up its own A$$ Hole.

[@MrMelson]

Great video Owen

[@OwenLikesComics]

Thanks!

[@DevilDog2019]

The only real reason why this worked for DC was because they had Time/Warner's entire news division behind them. When Marvel released X-Men #1, even though they had 5 different covers, Did not have anywhere the same amount of mainstream media leading up to the issues release!

[@wtk6069]

The point of it wasn't to kill Superman, of course. The title and plot were a homage to a classic story, and it was meant to draw attention to the great work the Superman creative teams were doing. In that sense, it succeeded because sales remained higher for a good while. In another sense, the event signaled the beginning of a slow erosion in the quality of the books, so by the time a lot of people were noticing the comics, their prime era was fading. Perez had already left Action. Ordway left Superman. Jurgens gave up art and only wrote. The books were still good, but not quite as good as before, and something about them just felt different than before.

[@PatrickZysk]

My big problem with Death of Superman is that they brought him back at all. Reign of the Supermen was a good idea, having these disparate successors popping trying to fill Superman's shoes up is a very interesting story. But to use them mainly as a vessel to bring the original Superman back, I think, was a mistake. Admittedly, Steel and Superboy did get their own titles, but it would have been nice if they had gotten to keep Man of Steel and Adventures of Superman as *their* books, you know? Separate but relatedly, Superman's "4 monthly titles that are actually 1 weekly title" was very confusing, especially to all the people that Death of Superman was bringing into comics for the first time. Having each successor take one was a good idea, marred by the fact that once Superman returned, they immediately went back to doing one title disguised as 4. The worst part is they were so close to what I think would have been a better solution, but I'm not about to "I could have done it better" maybe the most important 90s comic story.

[@gabrielbien-willner2509]

This killed death in comics. After this, nothing was permanent. Readers lost interest when there are no real stakes, and that has largely persisted until today. Comics in a way have stagnated ever since (from the major publishers). Comics effectively act as ways to maintain IP of existing properties, which means little changes. There is also, unfortunately, nothing new in terms of creating new properties unless they act to expand the reach or readership of an existing one. Can you imagine Starlin's Death of Captain Marvel being printed today? I can't.

[@joecool4279]

Death of Superman, Nightfall, and Hal turning into Parallax are still some of my favorite stories. I reread them every few years. There are some negative side effects that persisted ever since, mostly all the endless event-driven mega-crossovers, many with superficial "tie-ins" that often contributed nothing more than someone acknowledging an event was happening in the universe. Dan Jurgens Superman is the definitive Superman for me. Any time I read through the triangle years, I always get excited to read Superman over the other three series. When I was a kid, I had a single comic subscription come in the mail and that was Jurgens' Superman.

[@EnriqueThiele]

What affects today's comic sales is the price increase. I remember when I purchased 12 or more per week. Now I purchase on or two at Ollie's at a very discounted price. No more collections.

[@AntiLifeEquation1]

I only buy trade paperbacks or Graphic Novels. Collecting single issues in 2023 will bankrupt you. I'd gladly go back to newsprint if it meant I could buy comics for a buck again. I'm actually old enough to remember 35 cent comics...those were the days.

[@Augustus087]

Worthy commentary. Thank you, Owen.

[@glennwatson3313]

There has to be a level of trust between the reader and the author. The casual deaths and resurrections of heroes ruins this trust.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@glennwatson3313]

@@zaragachizanparo4948 The should not have killed him at all.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

@@glennwatson3313 I won't argue against that. All I ask of the writers is that whatever decision you make, you commit to it.

[@AntiLifeEquation1]

I was managing a comic store during the death of Superman and it was INSANE! On a Saturday we made over 30.000 dollars in sales just selling that one book in black with the iconic bloody red S.

[@Akkbar21]

Thx for covering Superman. I’ve really become a huge fan in the last 2-3 years, as I’ve always been more of a Marvel/Spider-Man guy since the late 80s. Maybe it’s the fact that my dad read Superman comics as a kid and I’m feeling nostalgic as I’ve entered my 40’s.

[@matti.8465]

Killing off Superman was a desperate last resort, but it was foolish to assume that momentum would last forever. Anything, it just brought them more time, and there wasn't much they could do with that time because their biggest character was gone. Bringing Superman back only made things feel pointless

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@SeViLionCollectibles]

I’m one who was introduced to comic via The Death of Superman. There’s no telling if I would have ever become a reader without it. Subsequent stories such as Batman: KnightFall & the SpiderMan clone saga that kept me reading for years may not exist otherwise.

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

I felt a similar thing happened when Snyder tried to do the death of Superman. Think it was completely unnecessary to kill him off, only to bring him back.

[@jliller]

It was only the second movie with Henry Cavill as Superman (and the first was an origin story) and that really made it hollow.

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

@@jliller I think Zack Snyder fundamentally misunderstood Superman. I know a lot of people like to rag on Joss Whedon's Justice League, but I do think that he did a better job portraying Superman at the end of the movie. He was a lot more bright and full of hope. Snyder seemed to hate Superman being more hopeful and brighter.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@speedsterjay]

It's the greatest in universe story ever. From the story to the production, how each issue "zooms in" on the action to the point where the last page is basically pull out double-page image, it couldn't have been done better.

[@Superman12321]

Awesome video thx u

[@ChuloAA]

It's funny how this comic and all the things done to bring him back are still affecting comics now. Like Kamala was just ceruminously killed off and already brought back in like a month and some change it's insane

[@Penfold497]

City of Heroes killed off their Superman homage during issue one and never brought him back.

[@konasavage]

Great video.

[@OwenLikesComics]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Arroway2357]

The image at 27:55 hits me for a different reason: his best friend is Jimmy Olson. He loved him, too. We don't get enough male friendships in modern fiction. Jimmy was an audience surrogate, the regular guy who becomes friends with a god. And Jimmy was the regular guy a god became friends with.

[@rogermwilcox]

When my co-workers told me in 1993 that Superman had died, I scoffed and said, "Pffff, like he's gonna stay dead!" Sure enough, he was alive and kicking again before the year was out.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@Lukecash2]

The story was well done and holds up to this day. But no one...and I mean no one thought Supermas an was permanently dead. The how the ressurection was going to happen was the tension. Look at Spidermans “Death” or Jason Todds return, or Batmans recovery from breaking his back. Some took too long, (Spider Man)Some were silly, ( Jason Todd brought back by Super Boy Punch) others just landed wrong (Batman cured by a woman with healing powers) And the Superman Team pulled it off beautifully.

[@zaragachizanparo4948]

They should have kept him dead.

[@ChildlikeMan]

I've had Adventures #500 since I was about 9. It's been one of my favorite books in my collection ever since, even before I knew it's significance

[@incogneato790]

This storyline is what got me back into collecting and reading comics. I loved the Reign of the Supermen story line.

[@trentshimmonsiilaogreens4074]

I followed every issue and then did the same with Knightfall and the green lantern turn. Great continuity from point A to point Z, Zero hour which I loved and gave me my favorite book of all time Starman

[@randomnumberz]

Great video

[@OwenLikesComics]

Thanks!

[@Tymbus]

This was interesting. My first memory of a comic book character dying making news in the mainstream press was Supergirl in Crisis on Infinite Earths. TBH, looking back, the art on the Death of Superman wasn't the best - largly big mid shots . At least we got a radio adaptation on BBC One

[@jamesmoss3424]

It was a shocking event in 90's comics.

[@HappyCodingZX]

Although I do think it marked a turning point, I don't think you can talk about the death of Superman without giving a nod to Kraven's Last Hunt.

[@motherlandone6300]

I was watching at the time. The real reason it hit so hard was because it was a slow news day nationally. The cable news networks picked up the story and it just caught on at the right hour and took off.