I am a sucker for all things Death and Return of Superman.

It is my favorite Superman story ever and will always hold a special place in my heart given the nostalgia factor. I remember it being a topic of discussion on the playground in fifth grade, long before we tracked things that trend on social media. It was something everyone knew about, even if you were peripherally connected to comic books. It was a well-crafted Superman story and I will defend it no matter how fans today look back on the ‘90s.

I recall thumbing through a copy of Superman 75 with a group of kids at recess, and I may have picked up an issue or two of “Funeral for A Friend” at some point thereafter, but I can tell you with certainty that I was buying “Reign of the Supermen” each week. I loved reading each issue over and over again while theorizing with my friends about who could be the real Superman brought back to life. It was a blast! As such, Reign will always be extra special for me as the era in which I began reading Superman on a regular basis.

Imagine my thrill when I heard DC would be releasing a follow up 30th anniversary special to last year’s “The Death of Superman” special of Reign of the Supermen! I bought it the day it came out and felt like a kid again doing so, just like last year.

I had to write a few thoughts about it, but let’s be honest, I would have enjoyed this book no matter what was between the covers. Nevertheless, let’s get right to it!

Pros:

“Pop culture event” is a term that is used often with regards to this story, and it is what impresses me the most about Death and Return all these years later. To date myself, I remember seeing 30th anniversary specials of essentially every Marvel character when I was reading comics (eep!), which was appropriate, given how impactful the birth of the Marvel Age was. Yet now in the 2020s, we have 30th anniversary specials for just this Superman story, not for Knightfall, Emerald Twilight, or really any other DC story from that period. It is staggering when you stop to think about it!

Like last year’s special, there is a feeling of “the gang’s all here” with the creative team. Many of the originals- Kesel, Grummett, Simonson, Bogdanove, and Jurgens and Breeding- are here, plus Jerry Ordway, who fills in for Stern and Guice because of their unavailability. The art is good across the board from all of them and kicks the nostalgia factor into high gear! If this team was still doing Supes comics today, I’d be buying in a heartbeat.

As you’d expect, there is a lot of time dedicated to the Supermen introduced in the story, which is only fair, given that they have all become mainstays in Superman’s universe today. Supporting cast members featured in the original story are also featured here, including Lois Lane, Ron Troupe, and Tana Moon. One can see right away that care was taken to make this special a love letter to fans of the era, so that makes me happy.

All that being said…

Cons:

I’m a little confused by something in this book. There is a deliberate attempt made to make this special part of current Superman continuity. Lois is editor of the Daily Planet because Perry White is in a coma. Superboy is also in his new costume and the Eradicator is a hologram, which I can only assume is how they’re depicted today.

This is all fine and good, but a) I don’t care about current continuity (impatient, on the go Lois as EiC seems totally implausible, for one) and b) it moves up the time period for the flashback scenes of the original story. I am sorry, but Superboy’s costume makes no sense unless it takes place in the 90s, nor do the flat top haircuts of some of the men, or the front page splash of the Cyborg shaking Bill Clinton’s hand (the explanation given was that he went to the White House to meet with… former presidents?).

There are people taking pictures in iPhones all over the place in this story, not to mention present day computers in the Daily Planet, references to “Viewtube,” social media and even AirPods, all inserted into the context of the original Reign story.

Ummm… why?

I am aware of a recent DC event that shook up the timeline of the universe, and now there is a blended timeline of some sort? That’s my only guess as to why they would do that, and unfortunately it massively weakens the story for me. If you want to update Reign of the Supermen for a modern time, I would honestly rather they just retell the whole thing with today’s creative teams.

Two more points that I wasn’t crazy about is that the Cyborg appears out of nowhere in the beginning and is defeated by the end, which kind of relegates him to the “villain of the day” status reserved for lame bad guys (see the Shocker, Rhino, or the Gibbon in Amazing Spider-Man for what I’m talking about). Also, the “present day” sequences are drawn by Travis Moore, who is a decent artist but had nothing to do with Reign when it came out, and ends up being about a quarter of the book, 20ish pages. It takes you out of the experience every time the art shifts back and forth, unfortunately.

There are a few other minor quibbles, but I’ll just leave it there so this doesn’t become a full blown rant…

Conclusion:

I love that this issue was published, and generally really like jam books, especially when it’s a great creative team! Still, some choices might not always be the best, and always should be in service to the story. “Reign of the Supermen” will always be a great event, and nothing can diminish that, but I wish DC would put a bit more thought into their Superman specials going forward.

Capeage Meter: 5.5 out of 10