(Collected Editions is a feature here at The Doomsday Archives that looks at the various times The Death and Return of Superman has been collected into a trade paperback, hardcover, or omnibus.)
The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus
Release Date: September 12, 2007
Page Count: 784
Reprints: Superman: The Man of Steel 17-26, Superman (Vol. 2) 73-82, Adventures of Superman 496-505, Action Comics (Vol. 1) 683-684, 687-691, Green Lantern (Vol. 3) 46, and Justice League America 69
I was kind of shocked to discover that this collection was the very first omnibus DC Comics ever published. Omnibuses are omnipresent (yes, I realize that is a terrible pun) these days, but back in the mid-2000’s they were still new to the world of collected editions. I’m assuming the price point had something to do with this. Publishers were asking their customers to fork over big bucks for a book that was huge and more than a bit unwieldy. Marvel had their act together with the omnibus format a lot earlier than DC did, but now both publishers are more than willing to release giant tomes that probably shouldn’t be put on a high shelf if you have children or pets.
But yeah, this was the first omnibus DC published and it shows. I am not trying to be too hard on the company, but at the same time I have genuine beef with this book.
Some Background
To give you some context, The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus was published in 2007 to not only mark the 15th anniversary of The Death of Superman but also to coincide with the first release in the DC Universe Original Animated Films series, Superman: Doomsday. This was a big deal. Warner Bros. had been putting out original animated films direct to VHS or DVD since the mid-nineties, but the Original Animated Films line was designed to not only tell original stories about DC’s characters but also adapt some of their most popular stories. Launching with an adaptation of The Death and Return of Superman was a smart move as that was, and still is, one of DC’s most enduring storylines.
I, like many other fans of the Death and Return saga, was excited for this release. Yes, we had seen animated Superman fighting animated Doomsday before on the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, but this was going to be an out and out adaptation. After the whole Superman Lives debacle in the late nineties, we were finally getting the movie we wanted.
The Cover
Now, I want to make it absolutely clear that I have nothing against a company using synergy when it comes to trying to sell me things. I grew up during the eighties when the shows I watched had these awesome toys I could play with. The problem with the synergy between this omnibus and Superman: Doomsday getting released is that instead of shrink wrapping the book and putting a sticker on it that reads, “Look for Superman: Doomsday now on DVD!” they put it right there on the dust jacket.
Never mind the fact that it looks bad. Let’s set that quibble to the side for the moment. This book is, hopefully, going to sit on someone’s bookshelf for as long as they want to keep it. It could be months. It could be years. It could be decades. Having an advertisement with copy that reads, “Look for this now!” permanently on the cover feels weird.
And yes, it looks terrible.
Other than that, the cover is fantastic. The artwork by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway is sharp and they added a reproduction of the armband that came inside the bagged edition of Superman #75 along the bottom.
Underneath the dust jacket is the artwork without the title and the copy.
What Does the Term Omnibus Actually Mean?
This next part is more nuanced because the definition of the term omnibus when it comes to books and comics is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary that is online, “a volume containing several novels or other items previously published separately.” That is the technical definition.
Where it gets tricky is that, based purely on anecdotal evidence, most people think that the term “omnibus” is the same as “complete”. If someone says that a volume is an omnibus that implies that it is going to have EVERYTHING. Meaning if this book is called The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus that it is going to contain the ENTIRE saga. All of Doomsday. All of Funeral for a Friend. All of Reign of the Supermen. The more anal-retentive collectors (which is hyphenated by the way) would also want the Superman: Legacy and Supergirl: Team Luthor one shots added in as well.
That…didn’t happen.
This wasn’t the first time a Superman story was collected with parts left out. Back in June of 1998 DC released Superman: Exile as a trade paperback and I remember being so excited that the Superman story that cemented my love for the character was finally getting collected and being so disappointed that parts were cut out. The Hostile Takeover back up storyline was removed altogether, and that was one of my favorite parts of Exile. So, this had happened before and once again DC was taking the scissors to a beloved story.
Now, to be fair, I’m sure there were perfectly good and rational reasons for parts getting cut out. This was DC’s first attempt at an omnibus and while The Death of Superman had been DC’s best selling trade paperback for years it was not a sure thing that a giant hardcover collecting the entire story would sell. There were probably logistical considerations as well. I mentioned earlier the idea that omnibuses could be a bit unwieldy and cutting some pages and issues here and there meant that it wouldn’t be too big.
I get all of that.
I’m still kind of mad at what got cut out.
What They Cut Out
Below is a breakdown of what was missing from the omnibus.
Adventures of Superman #498
- Pages 10 and 11 are missing. This is the scene where Jose Delgado (a.k.a. Gangbuster) yells at Adam Grant for being a brat about Superman’s death and then throwing his helmet into the television.
- Page 13, which shows Supergirl assuming her costumed form after being beaten into her protomatter state.
Action Comics #685
- Pages 1 through 8. Cadmus attempts to take possession of Superman’s body and Supergirl and Lex Luthor take exception to this.
- Page 13. Lex is mad about Superman’s death but not for the reason everyone thinks he is.
- Pages 15 through 22. Supergirl takes care of some criminals and Bibbo kicks everyone out of the Ace O’ Clubs and says a prayer for Superman.
Superman: The Man of Steel #20
- Pages 1 and 2. This is a short scene showing Lex planning Superman’s funeral and Supergirl agreeing to bring the body in herself.
- Page 9, we see Lobo’s reaction to the news of Superman’s death.
- Page 11, a short scene of Batman stopping a man from bombing the funeral procession.
Superman #77
- Pages 1 through 6. This scene shows the heroes of the DC universe coming together to honor Superman as well as Jimmy meeting up with Mitchell Anderson, who has traveled to Metropolis because a woman is claiming to be Superman’s wife and he wants to apologize to her.
- Pages 9 through 14. This shows more of the heroes keeping up Superman’s tradition of answering mail around Christmas and Jimmy, Mitch, and Bibbo eating at the Hobb’s Bay Grille and Mitch working through the guilt that he distracted Superman to save his family and his bitterness over his dad leaving him, his mom, and his sister.
- Pages 16 through 22. These pages have Wonder Woman finding Mitch’s dad and bringing him to his family and people heading to the memorial statue. It also has the bit at the end where Cadmus steal’s Superman’s body from the tomb.
Adventures of Superman #499.
- Removed entirely.
Action Comics #686
- Removed entirely.
Superman: The Man of Steel #21
- Pages 1 through 3. A nightmare sequence for Lois and shots of the flooding beneath Metropolis with the Underdwellers.
- Page 6: The Newsboy Legion discovers that Cadmus has Superman’s body.
- Pages 9 through 14: More about the flooding and a short scene with Batman dealing with Superman’s death.
- Pages 16-21: Lois and the Underdwellers with the help of the Newsboy Legion find Superman’s body but have to escape before they can get it back.
Superman #77
- Pages 1 through 4. Lex is taken down by Sasha Green, one of his trainers before finding out that Superman’s body has been taken.
- Pages 11 through 16: Lois and Supergirl get Superman’s body back. Lex kills Sasha.
- Pages 18 through 20: Superman is placed back into his tomb and Lex asks to be alone with the body and as soon as he is he gloats about now he is back on top.
Adventures of Superman #500
- Note: Page numbers for this issue are taken from the bagged edition, not the newsstand edition. The bagged edition had eight pages that weren’t in the newsstand one.
- Pages 6 through 13. Gangbuster breaks up a drug bust only to discover it was an undercover sting operation.
- Pages 17 through 21. Cat Grant gets sexually harassed by her boss, Prankster assaults a fellow inmate and there is a short scene between Jimmy and Ron Troupe.
- Page 34. Another Gangbuster page.
Green Lantern #46
- Page 8. A scene with Carol Ferris.
- Pages 19 through 22. The aftermatch of Hal’s fight with Mongul, which, to be fair, blows the ending of Superman #82.
There were also excerpts from Adventures of Superman issue 505 and Action Comics issue 692, the former showing Superman and Lois being reunited and the latter showing the explanation of where Clark Kent had been while Superman was dead.
Now, you could make arguments for any or all of those pages getting cut. More recent reviews of the Death and Return saga have mentioned that the middle part feels a little bloated. Now, I could just be an old man yelling at clouds and going on about when I wore an onion on my belt (which was the style of the time) but to me, Funeral for a Friend is the heart of the Death and Return storyline. It was the emotional payoff of act one, which was mostly action. This is where the impact of Superman’s death was explored, and I can see where reading it all at once could maybe make you feel like it drags a bit. This is the weird thing about reading comics. Binging a series hits different than reading the story as it came out.
This omnibus is the edited for television version of the story.
They cut out everything to do with Jose Delgado, which was important because he was a big part of the supporting cast and Superman’s death put him on a path that eventually ended up with him having to go on the run. They cut out a lot of Supergirl’s end of the story, which, like Jose, was a shame because she was a big part of the books at the time as well. Other characters, like Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer get the boot as well. Not having the speech by Lex at the end of Funeral for a Friend was a shame because it was so well done, and it was this great moment for Superman’s arch enemy.
By far the worst omission is Bibbo’s prayer. Bibbo was a fixture in the books during this time period. He was a stand in for the reader; a fan of Superman that tried to do good because of his fav’rit’s example. His prayer at the end of Action Comics issue 685 was so well written and got right to the heart of the tragedy of Superman’s death and they just cut it out.
Seriously. How could you cut this out?
Enough Complaining or The Extras
Problems with the cuts aside this omnibus does have some great extras. These include…
- A new introduction by Mike Carlin.
- An afterword by Dan Jurgens.
- A cover gallery.
- A gallery including promotional artwork from Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey.
- The artwork from the poster that came with the bagged version of Superman #75.
- Sketches with designs for all of the new characters.
- Commentary from the creators.
- Pictures of the DC Direct Death and Return related action figures.
- Pictures of the DC Direct Superman: Doomsday
Wrapping Up
While it seems that I’m not a fan of this omnibus because of the parts of the story that were cut out I do like the fact that we did get it. The fact that DC has put out two more versions of the omnibus, each one with more material than the last, makes this one go down easier. It’s incomplete, but it has a great cover and great extras.
I just wish that DVD promotion wasn’t on the dust jacket.
Next time: The 2013 version of the omnibus.
More to follow…