Where Were YOU When Superman Died?
Where Were YOU When Superman Died?
Don Sparrow wrote this for our Superman #75 extravaganza, but I'm posting it separately as a shameless ploy to pad out our post count:
“I’d be interested to hear the readers’ (and Max’s) stories about when/how they first read this issue. I’ll go first: As I’ve mentioned, I first heard about the whole death storyline watching Entertainment Tonight. I habitually bought my comics at the drugstore a block from my house, only rarely (in those days) venturing to the Comic Shop 4 blocks from my house (I know, I was spoiled). So a lot of my early reading was dictated by whatever my neighbourhood drugstore happened to pick up (and as such, I would miss some big comics, because they just never got ordered)
As soon as I heard about the story, I went to the drugstore and told the owner which issues I wanted, and asked him if he could make sure to get them in. He took all my information, and it all seemed positive–he seemed very confident that he could not only get them, but put them aside for me when they came in.
But this storyline, and indeed, particularly this issue was SO important to me, I wasn’t taking any chances. My mom and I went to the comic shop, and signed up for Superman #75. The owner asked if I wanted multiple copies, helpfully explaining that it came in a bag, and if I opened the bag, it might not be worth as much, etc. My mom even encouraged me to sign up for a couple. But, feeling loyalty to my local drugstore, I said, no, one was enough, secure in the knowledge that I’d have the backup copy I’d ordered from the drugstore.
November 19, 1992, I finally got my copy (online, most sources say the book came out on Wednesday, the 18th of November, but in my city, it was only available for purchase on the Thursday) from the comic store. As luck would have it, I was home sick from school (actually sick, not just faking) so my Mom took me to the comic shop in the sleet and snow. I cut the bag open, poring over the contents before I read the comic. I remember being pleased that they used a Jerry Ordway illustration in the “newspaper” clipping that came with the comic, and my mom read the obituary aloud while I read the comic (still seems a bit weird to me that Batman would make a statement to the press, but it was a different time).
There was excitement as I read the issue, but also grief, which I’d been feeling for weeks as the story progressed, and now even a little outrage. I kept looking for a way out, some way Superman could win, and make it out alive. I remember being furious that Batman wasn’t a part of the story, or my other fave, Captain Marvel. "There’s thousands of Green Lanterns,“ I remember saying to my older sister, "where were they?!” Then my sister explained what the 12-year-old me was too juvenile and in love with my hero to understand, “It’s the Death of Superman. They didn’t want to find a way not to kill him. The whole point was to kill him.” As you’re reading this, you’re probably like “doye!” because it’s pretty obvious, but as I’ve stated in other posts, I really was looking for a way out of the story.
I had been told by Elmer, the owner of the drugstore, not to expect the comic to arrive until Friday (and it had been my experience that I could usually expect the new comic for the weekend in the past). So I went in on Friday, and no comic. Each day I would visit, and ask, and again, no comic would arrive. A full week went by, and JLA 70 came in, but still no Superman 75. By this time, panic had set in, and so I dashed to the comic shop to get my backup copy, since my only polybagged copy had been opened. But the shop was sold out, even of the newsstand edition (with the flowing cape cover image). I don’t know what went wrong, but the comics never came to my drugstore. To this day, I still only have that one copy of Superman 75, opened at the top, with the rest of the goodies all still inside. After that, I bought all my comics from the comic shop, because, though I didn’t yet have a pull file (this shop required a minimum of six books a month, and with Superman comics and JLA, I only had five) I could be secure in the knowledge that the comics would at least show up at the store. It became my ritual to go to the shop on new comics day (it didn’t hurt that there was a 7-11 across the street for easy access to slurpees and microwavable burgers) to see what was new, and talk comics. Tom Grummett’s art studio was in the space above the shop, so if you were lucky, you might catch a glimpse of him coming into the shop for reference, or to sign some comics (more on my friendship with him in future posts) which made it all the more thrilling. I had been a huge Superman fan before this storyline, but I would tend to pick up a comic on a lark, or based on who was drawing it. After this, I was a lifer–I had to know what happened next. So many Superman fans I meet (and it feels like there aren’t that many of us) say the same thing–the Death storyline is what got them into comics, particularly Superman. And while I’d been a fan since buying my first comic with my own money (John Byrne’s Man of Steel #1) the death storyline was a big turning point for me as well.”
My story is way less interesting than Don's, so I'm leaving it in the comments… and you can do the same! If you want! It's not like we have ads and make money from the clicks or anything.