The Death and Return of Superman
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Max Landis, who is drinking Johnnie Walker with water mixed with it, talks about Superman. He discusses how he influenced comic book superheroes up until his decline in popularity in the 1990s. The DC Comics executives decided that Superman had to die in order to make him relevant again. Landis describes Doomsday’s birth and the events that led to his fights with Superman until both were killed. Three million copies of Superman Vol. were sold by DC Comics. 2 #75 was sold almost all over the world within the first day after its release.
DC Comics published the “Reign of the Supermen” after Superman’s funeral. The story arc introduced four characters who claimed to be Superman. Hank Henshaw was a cyborg Superman that defeated the others and destroyed Coast City. This caused Hal Jordan to lose his ability to reason and killed fellow Green Lantern Corps members. The Cyborg Superman ruled terror until the real Superman arrived and defeated him. The “healing stupefia” that Superman was in, which is identical to death but temporary, had been revealed. Fans felt betrayed by DC Comics and protested Superman’s resurrection. Sales of Superman comics plummeted and have never recovered since.
Landis sips another glass of water and recalls the lesson he learned from John Landis about how to kill vampires. Landis, the younger, lists several ways to kill vampires in literature. His father then explains that writers can kill them any way they like because vampires don’t exist. The Death of Superman story arc didn’t kill Superman. Instead, it made death irrelevant for comics as hundreds of comics characters would die and be resurrected multiple times over the years.
