This is it! The battle of the century! Unfortunately because of the title the book, we all know how it ends. Well, if you couldn't decipher the ending from THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN then I'm going to spoil it for you. Superman totally dies. But it's HOW he dies that's interesting, right?!
Doomsday has been making his way towards Metropolis, despite Superman's and the Army's best efforts to stop him. Behind him lays a path of death and destruction. The Justice League has been run over, with most of the members being brought in for medical attention. It's come down to Superman.
Supergirl (the girlfriend of Lex Luthor Jr. at the time), attempts to help Superman, but one punch from Doomsday reduces Supergirl to a protoplasmic mess. Supergirl's origin says she was actually created by the Lex Luthor of Krypton and wasn't actually a person, but a being grown in a test tube that could do incredible things including shape shift).
Just check out some of the brutal shots these two Goliaths exchange:
Readers were seeing Superman take a beating like never before. Not only was he bleeding but he is visibly bruised and weakening with each punch. And Doomsday shows NO SIGN of tiring!
Then Superman takes a piledriver from Doomsday and is temporarily put down. Doomsday turns his attention to Lois Lane who is standing nearby with Jimmy Olsen, both covering the story for the Daily Planet. Lois and Superman are also secretly engaged and Lois can't bring herself to be away from Superman while he's fighting for his life as well as the lives of everyone around him. If Superman can't stop Doomsday, then who can?
He follows this up with a tremendous blast of heat vision!
I love the detail of Superman stepping on his battle-torn cape that's fallen off from the fight. This panel also shows Superman using up a lot of his reserve energy in order to keep Lois safe. Superman is saving people left and right, all while fighting Doomsday. Why can't Lois keep back a bit?
She does prove to give Superman a second wind though. As they're able to share one last romantic moment, which hulks up Superman and gives him a new found energy!
I remember reading this for the first time, and feeling like this was coming to a head. Not just because I could tell how many pages I had left, but the fight itself was building to something. At one point, Superman and Doomsday and fighting just outside the Daily Planet and Superman says to himself that "this is the line. I stop you here or die." They're hitting each other so hard, the windows of the building are shattering from the shockwave of their punches.
Then, they're both rear back with all they have left.
And land the final blow that ends both of their lives.
They both fall, in what must feel like slow motion. Lois rushes to Superman, cradling his head in her arms. He struggles to breath, but is able to weakly ask, "Did I do it? Did I stop him?" To which Lois replies, "Yes, you did it. You saved us all." And with that, the greatest hero the world has ever seen succumbs to his wounds and breathes his last, his head falling back as Lois explodes in sobs and tears.
What an issue! So many feels! Writers did a fantastic job capturing the raw emotion, and keeping the action grounded pretty well. I felt as if this was a very realistic way for Superman to die. He would go out making sure that everyone was safe. What do you think?
Next up: what happens to the world without it's Superman? I'll talk about it next week in the follow up story to Superman's Death. WORLD WITHOUT SUPERMAN/FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment