DC is reuniting the creative teams behind the iconic "The Death of Superman" storyline for a new special, The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1.
Following yesterday's tease on social media, DC announced Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Roger Stern, Butch Guice, Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Jerry Ordway and Tom Grummett will all return for The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, which releases in November. The special will feature four brand-new stories examining the detrimental weight Clark's death had on his friends and family.
Jurgens, Breeding, Brad Anderson and John Workman will create "The Life of Superman," a story which sees a young Jon Kent learn about his father's death at school one day for the first time. The story will also introduce a new villain with ties to Doomsday called Doombreaker. "Standing Guard" comes from Stern, Guice, Glenn Whitmore and Rob Leigh, which shows Superman and Doomsday's battle from the Guardians' point of view. Simonson, Bogdanove, Whitmore and Leigh's "Time" will follow John Henry's perspective through the iconic storyline. Lastly, "Above and Beyond" by Ordway, Grummett, Doug Hazelwood, Whitmore and Leigh will see Jonathan and Martha Kent watch Clark battle Doomsday on live television while they simultaneously flip through old photos of their son.
The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 will also feature variant covers by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Francesco Mattina, Jurgens and Breeding and pinups from Jamal Campbell, Lee Weeks, Clay Mann, Fabio Moon, Walter Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez and more.
Jurgens said of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, "Even now, thirty after the 'Death of Superman' first came out, every single convention or store appearance I do has at least one person who comes up to me with Superman #75 or the first 'Death of Superman' collected edition and says, 'This is the book that got me into comics. And I’m still here, reading, all these years later.' Most times, it’s more than one. Sometimes, multiple people arrive at my table at the same time and share their memories, which is always fun to experience.
"Their tales are often quite similar. Typically, media coverage of Superman’s death compelled them or a parent to drop by a local store to pick [the issue] up. In some cases, their parents let them skip school the day of the book's release so they could stand in line to get a copy. Some talk of how their store was sold out and they spent days looking all over town to find one.
"I’m not alone in that experience. It’s common for the entire team of writers and artists who worked on Superman at the time. It was a singularly unique moment in comics, when a particular story was covered by every form of national and local media alike. It’s hard to tell people what those days were like, but every comic shop in the country had long lines
of people outside the door waiting to buy THAT BOOK. All these years later, it’s a great pleasure to get back together with the story’s original creative teams to celebrate a truly exciting time in comics. For those of you who remember those days, The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special will reignite some memories. For those who weren’t around to experience it, well…we hope you get a hint of what it was like."
The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 features cover art by Jurgens and Breeding. The issue goes on sale Nov. 8 from DC.
Source: DC Comics