The Death/World Without/and Return of Superman

[Shadow Leonardo]

I have all three graphic novels they are excellent. Very sad in The Death Of Superman,World Without is good,The Return of Superman is long but has good stories. What are your opinions on these comics?

[Weapon X]

My dad has "The Death of Superman" graphic novel, I've read it a few times and it's was pretty good,it's just wierd the the man of steel dies. :ohwell:

[DrSpengler]

Got all 3. They're good reads, and the last really good Superman stories.

World Without was the weakest of the three, if you ask me. It was pretty much just the epilogue from Death and the setup for Return.

I was disappointed with Death when I first read it, as I was expecting a much more invloved story. What I got was just one big long exhausting fight. When I reread it I enjoyed it a lot more, as that's all it was supposed to be. A huge brawl.

Return gave me the story I was looking for. It was a big read, but kept me interested. Even though it's a Superman book, my favorite bit was with Green Lantern. I read Emerald Twilight after this and it blew me away. One of the best comic stories I've ever read. Hal going batsh*t crazy was just amazing.

[ZariusTwo]

Agreed, although "Our Worlds At War" also ruled on tremendous scales

Return of Superman was, however, the defining 90's Superman comic story...if not the defining 90's comic story (With "Knightfall" coming second) because it developed so many new characters, (Steel, Superboy, The Eradicator) existing characters, (Hal Jordon) made Hank Henshaw an amazing villain, and gave Mongul something to do again.

If the Clone Saga of Spider-Man was undoubredly the black sheep of the 90's in comics, "Return of Superman" was a cure for f*cking cancer.

[DrSpengler]

I've heard good things about Our Worlds At War, I'll have to pick it up.

I agree that the Death and Return of Superman saga was the defining story of the 90's, just as Crisis on Infinite Earths was the dinfing story of the 80's.

Though everyone knew from the start that Superman would be coming back, it was still an engaging story simply for the "what if" content. What if Superman died? How would everyone react? What changes would the world make? We got to see all that, and even in the boring segments, it was all very fascinating.

Knightfall was an excellent Batman story, one of his better "sagas" (ya know, a saga is longer than an arc and all that). No Man's Land was pretty good, though I just don't buy that everything would go back to normal so quickly. Still haven't read Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive.

Knightfall was very much like Death of Superman. A new powerhouse villain that manages to defeat the superhero at his own game. Doomsday was stronger than Superman and Bane outwitted Batman. And the resulting consequences showe just how their respective cities, Metropolis and Gotham, would react to something like that.

Anyway, I'm rambling. But I wanted to bring something else up. When the Death of Superman originally happened it made the news. I remember watching the reporter do a story about it along with all the headlines. They also did a news report when Superman changed costumes to that electric blue sh*t. Kinda shows you just how important Superman is to American society. Whether they're killing him off or just changing his costume, it makes the news.

[Leo656]

The Death of Superman was the story that made me a huge comic book fan. I'd read comics since I could even read at all, but it was only a minor hobby, as I'd pick up an issue of Superman or Batman whenever I felt the urge, maybe a few random other titles here and there, but that's about it. I had a collection, maybe 50 issues total, but it was the Death storyline that got me to make sure I was at the comic book rack every single week, and through that I got into other titles until I got where I am now, reading 15 or so books a month and sitting on a collection of some 2,500-3,000 books.

The funeral storyline does seem weaker in the action quotient, but it goes the farthest in showing the real emotional impact of the entire event. If Superman died, and then two months later he was back, everyone would feel cheated. There had to be a respectful period of mourning observed, and by the end of it, people weren't just ready for the return, they were begging for it.

The Return story was my favorite, as it not only set the stage for the big return, it kept the fans guessing for months before the truth about the Cyborg was revealed (I'll admit: I was fooled). The idea of using a minor, one or two-issue character as the foundation for one of the biggest Superman villains ever was genius, and proof that Dan Jurgens is one f*cking creative writer. It's no coincidence that the best issues of the entire Death/Funeral/Return arc (both story-wise and art-wise) were done by Jurgens. And the entire arc had long-reaching ramifications, like the destruction of Coast City and its role in the corruption and fall of Hal Jordan, which had a direct effect on Guy Gardner becoming Warrior, and so on and so on... the ripple effect created by these stories is still making aftershock-style waves today, with Doomsday's return and Hal Jordan coming back as Green Lantern.

It's funny someone brought it up, b/c I have a friend who I'm easing into comics, and for Christmas I sent her those three trades, along with Action COmics #775 and JLA: The Nail. :D

[the Dark Knight]

The Return of Superman was what really got me into comics. Some of my first comics were the "Reign of Supermen" specials. I have the TPBs of "Death of" and "Return of", but I don't have "World Without" yet.

I've read some people saying how Superman sucks and isn't a very good superhero, but to me, it's stories like this that prove Superman can be awesome when done well.

[ZariusTwo]

I've read some people saying how Superman sucks and isn't a very good superhero, but to me, it's stories like this that prove Superman can be awesome when done well.

It's too bad Superman never gets as many good story-arcs as that, the last decent one was "Our Worlds At War", and before that, Grant Morrison's issues...

[Shadow Leonardo]

In "Death Of" it seemed that Doomsday was unstoppasble, he drew blood on Superman in the last issues of that novel, ahh the entertainment.