Comic Zombie Podcast #25: The Death of Superman

Issue 25: “The Death of Superman” (30th Anniversary!)

Chris goes solo once again to talk about one of the biggest DC comic book events of the 90’s: “The Death (and Return) of Superman” – just in time for the 30th Anniversary! 

For more random nerdy content, check out our blog at ComicZombie.net for more – including our Top 100 Heroes list and our Essential Reads: Superman! 

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

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5 Coolest Moments From… Death and Return of Superman

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Easily one of the most famous Superman- hell, comic book- stories ever, the Death of Superman was a cultural phenomenon that re-shaped (for better or worse) mainstream comics forever. It’s been adapted into two (well, technically three) DC animated movies: Superman: Doomsday, The Death of Superman, and Reign of the Supermen, and kinda/sorta on the big screen in Zack Snyder’s Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (ugh that title). There was a pretty decent video game adaptation and more merchandise than you could shake a dead Superman at. But somewhat lost in all of the hype around the story is the fact that it’s actually pretty damn good!

So, sit back, put on your nostalgia glasses, and enjoy remembering the story about the world’s greatest hero being beaten to death. Good times. Here are 5 of the coolest moments from the Death and Return of Superman.

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The Zack Snyder DC Trilogy: A “MAN OF STEEL” Review (Part 1 of 3)

With the recent (long-awaited) release of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” (2021) now on HBO Max and 4K Blu Ray, we now have the fully realized vision that first started in 2013’s “Man of Steel”, and continued with 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”! Considering this is essentially the third chapter of a trilogy, it only feels right to revisit the first two acts of this epic superhero saga before diving into this new (and very different) version of 2017’s “Justice League”

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The Superman Movies! (part one)

Superman 1978

The first, and greatest, super hero, Superman has had a rather mixed bag when it comes to adaptations of his comic book adventures. There have been numerous television shows, radio serials, animated series, animated movies, video games, and live action movies, more of which were either just ok or straight up bad than good.

Superman actorsWhat is it about the big, blue boy scout that leads to so much crap?

You would think the elements that have been in place for 75 years now would be easy to adapt to the big screen, or the small screen. It’s not like there aren’t literally hundreds of pre-made stories in his publication history that are begging to be filmed and thrown on the screen, yet time and time again people think they can ‘improve’ upon the man of steel and his epically large library of awesomeness, and time and time again they fail miserably.

That’s not to say there haven’t been some success stories… “Superman: The Movie” was a high point, as were the Bruce Timm animated series and his representation in that same universe’s “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited”, as well as a handful of direct to DVD animated movies that did well. Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” may have divided some fans on its quality, but both Erik and I will go to our graves defending it.

Man of Steel

But for each of those, there are Superman 3, Superman Returns, Lois and Clark, most seasons of Smallville and the dreaded Superman 64! It’s curious. And as bad as those are, you wouldn’t believe some of the utter shit that almost got made. (6 Terrible Superman movies, you won’t believe almost happened!)

For now, just to keep things relatively simple Erik and I are skipping 1951’s “Superman vs the Mole Men” and are only going to discuss the live action feature films, starting with…

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WTF Moments 25

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What in the fuck?

I love Lois reaction:

“Oh no… NO! You’ve become a BEAST!”

I also love how he is more worried about her going to a play (a PLAY!?!) with him than the fact that he’s turned into a goddamn lion, but hey, who am I to judge?

And what is Jimmy doing? Oh, I’m sorry, Jim, is the fact that I’ve turned into a FUCKING LION boring you?!?! Here, give me your signal watch. I’m going to beat you to death with it.

Top 5 Favorite Superman Stories

I’m not the world’s biggest Superman fan. I don’t normally read that many Superman stories, but I tend to gravitate towards the really good ones. There’s something about Superman; I would say that the best Superman stories just feel like there’s something extra special about them compared to any other character. Maybe it’s because he’s the first and the best, but really good creators tend to do their very best work on Superman, whether that’s Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, or whomever.

5. The Death and Return of Superman

The thing people have to remember about the death of Superman is that nothing had ever hit the public like that from the world of comics. Not only was this story getting mainstream press every week, it was getting a LOT. Air time on Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show, and pretty much every news show talked about it for quite a while. The creators and editors involved were made into instant pseudo-celebrities. It has since spawned video games, an animated movie, and a ton of stories. Its immediate follow-up, the Reign of the Supermen, created 4 new ‘Supermen’, 3 of which were still prominent figures in DC, at least until the recent line-wide reboot.

So to begin things off the creators introduced Doomsday, an unstoppable killing machine that would be the one to kill the Man of Steel. Doomsday effortlessly cuts a path of devastation across the country until he is confronted by the Justice League. Unfortunately for the League, they are utterly overmatched by Doomsday, even with one of his arms still tied behind his back. Literally. The dude has one of his arms confined behind his back and still punks the JLA out like they were a bunch of rookies.

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Hulk smash! I mean, no, wait…

Superman then shows up, and they proceed to destroy the hell out of each other and everything until at last they stop each other. With the last of his strength, Superman unloads everything he has into one last blow, which kills Doomsday. The effort from the punch, combined with the severe damage and injuries sustained during the battle, was just too much, and he dies in Lois Lane’s arms in the middle of the streets in Metropolis.

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