Reviewing The Classics: Death of Superman

Death of Superman is often regarded as one of the greatest Superman stories of a time. It gave rise to a trend of DC killing, repurposing and redesigning several of their more popular characters. Weather it was killing Aquaman or making Batman a more emotional character after Knightfall. Death of Superman is the essential Superman story that supposedly paints a vision of what Superman should be and is about. The question is does it stand up to the test of time.

Artistically compared to books today it isn't exactly up to par. The great detail and sprawling design just isn't there. That doesn't mean it's bad. It's a vibrant book filled with lots of white space and bright colors. The color red is also used sporadically. The color red is used on four occasions in the book: Superman's costume, Maxima's costume, Bloodwynd's costume and blood. Even Jimmy's hair is drawn a sandy orange color instead of red. The spare usage of the color red really makes scenes pop when blood becomes visible, and it becomes a constant later providing heightened drama throughout the fight. 

Another big thing is the way characters are drawn. Very smooth lines are used for all of the heroes, while civilians are drawn with shaky lines to signify fear. As the story goes on some heroes such as Ice are drawn with the shaky lines to show that they are now in fear. One thing that's really cool is that Doomsday alone is drawn with a rough and ragged outline. Doomsday is a really interesting character in his design. While his constant evolution isn't mentioned in this book, it's shown proving that there was some forethought with the character. He begins smooth skinned and as he takes more damage his bones begin to protrude through his skin, growing more and more as the battle continues. Going from a smooth monstrosity in an alien suit to this huge hulk like beast with bones protruding all over his body is incredible. 

Story wise there isn't much here, but I don't think there needs to be. We understand Doomsday has come from space. We understand Superman. There's some plot holes you may need to be filled in on beforehand that aren't addressed but wrapped up. Guy Gardner has a yellow power ring, Supergirl is a shape shifting clone but doesn't know it, Lex Luthor is pretending to be his son and a city below Metropolis is being built. Those are the only plot holes you may want to be familiar with before going in, but that's just the nature of comics.

The place where the plot truly excels is the emotion. There isn't a lot of time spent on Superman's surrounding cast but when it does it's emotional. There's only one panel with his parents where his mother is in distress about the beating he's taking and his father is enraged that the media is treating it like entertainment. Lois attempts to report sporadically while on the verge of tears. Other heroes like Guardian are in shock seeing Superman being beaten as easily as they had. Meanwhile people on the ground stare on in more shock than fear as the confrontation comes to an end.

Death of Superman is great, it's probably the best Superman story I've read if we don't count Kingdom Come where he wasn't the only big player. We saw that Superman places the safety of everyone else above his own. At one point he abandoned the fight with Doomsday just to save two people from a house fire. He took the time to check on members of the Justice League after they had been injured. He puts on this bold face for the cameras and his fight with Doomsday but his inner thoughts show that he's afraid and the thought of running away even crosses his mind at one point. But, he doesn't because he knows nobody else can beat Doomsday. The book is about Superman overcoming his fears to do what must be done. I think it can be summed up with one Superman quote from the book:

"One way or another, fear is always part of the job. I'm afraid of failure and afraid of hurting people - and to be candid - - Lately I've been afraid for myself. I have encountered things powerful enough to kill me. Believe me when I say I wish that violence wasn't necessary. But violence is the price we pay to accomplish a greater good. As heroes we choose to protect that good with our lives"

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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