Superman 80th Anniversary Thread

[The Joker]

I remember picking up Superman #51 (January 1991) off the comic book spinner rack (remember those?) when it was brand new at a bookstore.

This issue is auspicious for many reasons. One of them is that this issue inaugurated the famous Triangle Numbering System. See, there were three ongoing monthly Superman comics coming out at the time. And they were interwoven with each other. What happened in an issue of Action Comics would reverberate in The Adventures Of Superman and then get carried on in Superman. So, a common complaint among readers was the lack of an easy way to figure out which order the comics should be read in.

Hence, the triangle number on the cover to guide readers. And I have to say, I found it very convenient.

Honestly, the first time I ever saw this issue, was within Wizard magazine as the publication had a "Speculation" section on comics that could very well increase in value due to particulars, and this was one of them. Mainly because, as you mentioned, the Triangle numbering system starting with this issue. Which I thought was neat. Course, this was pre-internet, and I never found the comic until much, much later, but I do remember this being one I sought out for awhile. In addition, since I really didn't start reading Superman until right when Doomsday made his 1st appearance, any back issues featuring what some may consider regular Superman stories, had a particular "mystique" about them to me as kid. As, again, when I got into Superman comics, I didn't have him for very long, then there was a hiatus. Retroactively making previous past comics kinda special to me in some ways.

[The Joker]

[The Joker]

[thecolorsblend]

It's funny. I've seen the SNL Superman's 50th Anniversary special a few times. But until now, I guess I didn't realize that the bald guy was always supposed to be Lex Luthor.

Strange.

[Kamdan]

It's funny. I've seen the SNL Superman's 50th Anniversary special a few times. But until now, I guess I didn't realize that the bald guy was always supposed to be Lex Luthor.

Strange.

In the credits of the special itself, Robert Smigel is listed as The Brainwave, not Lex Luthor. This was just a case of misidentification.

[The Joker]

Via the Wizard Magazine Superman Special from 1998, this was a look at the history of Superman as it stood during the 60th Anniversary in 1998.




A look at the Post-Crisis Superman era in 1998.






A write up on the state of the DC Comics Superman line following the "Superman Forever" one shot.






Superman Roll Call





Fortress of Solitude checklist.

[The Joker]

Interesting time capsule brief write-up announcing that there was going to be a dramatic creator writer/artist shift on the horizon in 1999 with the Superman books at DC Comics.

[thecolorsblend]

The timing sounds like that's when the Superman 2000 fiasco went down.

It's clear that Eddie Berganza maybe spoke a little out of turn when he offered the Superman titles to Waid, Peyer, Morrison and Millar. The story goes that when Mike Carlin came back from vacation and found out what Berganza had authorized, he personally cancelled the entire Superman 2000 program.

In retrospect, I see this as a great tragedy. Considering how mediocre to awful the Superman line of comics were in the early to mid 2000's, it's hard to imagine that the Superman 2000 relaunch would've somehow been worse.

"The things we could've done together..."

[The Laughing Fish]

I found a couple of videos reacting to the Death of Superman storyline back in 1992. The first video includes snippets of Roger Stern explaining how the concept was conceived and claimed Superman comics at the time were creator-driven, but John Byrne simply sees it as a gimmicky marketing ploy to sell comics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNJTdhLSIjo&ab_channel=crowT10

The next couple of videos are news reports gathering reactions to the storyline; one of them claiming Superman had an image problem and popularity was dwindling compared to the grittier characters at the time.

The concept for the whole saga may have been a marketing gimmick, but it still doesn't take away from some of the most emotional moments ever read in comics. Such as the scenes in Funeral For a Friend, when Ma and Pa Kent couldn't attend the public memorial so they said goodbye to Clark their own way by burying mementos in the same area they found him as an infant, and Jonathan's near-death experience finds him in an afterlife world where he fights hard to convince Clark not to give into death, culminating in Superman's coffin suddenly found empty. It's these sorts of moments that make Superman and his world greater than  even his own fans give him credit for.

[The Joker]

1988 50th Anniversary Superman poster.