Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Death of Superman

[jesse_custer]

I remember when I looked through the trade paperback as a youngster. It really was a sad comic book.

Unfortunately, if you kill off a superhero today, it means next to nothing for two reasons. First, the idea's been done to death (the most appropriate pun if you ask me). Second, the very concept of "superhero" has been diminished. These days, it'd be a relief if a lot of superheroes died - they'd no longer be miserable, or they'd no longer be assholes.

[Spike-X]

Unfortunately, if you kill off a superhero today, it means next to nothing for two reasons. First, the idea's been done to death (the most appropriate pun if you ask me). Second, the very concept of "superhero" has been diminished. These days, it'd be a relief if a lot of superheroes died - they'd no longer be miserable, or they'd no longer be assholes.

You forgot the third reason - you know damn well they're gonna be back within 6-12 months.

[Spike-X]

Next thing you know The new 52 will be 20!

Assuming they don't do another reboot before then.

[Charles RB]

These days, it'd be a relief if a lot of superheroes died - they'd no longer be miserable

That was already true of at least two-thirds of Marvel though (also Batman). I dunno where this idea that comics are more miserable comes from, because damn if Spider-Man isn't a mopey bastard in the 60s.

[jesse_custer]

That was already true of at least two-thirds of Marvel though (also Batman). I dunno where this idea that comics are more miserable comes from, because damn if Spider-Man isn't a mopey bastard in the 60s.

I'm not extremely familiar with old Spider-Man stuff, but I know that he was a teenager in those comic books, so it wouldn't strike me as cynical to have a teenager superhero be mopey.

I also believe it's inaccurate to suggest that mainstream comic book heroes from the 1960s were dealing with the sort of things we would find in works like Identity Crisis.

In the case of Batman, yes, he's always been darker than the rest, but he reaches new lows in things like Nolan's trilogy. We're at the point where superheroes have saturated several types of media, and different versions of characters wind up impacting not only each other but also our perception of superheroes.

[Charles RB]

I also believe it's inaccurate to suggest that mainstream comic book heroes from the 1960s were dealing with the sort of things we would find in works like Identity Crisis.

They didn't deal with rape, no, but people being bumped off and villains finding out their identities* and soap opera guff, that's all in there. Marvel also loved its "hated and feared" trope and the Thing being all angsty because he's an ugly bugger... If we don't like heroes being miserable, we have to blame Stan Lee. It's all his fault, he made soap opera angst a big thing and Chris Claremont & others ramped it up.

* That was a weird thing for IdC to make a big thing about as if it wasn't a well worn trope.

In the case of Batman, yes, he's always been darker than the rest, but he reaches new lows in things like Nolan's trilogy.

That's true. However, mainstream audiences lap it up. (I don't see them lapping it up with Superman though) They also liked the X-Men and Spider-Man emoing the place up, at least for some of the films.

[Ed Cunard]

The death of Superman was overrated, but the Reign of the Supermen was a pretty good story.

I still think the whole "Funeral For a Friend" bit was a great bit of superhero storytelling.

[dupersuper]

Yeah, "Death" was just a big cool fight scene to set it up: Funeral/Reign/Return were the actual story.

[dupont2005]

You forgot the third reason - you know damn well they're gonna be back within 6-12 months.

With a rockin' new mullet

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Well in Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Captain America (Steve Rodgers) it took them awhile. Like a year and half to 2 years to fully come back.

[thehod]

For me, it was just another part of a great run on the Superman books, from about '89 to '94-ish. Reign of the Supermen had me running to the comic shop each week like I was twelve again.

Yeah, me too.

[thehod]

I remember Gerard Jones's The Comic Book Heroes arguing that it was one of the things that started to do in the speculators - namely, Superman #76 came out and they went "hang on...", because they didn't know death meant "death" and not death like comic fans did.

The Comic Book Heroes is a great read, despite Jones's bitchyness about anything post 1988.

[dupont2005]

Well in Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Captain America (Steve Rodgers) it took them awhile. Like a year and half to 2 years to fully come back.

I thought it only took a few issues for Batman. And as far as Captain America goes, it really doesn't count in my opinion if the character that just died is replaced with someone physically indistinguishable who wears the same exact costume and calls himself the same exact thing. Captain America never skipped a beat. Just for a while Cap was Bucky when the mask was off, which wasn't all that often I'd imagine, considering the mask was never off in any of the Cap comics I had as a kid.

[Kusanagi]

Think this goes here, I don't agree with him on his opening on Superman, but I do love the conclusion. Death of Superman permanently killed off death as being relevant in comics or at least in the big 2.

[Charles RB]

The Comic Book Heroes is a great read, despite Jones's bitchyness about anything post 1988.

I love the bitchyness when it comes to Milestone - "oh it's comics for black people, of course sales are low, there's NO PROBLEMS IN THE MARKET AT ALL."