Retrospective on Superman's Triangle Era Part 3: The Death and Return of Superman

In anticipation of the upcoming Superman film from James Gunn and the newly forged DC Studios, I decided to revisit an unfinished reading project: going through all of the Post-Crisis Superman comics. In doing so, I realized that there's very little discussion concerning Superman's stories after John Byrne left the title outside of a few iconic stories such as The Death and Return of Superman. So I decided to add my two-cents to the discussion, beginning with some retrospectives on the "Triangle Era.” This blog post will be concerning the Death and Return of Superman mega-storyline as well as the final handful of issues in 1993. 

Superman is dead. Long live Superman. The Death and Return of Superman is an epic not previously seen at DC. The very idea of killing Superman was enough to reach the cover of Time Magazine. I won’t be doing a full review; there’s thousands of them out there and I do not think I will be able to add any new thoughts to it. Instead, we are going to be tackling a series of disparate thoughts I had as I read the story. 

In Justice League America (Vol 1) #69, Cat Grant is interviewing Superman, as Doomsday tears through the American countryside and eventually through the JLA. In the interview, she keeps pushing at Superman’s place with the League and suggesting he’s better than them. Superman, on the other hand, continues to insist on respect towards his fellow Leaguers and is extremely kind in his words about them which I really loved seeing. It also added a depth to his interactions with them during the arc that may have been missed if the reader hadn’t read the prior League issues. The way they kept cutting between the interview and the Doomsday stuff was also some excellent tension-building. 

Superman (Vol 2) #75, the issue where Superman actually dies, is also one of the best single issues of the Triangle Era yet. The entire story is depicted in single page or double page spreads which makes the action feel grand and epic. There’s also some subtle handling of the page gutters (the borders around panels) where in strategic ways, Doomsday and/or Superman would break through the borders which made the impact of their fight hit even harder. The final blow being shown to the audience through the reflection in Jimmy’s camera lens is also just frankly genius. That allows for the reader to fill in the aspects of what isn’t seen which makes the blow feel even more devastating.

“Funeral For a Friend” is probably my favorite of the four parts to the story (Death of Superman, Funeral For a Friend, Reign of the Superman, Return of Superman). The honest depiction of grief shown in the extended cast as well as the superhero and Metropolis communities as a whole really drives home the significance of the event here. The two parts that have really stuck with me are the hidden ways that Lois and the Kents have to grieve because only they knew both sides to Superman. Ma and Pa Kent burying a box of mementos as a proxy for their son will never not conjure tears in my eyes. The other significant depiction of grief here that I would like to touch on is Bibbo Bibbowski’s, which has solidified him as one of my favorite members of Superman’s extended cast. He is initially angry at the variety of responses to the death, but over a series of small scenes and moments, learns to channel that anger back into being like Superman. He even saves a small puppy and names him Krypto in honor of Superman’s home world (the Kryptonian dog Krypto was, at the time, erased from continuity by the Crisis). 

The highlight of the entire event for me is probably Adventures of Superman (Vol 1) #500. Pa Kent going through his history and fears in a heart attack induced coma, just to end up fighting for survival with his own son really touched me.

The four introductory issues for the four imposter Superman - Adventures of Superman (Vol 1) #501 (Superboy), Superman: Man of Steel (Vol 1) #22 (Steel), Action Comics (Vol 1) #687 (The Eradicator), and Superman (Vol 2) # 78 (Cyborg Superman) - were all quite great at quickly introducing and establishing what you needed to know about each of the Supermen. Steel is certainly the highlight of the four for me but I have a strong fondness for Cyborg Superman from his time as primarily a Green Lantern villain.

Superman (Vol 2) #79 is largely a series of images narrated by the in-universe writer who replaced Clark on the Daily Planet staff. It functions both as an establishment of Cyborg Superman as perhaps the actual Superman and a reflection on Clark’s legacy as a journalist which was sorely missing in many of the previous issues.

During the Reign of the Supermen, there’s a lot of focus on this ongoing plot with a gang and a villain named the White Rabbit. It felt entirely like filler to me and just something to keep the Supermen busy while they bought time to bring Mongul to Earth for the finale.

Speaking of the finale, Mongul and Cyborg Superman made for a really great fearsome duo. The whole frantic Return of Superman arc felt like one big action scene in the best way possible. I am curious about the editorial reason behind picking to destroy Coast City, though, but Hal’s path post-destruction is a discussion for another day. 

My final note concerning the Death and Return is that the fact that Superman gives Steel his official code-name is really quite lovely. 

I would also like to take a moment to discuss the last Triangle Era issues included in the 1993 year. There’s only seven, so this will be brief. 

There’s a lot of reestablishing the status quo in these issues. Clark goes back to work at the Planet, Superboy and Superman discuss his place in the world now that Superman is back, Luthor is set back as an antagonistic force, the Superman Cult from Stern’s Action Comics Weekly stories comes back and is addressed, a new mystery concerning the Eradicator is established, etc. Superman’s frantic attempts to save everyone and make up for the lost time while he was dead is also a rather excellent set-up for the next series of tales. 1993 ends a three part story with a new Bloodsport who is a white supremacist, but since the final part is in 1994, I am going to discuss that in the next post.