The Death of Superman: 16 Years Later

[Supervisor 194]

A beaker full of death wrote:

---

Preach it, Beaker!

[Mr Light]

Death/Return was one of the things that got me into comics, and I still think its a great story (I haven't read it recently though). To my nostalgic mind it remains the best BIG Superman story; what other epic Supes story has there been since? There's the Imperiex War which had some great elements but also a lot of dead weight.'

My favorite part was actually the Return segment with all the different Supes running around, it was so cool when they would crossover. And I was totally shocked when the Cyborg betrayed them all. The destruction of Coast City was pretty shocking at the time.

[msbae]

The Old Mixer wrote:

---

msbae has a funny notion of heroism. A lot of people became "American heroes" by dying. Dying is the ultimate heroic sacrifice. But it rarely features into the stories of comic book super-heroes because of the endlessly-serialistic nature of the medium.

Heroism does not necessarily require the ultimate sacrifice. Living heroes are better than dead ones. After all, living heroes can continue being heroes while the dead ones are just worm food.

Besides, anything that would make one's inner-child cry is a bad thing, dude.

[The Old Mixer]

msbae wrote:

---

Heroism does not necessarily require the ultimate sacrifice.

It's not required...but it's very heroic.

Living heroes are better than dead ones.

IRL, everyone dies...sometimes it's better to sacrifice ones life for a cause. And sometimes one can do more good as a martyr. It was worth exploring these things via Superman, even though the manner of his death was so contrived...particularly as the situation was designed to be very temporary.

But General George S. Patton would agree with you to an extent....

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

[TGTheodore]

The Old Mixer wrote:

---

It's not required...but it's very heroic.

And frequently wasteful, and in those instances not very heroic after all.

--Ted

[The Old Mixer]

Oh, alright, I give...temporarily pretending to kill off a fictional character was a crime against humanity.

[msbae]

TG Theodore wrote:

---

And frequently wasteful, and in those instances not very heroic after all.

--Ted

Yep.

The Old Mixer wrote:

---

But General George S. Patton would agree with you to an extent....

Then, we are in agreement.

- msbae