Is The Death and Return of Superman actually a good event worth reading?
t. zoomer thinking of picking up the omnibus
Is The Death and Return of Superman actually a good event worth reading? t. zoomer thinking of picking up the omnibus
Is The Death and Return of Superman actually a good event worth reading?
t. zoomer thinking of picking up the omnibus
Read a bit of it for free and decide
Well yeah, that's one way of doing it
But I felt like getting Cinemaphile's opinion and perhaps getting some comics discussion going.
Is hard to judge a big event like this one in hindsight since we know Superman returns, I think is a fun read but I confess I've havent read all the stuff that came later.
okish at best , but if follows up Reign of Supermen is pretty kino.
Yes and no?
It really depends on how much you know about Superman of that time. Like, if you at least know why Lex has hair and is fricking Supergirl, you might be fine.
It's a real mindfrick for casuals when Doomsday punches "Supergirl" and her head explodes into puddy.
What the frick
>Lex has hair and is fricking Supergirl,
wtf
Lex Luthor II who was Lex back in a clone body. Supergirl was actually matrix a shape shifting booger who thought it was SG.
I remember reading a part where she gets punched by Doomsday and her face becomes a featureless blob which I thought was a lazy art mistake because I didn't have any context going in.
Yeah, IIRC, the radiation from Lex's kryptonite ring was killing him (it already took his hand), so he faked his own death, put his brain in a cloned body and passed himself as off his own son, Lex Luthor II (with an Australian accent for some reason)
>Cell Saga
?
Cell Saga was DBZ at its edgiest on manga.
And it ran the same period as the death and return from 92 to mid 93, also Movie 8 and 9 the same period, plus the edgiest sailor moon movie which was R that had Usagi having her own Twilight Emerald moment that came at the end of the year which was during the imprint of Bloodlines which is post Death and Return in December and the kickstart of the Emerald Twilight incident in January 1994.
Ok, I was wondering if you were talking about DBZ or a coincidentally-named-yet-unrelated comic storyline
And yeah, in retrospect, the Cell saga was quite dark, with Imperfect Cell essentially being a horror villain and the apocalyptic future Trunks came from (which, depressingly, is-or was-the 'true' ending of the original DB timeline). I hesitate to call it edgy though, unlike, say, Z Broly or Goku Black
And Bloodlines speaks for itself
Sidenote: 1993 also saw the release of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II-which isn't edgy, but its manga certainly is. The other manga adaptations of the Heisei movies were violent, but poor Godzilla was tortured here
Cell Saga isn't dark given how disjointed it is due to the behind the scenes issues and constant editorial meddling
>>The old guy and fat guy androids were supposed to be the two main villains Trunks came back in time to warn about
hates them, demands more hip looking android villains that fit the battle manga aesthetic
>>Fans like 16, 17, 18 but the editor gets told they don't get newer scarier forms as the story progresses, so Akira has to create Cell
>>Cell's Imperfect form is scary but editorial hates it, demands something more streamline and human looking ala Freeza's final form.
I'm no manga reader, but that sounds almost as frustratingly bullshit as what comics editors do on a regular basis
and probably contributed to Akira's slow but steady demise
>the editor gets told they don't get newer scarier forms as the story progresses
You say that, but I'd assume the plot for Super Android 13 is probably what would eventually happen if 16 stayed the arc boss.
Also Dredd's Judgement Day, Mechanismo and Inferno was late-1992 the same period as Death and all the way til 1993 post Death and Return, and it was the darkest period for Dredd comics to a point edge went off limits since most of the cast outside Dredd, Anderson and Hershey died or were maimed.
>(with an Australian accent for some reason)
Australia was popular at the time
Don't worry, it isn't really Supergirl. It's a protoplasmic mass created by the Lex Luthor of a pocket dimension created by the Time Trapper that emulates the previous timeline who only takes the form of Supergirl.
Gee, that clears it up! Thanks anon!
No.
If you throw in Vengeance of Bane, Knightfall was readable. Death of Superman was exhibit A for shitty events. Superboy's own book had its moments and he became better in Young Justice. I have exhausted my nice things to say.
The Death of Superman is pretty readable and the only issues people might have going in blind is the whole "Lex Luthor is pretending to be his son who everyone loves" and the whole "Matrix Supergirl" shit.
Knightfall meanwhile continues to be unreadable because they continue to refuse to include Sword of Azreal in collections of it, plus the fact that they put the missing Zero Hour stuff that is only available in a non-Knightfall branded trade.
Eh, it's complicated. It was an *exciting* event, an exciting time, *as it was taking place."
But 30 years on, collected, it's just ok. The death/Doomsday stuff is pretty whack. They were in a rush so the art and layouts and all are generally sub-par. It could have been so much better with some time and planning. The Funeral for a Friend era is good, interesting, emotional stories. The reign era is a pretty fun arc. Again, Super exciting as it was happening, but just pretty good now.
Sometimes, comics can be hard to judge in retrospect and with hindsight. If you try to read it all the way through now in omnibus or collected TPB then it does come off as very weird. There's a lot of parts that feel very padded and fillery. But the thing is a lot , most if not all of these really, aren't written with the trade in mind. The truth is that despite all the weirdness of it it was exciting at the time and there was that era of mystery and the buzz going around was palpable. I wouldn't say I liked everything in it or that it all holds up but Jurgens is a solid writer and despite being probably the biggest marketing stunt in comics to that point it's treted with the appropriate level of gravitas and they did stick with it for at least a year.
Unless you can get it for change you should never by an omnibus of an event you have no knowledge of.
It's an epic read compared to modern shit
One of the grimiest Supes events so settle in that mood
>It's an epic read compared to modern shit
>It's better than most of the trash that's been written in the past decade.
Alright anon we've got it thanks
I read Death a long time ago and I remember it being boring.
Death is awful. The Return is glorious.
Me, lost in prayer every Sunday at church
Death is okay, mostly the issue where he actually dies is really pretty. Return has some fun stuff with the different Supermen running around.
Nuclear take: World Without a Superman is the best part.
Correct, I said it above as well, for this kinda stuff in your image, the Christmas mailbag issue, it's the most meditative on who superman is what he means etc
Ah Bibbo
The story with Bibbo praying is beautiful.
It is said the Death and Return's final issue period has to be the the most edgiest period in comic books and manga because the butcher's blade went all over the place from western and east.
Lets see if my memory is right
>Booster Gold losing his arm
>Knightfall
>Wolverine losing his adamantium and the Birth of Onslaught
>Destruction of Coast City
>Phalanx and the Legacy Virus
>Infinity Crusade and Maximum Carnage
>Cell Saga
>Mechanismo and Inferno
>And ofc MAXIMUM CARNAGE!
If there is a meme about Superman dies = Edgelords thrives, then from October 1992 to December 1993 is the proof.
And i am not even counting on Emerald Twilight since that is another type of beast that led to every world ending shitshow that killed comics in 1996
>And i am not even counting on Emerald Twilight since that is another type of beast that led to every world ending shitshow that killed comics in 1996
Are you talking about H.E.A.T or something?
Honestly I always forget how close together DoS, Knightfall and Emerald Twilight were to each other
It's better than most of the trash that's been written in the past decade.
The entire Death of Superman TPB used to be like $5 at gas stations. It's basically one big fight.
I didn't read Funeral for a Friend.
I don't know how Reign of Supermen has aged but I really liked it when I was a kid.
Yes, it's one of the better Superman stories.
Not really? It's incredibly stupid unless you're going into for how hal jordan became parallax bit. Superboy is pretty boring, lex with hair feels out of character constantly as well as the weird dating supergirl bit, Hank Henshaw and Eradicator are some of the better parts of it, the return part doesn't feel triumphant and Doomsday comes and goes as a plot contrivance.
Then again after writing all that up there's some cool shit in there, so go for it.
It's not bad. I wouldn't consider it worth spending money on. It's solidly average or slightly better. Maybe a 6/10. Like I said, not something I'd recommend buying.
no
Yes, but I would argue that pretty much everything Superman-related post-Crisis up to Return is worth reading, and all that buildup really makes it hit more. Don't read an omnibus, find a publication order and read it all. You've only got six years of comics across three titles until the end of Reign of the Supermen, which as far as binging goes is pretty light.
>Don't read an omnibus, find a publication order and read it all. You've only got six years of comics across three titles until the end of Reign of the Supermen, which as far as binging goes is pretty light.
They are coming out with a Triangle Era omnibus in a few months thoughbeit
Anyone know where I can read Superpals?