Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: today’s superhero comic writers have no idea how to use death in their stories. They find a character nobody uses, kill him or her off for the shock of “stuff is really hitting the fan now”, and move on without a second thought. This story arc trilogy however did it right, even if it did add to the list of characters who don’t know how to stay dead, which admittedly is something else modern comic writers (and editors) can’t seem to stop themselves from doing.

When Superman died, it wasn’t just some shock death out of nowhere. He went down in an epic battle to save the city he loved and the innocent being he swore to protect as well as his fellow heroes. After his death people didn’t move on. There was a funeral. His supporting cast were shown grieving the loss of someone close to them or taking advantage of his passing. There was emotion, there was weight. Dang it Superman’s death meant something. Compare that to, say, the time they killed Firestorm with a surprise sword to the chest. Death became such a joke that Grant Morrison lampshaded it early in his JLA run. I wouldn’t see death handled with any kind of caring as a writer again until Love & Capes, a romantic sitcom comic that happens to involve superheroes, killed off Windstar.

Now we reach the third and final arc in this storyline, and it did something else events fail to do: create characters that actually last. One villain is still one of Superman’s enemies. One hero is still one of his best allies. One was wiped out because writers and editors had a “better idea” but he’s still beloved. One hero didn’t stand the test of time but did do some good while he was around, so they didn’t completely bypass the problem. Still, three out of four isn’t bad. And it all starts here, the final section of this book.

Chapter 19: Reign Of The Supermen part 1

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