From: lsmith@mega.cs.umn.edu (Lance "Squiddie" Smith)
Subject: Re: SUPERMAN:  No new life in sight.
Organization: Restless Dead Squids of the Poor
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 03:55:02 GMT

In article <1hj0f9INNqa6@pith.uoregon.edu> wesiegel@cie.uoregon.edu (William Siegel) writes:
>In article <24DEC199215174204@rigel.tamu.edu> ted4646@rigel.tamu.edu (cartoon boy) writes:
>>The local comic book store operator is keeping an eye on the advance order 
>>lists to find out when Krypton's Last Son is coming back...March's order
>>forms came out yesterday and no Superman titles are to be seen.
>
>The owners and operators of my local comic book store don't see any new comics 
>for Superman coming out for the next couple of months and probably longer.

??? Are they looking hard enough? After the Funeral for a Friend (FfaF)
there are no more of the regular Superman titles, but there are a series
of Superspecials and other marketing gimmicks.

Here's what we can expect from DC through March:

Adventures of Superman #499  (Part 5 of FfaF) 12/30
Action Comics #686  (Part 6 of FfaF) 1/7
Superman: The Man of Steel #21 (Part 7 of FfaF) 1/14
Superman #77 (End of FfaF) 1/21
The Legacy of Superman #1 (One shot) Some time in January
The Superman Gallery #1 (Superman artwork) 2/18
Supergirl/Team Luthor Special (ties in with Supes' death) 3/4
Newstime: The Life and Death of the Man of Steel (Newsweek/Time magazine) 3/18

Plus:

Superman: Death of Superman TPB already out
The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told TPB (re-release?) 2/23
Superman: Panic in the Sky TPB 4/1 

So DC will still be pushing this stuff out after the Supertitles wind up
Funeral for a Friend. 

>They said the last time this happened, the comic was cancelled.  They have 
>commented that DC may not be bringing back Superman at all.

Oh, I doubt that Superman will stay dead longer than 6 months. DC has to
do a careful balancing act. They can cash in on the Superdeath for a certain
period of time before fans grow tired of it. However, they also have to 
leave the character dead long enough so that all the people who rushed 
out to buy the Death of Superman don't feel totally cheated. 

I'd guess there would have to be at least one month where there are no
Superman related titles. That lets the death seem possibly permanent. Then 
they have to bring him back slowly by leaving little hints in other titles.
Finally the big "He's Back!" issue of Adventures of Superman. (What better
story for issue #500?) 

>Sad news for some and good news for others who want the dead to remain dead.

Dead comic characters remaining dead is a rarity. I'd guess maybe May or
June. I think S. J. Cowling has predicted his return as part of DC's big
summer (?) cross-over series. 

I think DC is in an interesting position. They have to be very careful
about how, why and when they bring him back. (If they were really ballsy 
they'd leave him dead for a full year just to confound the serious comics
buyers.) I'd like to think they were cold and manipulative enough to 
plan this all out way ahead of time, but it's possible they left some
options open where they could change their plans depending on the reaction
of the public. 

Like Madonna's _Sex_, I think Supe's return is idiot proof. No matter how
badly they handle it, I think they have made and will continue to make
enough money to justify the scheduling difficulties and any bad reaction
to the stories. No matter how poorly they bring him back, Superman will
still make a packet for DC.

----------------------------
  Lance "Cr2O3.2H2O" Smith | "Quick! Get behind me! I don't know what a
    (lsmith@cs.umn.edu)    |  little peanut like you could do to so upset
      Money makes the      |  him, but it looks like Jurgens really wants 
      time grow softer     |  to kill you"    _Mr Peanut meets Superman_
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc