Walmart Customers Outraged Over Violent Superman Comic Book

DC Comics is receiving quite a bit of criticism from fans over a story included in the Walmart exclusive “Superman 100-Page Giant #7”.

The all-new story written by Tom King for this book features twelve pages of Lois Lane being graphically murdered over and over again. While the scenarios are reportedly nightmares being played out in Superman’s mind, readers have taken to Twitter to express their disappointed, posting warning to other parents who may be buying these comic books for their children.

One parent wrote, “I’ve been buying the Walmart Superman books and sharing them with my 10 year old son each month. It’s been fun… until now. I won’t share #7 with him because a 12 page Lois Lane snuff comic isn’t something I want him to experience.”

“I thought this was a family friendly line,” posted another reader concerned over the material DC Comics have been including in their books of late.

What do you think? Has DC Comics gone too far? Are fans over-reacting? What did you think of the story?

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MattComics
MattComics
January 20, 2019 5:54 pm

Ugh. Ok, On the one hand yes maybe there is a perception still of comics being exclusively for kids and that’s a bit of a problem. Also I think adults tend to treat kids as a monolith in terms of what ideas and images in stories they can and can’t handle. BUT on the other hand I think it needs to be asked why would you make Superman comics that kids aren’t allowed in on? Ideally, I think the superheroes of the big two should be accessible to young and old alike, especially Superman. Also is Tom King really a… Read more »

Superman2878
January 20, 2019 6:22 pm
Reply to  MattComics

What I want to know is, why would any writer write about a story where Superman is imagining the death of the woman he loves over and over again in different scenarios? I find that creepy. I’ll skip this comic. It’s hard to look at these images. Lois is one of my favorite characters next to Superman. And for this writer to write such a terrible story about possible deaths of Lois Lane….. I just can’t read this. It’s just that bad in my opinion.

MattComics
MattComics
January 20, 2019 7:24 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

I’m guessing he was wanting to illustrate some subconscious anxiety that Superman has for fearing the one time he might be too late to save Lois. Something that might bubble to the surface in the form of a reoccurring nightmare. But that’s an idea that’s probably gonna play better to the direct market crowd than to a general audience which is what DC should be thinking of when doing something like a Wal-Mart line. I don’t think they understand marketing to newsstands anymore because with a general audience you can’t just lean on grimdark all the time. Kind of make… Read more »

s-shield
s-shield
January 20, 2019 8:20 pm

12 PAGES!? Did I read that right? 12 Pages of Lois being murdered over and over again? That would be excessive in an issue of ACTION COMICS. But in a WALMART-brand Superman comic in the same aisle as the Pokemon cards? Why WOULDN’T a parent think this book was meant to be kid-friendly? And for another thing, WHY is it not?

12 pages… Tom King, what is WRONG with you?

MattComics
MattComics
January 21, 2019 6:45 pm
Reply to  s-shield

He seems to be very enamored with the concept of superheroes having PTSD as a result of their experiences. Which I think is really kind of over-analyzing the fiction even though I can understand seeing them in a sense as akin to rescue works, firefighters, etc.

DW13
DW13
January 21, 2019 8:23 am

12 pages of Lois Lane getting MURDERED???
Gee, Tom King, did your mother even love you as a child? >_>

Also, and I know this sounds insipid, but where’s Jon at this point?
These stories are prolly set Post-MoS, but still… 😉

redcape
redcape
January 21, 2019 12:45 pm

This is in the same category as Batman, The killing Joke. Is this some new direction? I think if they’re going to go this route they need to warn people.

liheibao
liheibao
January 21, 2019 3:26 pm

In all fairness, I’ve read stories where Superman was killed, tortured, or worse, over and over again. . .and no one complained.

Superman2878
January 21, 2019 4:12 pm
Reply to  liheibao

True, there has been stories where Superman has been in similar situations. But Superman has superpowers. Lois is human and has no powers.So when Superman goes into a life and death situation, odds are he will find a way to survive that threat,or return from death from that threat. For Lois, the danger for her is more dire since she has no powers. True she was raised by a father who served in the armed forces and probably had to learn to defend herself in life and death situations. But there is only so much training that she could have… Read more »

Superman2878
January 21, 2019 4:35 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

Truthfully, when I had heard that they had killed off Superman in his first fight with doomsday many years ago, I was worried for the man of steel. I was worried that we would never have another story about Superman again.I’m pretty sure people were upset about that as well. But then again there have also been stories where Superman died through other means or had appeared to, and yes no one complained about those stories.

liheibao
liheibao
January 21, 2019 5:01 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

Superman was tortured for 200 years. Powers or no powers, I think that’s pretty intense.

Superman2878
January 21, 2019 5:19 pm
Reply to  liheibao

I was just giving a theory really. If anything, readers love Lois and they hate to see anything bad happen to her.

liheibao
liheibao
January 21, 2019 6:34 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

No argument there.

MattComics
MattComics
January 21, 2019 6:42 pm
Reply to  liheibao

I think Spidey has a bit of a point in terms of Lois being mortal so it plays a bit more intense just because a lot of the usual get out death free cards that super powered characters have in comics don’t necessarily apply.

..but yeah it’s not at all a great read to see either Superman or Lois being tortured or killed over and over. Even in the context of a dream sequence.

Superman2878
January 21, 2019 7:26 pm
Reply to  MattComics

Agreed MattComics. Seeing both Superman and Lois in dire situations is a hard read. It is reassuring to me to see that everyone who has posted on this site love Superman and Lois. And they hate seeing anything bad happen to either of them.

MattComics
MattComics
January 21, 2019 10:26 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

It’s the difference between creating drama and conflict for the characters to face and being able to pull you into the story enough that you’re not thinking “Oh well of course they’ll get out of that because he’s in the solicits for three months from now!”

It’s the difference between that and just seeing them brutalized because a creator thinks that’s edgy or deep.

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Super El
Super El
January 22, 2019 4:01 pm

Tom King is not a good fit for Superman in the first place. His Batman book alone is controversial for being too negative. Too negative for a Batman comic…

Gratuitous murder of Superman’s love interest for anxiety points? Superman moping again for the 100th time? Yeah, no. No way Soccer Moms are going to buy this for their kids.

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[…] Superman Homepage has a pic posted from the story which shows one of the ways Lois Lane is murdered: Lois on her […]

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[…] Superman Homepage has a pic posted from the story which shows one of the ways Superman thinks of Lois Lane getting […]