By Michael Bailey
It’s time to dig out your armbands.
DC Comics has announced their plans to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Death of Superman with an all-new special with stories by the creative teams that worked on the original epic saga. The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 will be available on November 8th and contains four all-new stories as well as nine pinups and with a number of variant covers. The DC Comics Blog shared the teams that will be working on the book as well as brief synopsis of what the stories will be about.
“The Life of Superman” by Dan Jurgens (W & A), Brett Breeding (A), Brad Anderson (C), and John Workman (L) – A young Jon Kent finds out in school that his dad had died years earlier, as his parents never told him about that fateful day. In the midst of dealing with this emotional news, Jon and Clark need to team up to fight a new villain connected to Doomsday called DOOMBREAKER.
“Standing Guard” by Roger Stern (W), Butch Guice (A), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – The epic battle between Superman and Doomsday from the Guardians’ perspective.
“Time” by Louise Simonson (W), Jon Bogdanove (A), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – The story of how the death of Superman looked from John Henry Irons’s perspective.
“Above and Beyond” by Jerry Ordway (W), Tom Grummett (P), Doug Hazlewood (I), Glenn Whitmore (C), and Rob Leigh (L) – A powerful story of Ma and Pa Kent watching their son fight Doomsday live on television and going through Clark’s photo albums with the feeling that their son always prevails.
Dan Jurgens discussed the special in an interview with DC Comics. “I realized it was the 30th anniversary, and I started mentioning it to a couple of folks at DC and said, “There’s an opportunity here, especially since we’re all still around and able to work on it in terms of the original creators who were there at the time… We started having some discussions and realized there’s something we can do here that I think is fun for people, whether they were there and remember it and want to scratch that itch of nostalgia, or whether they weren’t there at all and want to find out more about what it was about.”
The pin-ups will be handled by some of the biggest names working in comics today, including Jamal Campbell, Lee Weeks, Clay Mann, Fabio Moon, Walter Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez and more. The main cover will be by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding with an open order variant cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams, a Jon Kent variant by Dan Mora, a Funeral For a Friend variant by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, as well as other variants that are available based on the number of copies ordered.
And if you were wondering if DC was going to bring back the black bag, have no fear. There will be a Premium Polybag variant complete with armband that contains the Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding cover.
But that’s not all. DC will also be offering a special edition of Superman #75 on November 1st, which will reprint the original issue and feature interviews with the creators.
Finally, DC had already solicited The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, to be released on December 6th. That book will reprint Superman #73-75, Adventures of Superman #496-497, Justice League America #69, Action Comics #683-684, Superman: The Man of Steel #17-19, and Newstime: The Life and Death of Superman #1, and Superman: Day of Doom #1-4 as a bonus tale!
THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1
30 years ago, the unthinkable happened. The Man of Steel died. After sacrificing himself to stop the unstoppable global threat, Doomsday, Metropolis and the rest of the DC Universe mourned the loss of their greatest hero. To mark this monumental moment in comics, DC has reunited the complete creative team behind the original event for four brand-new stories. Led by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding, the special kicks off with a new Superman story and villain… DOOMBREAKER! Followed by a series of short stories revisiting some of Superman’s greatest allies and exclusive pinups done by some of comics’ greatest artistic talent including LEE WEEKS, GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, and WALTER SIMONSON.
Written by DAN JURGENS, ROGER STERN, LOUISE SIMONSON, and JERRY ORDWAY
Art by DAN JURGENS, BRETT BREEDING, BUTCH GUICE, JON BOGDANOVE, TOM GRUMMETT, and more!
Cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING
Open Order Variant Cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
Jon Kent Variant Cover by DAN MORA
Funeral for a Friend Variant Cover by IVAN REIS and DANNY MIKI
Doomsday Die-Cut Variant Cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA
1:25 Doomsday Variant Cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA
1:50 Variant Cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
1:00 Foil Variant Cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING
Premium Polybag Variant (w/armband) featuring main cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING inside
$10.99 US | 80 PAGES
ON SALE 11/8/22
SUPERMAN #75 SPECIAL EDITION
Superman and Doomsday go toe-to-toe in Metropolis and the Man of Steel falls! In 1992, the Death of Superman shocked the world and changed the DC Universe forever. Now’s your chance to own a piece of comic book history in a special edition featuring the iconic tale and interviews with the original creative team just in time for the 30th anniversary!
Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING
Cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
ON SALE 11/1/22
THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
It was a day that no one ever dreamed would arrive: the day an unstoppable force met an immovable object. In Doomsday, Superman met his ultimate match – and his death! Relive the monumental event in this 30th-anniversary deluxe edition of the Death of Superman saga, featuring a new introduction by Dan Jurgens and other extras. This volume collects Superman #73-75, Adventures of Superman #496-497, Justice League America #69, Action Comics #683-684, Superman: The Man of Steel #17-19, and Newstime: The Life and Death of Superman #1 – plus Superman: Day of Doom #1-4 as a bonus tale!
Written by DAN JURGENS, JERRY ORDWAY, LOUISE SIMONSON, and ROGER STERN
Art by JON BOGDANOVE, TOM GRUMMETT, JACKSON GUICE, DAN JURGENS, and others
Cover by DAN JURGENS and BRETT BREEDING
$39.99 US | 328 pages | 7 1/16″ x 10 7/8″ | Hardcover
DIRECT MARKET EXCLUSIVE VARIANT
ON SALE 12/6/22
Will these stories be made into a hardcover collection later on? Will Doombreaker be like what doomslayer was in the reign of Doomsday story?
Dear DC,
In your long, long history, far more has happened creatively than Crisis on Infinite Earths and The Death of Superman. Maybe mine something else for new content?
I say this because I care.
Love,
afriend
Ya know I was thinking. What about a story where Superman goes back in time and stops his own death? What would the repercussions be from such a change? Would John Henry Irons still become steel? What about Connor? Would superboy still exist?What about the eradicator and cyborg Superman? And what reason would superman go back in time to prevent his own death at the hands of doomsday? Or what about a story where conduit is resurrected? What would he do to Superman in this time period? Would he target Clark’s wife Lois, and his son John?