You are purchasing the item pictured, framed.  Priority mail, tracking and $50 insurance is included with purchase.  Item will be bagged to protect from dust, packed in packing peanuts and boxed.  Just open box and hang it on the wall...makes a perfect gift!

It began with a joke and ended with a mullet.  The "Death of Superman" saga, which unfolded over multiple titles and set the mainstream press atwitter in 1992, emerged out of a long-running writer's room gag about killing off the Man of Steel as the best way to do something fresh and new with the character.  When TV executives put the kibosh on plans to have Clark Kent marry Lois Lane in the comics - a similar storyline was already in the works for the new Superman television series Lois and Clark - creators were left scrambling to come up with a suitably epic replacement plot.  Enter Doomsday, a mindless berserker from Krypton's distant past who sends Supes down for the dirt nap in issue #75 of his eponymous comic.

Endlessly reprinted, the issue sold nearly six million copies and garnered international news coverage - mainly from journalists unfamiliar with the time-honored practice of resurrecting deceased comic-book characters.  Sure enough, Superman would soon return from the Great Beyond, this time sporting a dark bodysuit and the then-ubiquitous mullet hairstyle.  DC's infinitely patient readers were subjected to three years of "business in the front, party in the back" Superman covers before the character wisely opted to get a haircut in time for his long-delayed wedding.  "We came up with three or four sketches.  The idea was to put his dead body on the cover, but with a different approach.  We didn't want Doomsday holding his body.  I came up with the torn cape fluttering by and hung on a stick - it said 'Death of Superman' more than anything else." - Dan Jurgens.  

"The Death of Superman" is a 1992 comic book storyline that occurred mostly in DC Comics' Superman titles. The completed multi-issue story arc was given the title The Death and Return of Superman.  In the story, Superman engages in battle with a seemingly unstoppable killing machine named Doomsday in the streets of Metropolis.  At the fight's conclusion, both combatants die from their wounds in Superman (vol. 2) #75 in 1992.  The crossover depicted the world's reaction to Superman's death in "Funeral for a Friend," the emergence of four individuals believed to be the "new" Superman, and the eventual return of the original Superman in "Reign of the Supermen!". 

The storyline, devised by editor Mike Carlin and the Superman writing team of Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel, met with enormous success: the Superman titles gained international exposure, reaching to the top of the comics sales charts and selling out overnight. The event was widely covered by national and international news media. The storyline was loosely adapted into a 2007 animated film, Superman: Doomsday. 

The story of The Death of Superman's conception goes back to the 1985 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths. Following that event, DC Comics rebooted their continuity and relaunched the Superman character with the miniseries "The Man of Steel", written by John Byrne. However, due to disputes with DC, Byrne left the Superman books and was replaced by Roger Stern. While the stories continued from Byrne's revamp, sales slowly dropped. In an effort to attract female readers, the Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman love triangle, in place since 1938, was changed. In a development based on events in Byrne's revamp, Lois was already falling in love with Clark Kent, rather than with Superman. In a story arc titled "Krisis of Krimson Kryptonite", Clark proposes to Lois; she accepts. Although the road was set for the marriage of Lois and Clark, an unforeseen event would change these plans.  Viacom had cancelled the Superboy television series produced by Alexander Salkind (Salkind produced the first three Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, as well as the Supergirl movie).

Warner Bros., the owner of DC Comics, created their own Superman television series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, premised upon a romantic relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman. One of the ideas that arose during production was the wedding of Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman. Warner Bros. learned that DC Comics was planning a similar plot line in the Superman comic books, and as a result DC, Warner Bros., and the Superman writing staff came together and reached an agreement: the Lois and Clark wedding arc in the comic book would be put on hold, to resume once the Lois & Clark TV show reached its wedding episode.  With the original storyline set aside in the comic, an original event was needed to replace it. According to a documentary on Superman: Doomsday, the Superman writing team members were miffed at having a year's worth of story planning put aside, and flustered for ideas. At the end of one meeting, Adventures of Superman writer Jerry Ordway suggested, jokingly, "Let's just kill 'im." The joke became a running gag in story meetings, but eventually gained traction with Superman group editor Mike Carlin. In the documentary film Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman Carlin states: "the world was taking Superman for granted, so we literally said 'let's show what the world would be like without Superman'."

The Death and Return of Superman storyline sold exceptionally well and, since it was intertwined through numerous different comic series (including Action Comics, Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Adventures of Superman, among others), brought in millions of readers to DC Comics. Superman's creator, Jerry Siegel himself, who in 1961 had predicted the Man of Steel's death in an "imaginary story," met with then Superman editor Mike Carlin to tell him that he was very impressed by his version of it.  The first five installments of "Reign of the Supermen!" were the top five best-selling comic books for the month.  The cover of Superman (vol. 2) #75 (shown above in infobox) became an iconic image: Superman's tattered cape wrapped around a pole, marking the spot where Superman died. (Certain prints of Superman #75 contained a black armband with the familiar "S" symbol adorning it.) DC shipped between 2.5 and 3 million copies of Superman #75, with most stores selling out of the issue on the day of its release. 

Dan Jurgens (born June 27, 1959 in Ortonville, Minnesota) is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Booster Gold, and for his lengthy runs on the Superman titles The Adventures of Superman and Superman (vol. 2), particularly during "The Death of Superman" storyline.  During his run on Superman, Jurgens created two major villains, Doomsday and the Cyborg Superman. Doomsday was the main antagonist in the "The Death of Superman" storyline which saw the iconic hero killed in an issue consisting entirely of splash pages.  The Cyborg Superman was an existing character which Jurgens reintroduced in The Adventures of Superman #500[9] for the "Reign of the Supermen" storyline.

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