The Death And Life Of Superman (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
The novelization of an epic journey Don't worry, I have you!It shocked me this quote on the book since it took me back to 1979 when I was like 6 years old and I went to a local cinema theater to watch Superman, the movie with Christopher Reeve. (Yes, I know that the film was premiered on 1978, but on those sweet old times, a synch global premiere was something that you didn't even dream about, in Latin American countries, we used to wait several months, even sometimes a year to watch a movie coming from United States, but since Internet didn't exist, we haven't any spoilers! Hehehe!)Also, you have to know that back then, in my country, Costa Rica, the exposition to Marvel stuff was quite limited, and the "coolest" animated TV show was Superfriends, so, there was a general sense that Superman was the best ever! Nothing was better than Superman then!Well, just pictured me, six years old, with a white t-shirt with a Superman shield and a plastic cape. (Which both items were cleverly sold in the hall of the theater and you can bet that any child without those "valuable" items will have a sad experience on the theater!) Like 45 minutes later, Superman appears!!! (Since in those sweet times, kids weren't used to special effects, so to me, and I bet, most of the kids on the theater, the guy on the blue/red suit wasn't an actor, he wasn't Christopher Reeve, he was Superman!!!) Me, and the rest of kids on the theater, we were jumping in our seats, since a man was flying on the screen!!! A man was flying!!! (Since, again, in those sweet times, we weren't being exposed to so many characters flying, in those times we still can be getting excited to watch a flying super-hero.)Superman appears, flying!, and right away he catched Lois saying "Easy, miss. I've got you.", (Close enough to the quote that I mentioned first), and after having a woman on one hand, he catched a helicopter with the other hand!!!That moment got printed in stone on my memory, and even now, when I am quite aware that it was the smart combination of special effects, I am indulging myself and I get excited again believing that a man can fly... ...most of today's heroes would probably never have gotten started if it hadn't been for Superman. I'm not even sure there was such a term as "super-hero" before he came along...I made a comic book collection when I was a kid, mostly from Spanish-translated reprints done by a Mexican publishing house named "Novaro", which reprinted American comic books, from DC Comics. After some years, I guess that the company broke or something since the comics stopped to come here, to Costa Rica. So, for many years I was kinda disconnected from comic books. And then, in 1992, I read in newspapers, (No, not the Daily Planet, but real newspapers, since it was a worldwide news.), that Superman was going to die due a bloody battle against a monster known as "Doomsday". I couldn't believe it. But what shocked me even more was the reason... The article said that due the Superman titles were selling so bad, they thought best to kill off the character. Then, I realized that there were already some comic books, in English, selling in some stands in my country. Yes, I had to get back to comic books.So, my formal current comic book collection started with Superman #75, I did like the following year of the four titles related to Superman, later I expanded to other DC titles, also Marvel titles, and even later I was able to get some Indy titles. And now my comic book collection only get bigger and bigger. All thanks that the "death" of Superman made me to realize that I had lost something important to me, something from my childhood, and I wanted to do it again. I learned to read thanks to comic books, and it was time to include them again in my literature genres. He is hate... death and bloodlust personified. Nothing more.This novelization, is the prose adaptation of the three major events that re-shaped the universe of Superman in comics books, back in the 90's. And if you have some hesitation of reading it, just because, you don't know much about Superman and the related characters, don't worry, since Roger Stern, the author (and also, editor & writer for several years on DC Comics), did an impeccable job doing detailed explanations and flashbacks commentaries, where you will get to know anything that you need to know about Superman and the rest of the characters on the related comic book titles on that moment. So, you will be able to understand totally this wonderful adaptation that even offers more detailed scenes of the original storyline presented on its comic book format. DOOMSDAYThe first part will guide you through the epic battle between Superman and Doomsday, crossing thousands of miles, in the middle of the heart of the United States, causing millions of losses in properties, generating more than 500 deaths, and even sending the Justice League of America to the hospital. FUNERAL FOR A FRIENDThe second part will show you how grim is a world without Superman. The world's greatest hero has fallen and people starting to realize how much they had been taking for granted. The safety that living in a world with Superman was lost, but also, in secret, some people had lost even more, some of them had lost: a fiancée, a workmate, an ally, a friend, a son. THE REIGN OF SUPERMENThe third part will impact you with one of the best storylines ever crafted in the history of comic books. Four mysterious characters rise, all four reclaiming the mantle of Superman. Who are they? What are they planning to do? Early in his career, he'd had to recognize the simple fact that he couldn't save every life.So, this great novelization will take in a journey like none other prose novel has ever done before to get to know the death and life of Superman. An epic story of sacrifice, duty and most of all... heart. You're able to do so many wonderful things with your powers, Clark, but even you can't solve all the world's problems.And if you are so kind to indulge me once more, I just want to finish the review, with a couple of lines from, again, the Superman movie, that they are dialogues that when I was a kid, I didn't get their impact, but after keeping watching the movie, over and over again, at some point, I matured enough to appreciate the greatness of those lines, that they showed the most powerful trait of Superman... his humility. A lesson to all mankind and to all those who think that they are better than the rest of us. Warden: This country is safe again, Superman, thanks to you.Superman: No, sir. Don't thank me, Warden. We're all part of the same team. Good night.
This story is underrated. Yes, it was a goofy sales gimmick, but it's one with a lot of thought and effort and storytelling put into it - and one that modern superhero stories and especially modern Superman stories should take a lesson from.A list of things that this book has: Important supporting characters. Well-knowns like Lois Lane and Johnathan and Martha Kent; less-knowns like Bibbo Bibbowski and Emil Hamilton; and only-showed-up-heres like Mitch Andersen all get their own storylines and contribute to the overall narrative. Meaningful queer characters. Specifically, Maggie Sawyer, head of Metropolis's Special Crimes Unit, a badass lesbian whose comrades in arms support her. Multiple coherent narrative threads; this isn't just a book about Superman, but about the many people his life has touched, and each one of them's individual response to tragedy. A Superman who goes out of his way to defend and rescue bystanders and help people, instead of being focused on punch-the-bad-guy. Where does it fall down? The ending. It's not just that the focus of all this emotion, Superman's death, is undone - we all knew that had to happen, after all, and while it's a bit of a let-down, there's enough character work put in to soften the blow. It's that, after a certain point, there are no longer multiple threads going on - just a single action-movie narrative about superheroes fighting an alien invasion. It's still interesting, but in a much more limited way.Also, enormous credit to Roger Stern for winding the disparate threads of the comics into a cohesive whole. He does amazing structural work, putting the information you need to know from years' worth of ongoing storylines into the book at points that seem natural, using flashbacks liberally, having one character talk to another about events that happened off-screen and using it to reveal characterization. It's a lesson that anyone working on an adaptation from one medium to another could learn from.
What do You think about The Death And Life Of Superman (1994)?
My friend who recommended this book warned me about the length of this book--the font is pretty small; what he did not warn me about was the absolute insanity within the pages. WHAT DID I JUST READ? This book contained almost every sci-fi plot known to man. And no matter how long the book is or how small the font is, there's not usually room for that many plot points. I think maybe the author just got giddy with the freedom of prose and just started spitting out alternate universes and clones and artificial intelligences. Which keeps things interesting, so I enjoyed it, really.
—Samantha M.
Okay, here's the thing: I really disliked this book. There may be a combination of external factors unrelated to the story that contribute to this. Outside a few old school movies, I am largely unfamiliar with Superman. I tend to find there's a lot of disconnect between visual mediums and prose. I also do not care for an overabundance of details. There is a reason a lot of this was probably cut from the comic. As a comic, I can see this being something that works. Can see the overblown nature of it being engaging, but it doesn't translate for me. It's assumed that you already know and care about the people involved so unfamiliar people like myself are left kind of floating. It's entirely possible that this is a fabulous novelization, but for me it missed and missed badly.
—Paige
I had not read comics in many years, but when I heard Superman died I knew I wanted to read that story. I didn't want to buy all the comics though, so I was glad when it came out in paperback form. I was impressed with this story. It was a very good story and involved so many DC characters. I didn't miss the fact that it wasn't in comic form. The writing was very descriptive; when I finally saw a picture of Doomsday it was exactly as I imagined from this book. There were a few heroes that "filled-in" for Supes and this book covers stories too. If you have ever liked Superman in books, movie or TV, then this book adds to the mythos.
—Jason
