When it happened, the Death of Superman was a pretty big deal. As you imagine it would be, both in the DC Universe and real life. That's exactly what it was designed to do, to get comics mainstream publicity in the way that it hadn't in years, and that plan paid off! The killing of an American icon became national and even international news, and had people who had never picked up a comic book before rushing to the newsstands to buy a copy of what was sure to be a momentous occasion in pop cultural history. Looking back, though, it's clear that the marketing angle was cooked up long before the quality of the story was considered. As such, the Death of Superman is kind of a dud, despite such a provocative title. The one to claim the supposedly indestructible hero's life isn't Lex Luthor, Brainiac, or any of his other longtime enemies. It was Doomsday, a character who didn't really have any motivation or anything interesting about him. He was just big, and tough, big and tough enough to survive six rounds with Supes and emerge victorious. Doomsday would be used sparingly in the ensuing decade, although whenever he did show up it smacked of the creative team being out of any good ideas. For the most part he was rightly forgotten about, and the whole fiasco barely ever mentioned. You would think dying and coming back to life is something you'd never stop nattering on about, wouldn't you?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
