| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Low Violence level: High (given the total obliteration of a rather large city) Back Cover: “On November 18, 1992, news of Superman's death shocked the world as the legendary Man of Steel was killed defending Metropolis from the monster called Doomsday. Here at last is the dramatic story behind the bestselling comic book of all time: the fates of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Ma and Pa Kent, the Justice League, and the reign of the four superbeings who mysteriously appeared after Superman's funeral, each claiming to be the real Last Son of Krypton. And finally, here is the complete, incredible story of Superman's triumphant return!” |
It's an interesting thing about the Trinity of DC Comics (that's Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) that all three of them have had a time when the story questioned some of their basic morals. Is it really reasonable for them to avoid killing, given the nature of the world they live in? Can they be truly effective if they refuse to kill? And this is where Superman gets that moral question thrown at him—not because he is in any way tempted to kill anyone, but because when he dies, some of the people who step in to fill the void have no problem being judge, jury, and executioner. I think it's a wonderful statement about the nature of Superman that as people are trying to figure out which is the real one—if any of them are—that willingness to kill is a strong argument against some of the impostors. I also think it's a wonderful statement that the people who fill Superman's role best are the ones who never claim to be Superman, or even super-human, but are just people doing what they can to help in Superman's name. It shows just how much he does to inspire people to do good, whether they can jump tall buildings in a single bound or not.
I think it's that story of inspiration that's the reason the author took his time about the set up. You get a good chunk of time, while Doomsday is slowly breaking free, to get to know a lot of the people who are going to play important—and even not-so-important—roles after Superman's death. It means the story takes a while to heat up, but when it finally gets going it does so with vigor.