Up next is ‘Above and Beyond,’ by Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett, and Doug Hazlewood, which focuses on Ma and Pa Kent. It’s an absolute blast of a nostalgia trip, in both feel and look. Superman’s brawn, Lois’s brains, and Jon’s innocence combine to win the day. This against the background of the seeming return of Doomsday himself, as Superman has to go toe to toe with someone who looks an awful lot like him. Jurgens frames this perfectly, Lois telling Jon the story as Jurgens recreates some of those iconic panels. He was never told about it by his parents, and so when Lois comes to collect him from school, he asks her to spill the beans. In school kids are being taught about it, including a certain young Jon Kent. It’s the anniversary of Doomsday’s attack on Metropolis and the death of its greatest hero, and people are commemorating it. The first story is ‘The Life of Superman,’ by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.

We get 4 stories, a ton of superb pin ups and a fantastic cover by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding, plus the inevitable variants. DC’s usually good at respecting its history after all. Not only that, but bringing back all the creative teams of the time to contribute, and threading these stories into the actual event and aftermath rather than just random, stand-alone tie-ins. It is, without doubt, one of the true milestones in comic book publishing, and I was very happy to see DC honouring that with this Special. They milked the event for all it was worth before Superman’s eventual return. It became a rollercoaster DC both couldn’t get off and didn’t want to. The story, though, caught the attention of the national, then international press, and it became a worldwide phenomenon.

So, to get a bit of publicity, then Editor Mike Carlin and his creative teams decided to kill Superman (temporarily of course). Superman was just out of step with tastes. Punisher was big, Ghost Rider was big, Wolverine was big, Batman was getting darker and darker. I should know because I have practically every issue after all. There was nothing wrong with the stories or creative teams, they were all very good. It all started with that same old thing in comics, falling sales on the Superman books. It grew far beyond anything DC Comics could have imagined. It’s hard to explain now, thirty years on, just what a huge event The Death of Superman was. Written by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson | Art by Various | Published by DC Comics

The death of superman 30th anniversary