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Death and Life of Superman

March 1, 2004: Roger Stern Talks “Death and Life of Superman” Novel

The Pulse website caught up with author Roger Stern to discuss with him the re-release of his novel "The Death and Life of Superman". Here's an excerpt from the interview...

Q: It seems a daunting task to retell such a pivotal comics event in a novelized form. How did you get involved in writing The Death and Life of Superman?

A: That was all thanks to Mike Carlin. Early in 1993, Bantam Books approached DC about publishing a novelization of the big story we were then weaving through the Superman comics titles. At the time, Mike was the editor of the Superman titles, and he realized that it would take too long to bring in an outside writer, explain the whole story to him or her, and still produce the book in time. He needed an insider, someone who already knew the story, and I was one of his four core Superman writers. I was then writing ACTION COMICS, but I'd worked on numerous Superman titles and projects over the previous six years. So, Mike gave me a call and asked me to write the book.

And not knowing any better, I said yes. (Laughter)

Q: What is The Death and Life of Superman? For someone who maybe lived under a rock in 1993 or is too young to remember this initially happening, what's the significance of this story?

A: Well, Death and Life is primarily a prose adaptation of the stories that appeared in the Superman comics titles from the autumn of 1992 through the summer of 1993, though I also wrote additional material for the novel that never appeared in the comics.

The story unfolded in three parts: Superman died, sacrificing himself to stop a monster called Doomsday from destroying Metropolis. A big state funeral and worldwide mourning followed his death. And then, four new "Supermen" appeared, attempting to take our hero's place and raising the question: "Are any of these four the real Superman?" I don't think I'll be giving away too much if I reveal that eventually the real Superman made himself known. After all, he's alive and well and starring in at least four monthly comics these days, right?

Anyway, this all turned out to be a very big deal in what passes for the "real world," as well as in the world of comics. In the fall of '92, word of Superman's death made the evening news and appeared in all the major newspapers. Jay Leno mentioned it in his monologue. In fact, on the Tonight Show for New Year's Eve, December 31, 1992, Roseanne (then Roseanne Arnold, I believe) appeared in a taped segment claiming that her New Year's resolution was to hunt down Superman's killer "and make him pay for what he did."

My barber was asking me about Superman. The guys at the hardware store wanted to know more about the story. People who hadn't read a comic in years picked one up. People who'd never read a comic before picked one up. The Superman titles all sold millions of copies. Those comics were eventually collected in a series of trade paperbacks -- The Death of Superman, World Without a Superman, and The Return of Superman -- that have been kept in print ever since.

There was so much word of mouth on the story that someone at Bantam Books got a bright idea, and that led to my writing the novel.

Read the complete interview at the Pulse website.


2004 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News

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