Perhaps because he’s such a powerful character, some of Superman’s best stories concern not his life, but his death.
It’s a case of the irresistible force of Superman meeting the immovable object of mortality, a dramatic conflict that works well in both Jerry Siegel’s 1961 “imaginary” Death of Superman story and Edmond Hamilton’s 1962 “real” The Last Days of Superman tale (Superman 156).
Here, apparently stricken with the Kryptonian Virus X, Superman must decide how to face his end.
“Metropolis … The city I have loved so well!” thinks Superman as he soars. “But I want to get away from it now … to be by myself … to think…”
Brooding on a mountaintop while lightning flashes, Superman thinks, as always, of others: “Nothing can save me, but I’ve got 30 days left! It’s my last chance to help the world, before my end!”
“The tale has utopian qualities, with Superman looking forward to performing great deeds,” noted comics historian Michael E. Grost. “Such an approach anticipates Leo Dorfman’s The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue (1963). Most of the super-deeds here involve transformations of Earth on an astronomical scale. These recall the cosmic stories which Edmond Hamilton and Otto Binder wrote for Mystery in Space.
“Hamilton wrote several tales in which people rejected by society, instead of becoming bitter, idealistically use their talents for good. Superman … is not a social reject — rather, he is dying. But like Hamilton’s rejects, he too is a person with problems who devotes himself to accomplishments and helping others instead of bitterness. The Last Days of Superman is impressively idealistic.
“This is another Hamilton tale with a community as hero: in this case the community of Superman's friends.”
A cooperative effort in investigation and reasoning by Supergirl, Superman, Saturn Girl and Mon-El finally saves the superhero.
And as for Clark Kent’s coincidental “disappearance,” for once Superman’s friends simply decide to ignore its implications — proving themselves true friends after all.
Bruce Kanin wrote: Dan, you opened with " Perhaps because he’s such a powerful character, some of Superman’s best stories concern not his life, but his death."
ReplyDeleteYes!
Matthew Grossman wrote: Virus X goes on to make a return in Action Comics 363-366. Pretty good story from what I remember.
ReplyDeleteHaven’t read the original you cite here. Might be a good time to look at both.
Richard Bold wrote: I like his last message in this story: ‘Do good To others, and every man can be a Superman”. Timeless!
ReplyDeletePaul Zuckerman wrote: One of the greatest Superman stories of all time. Hamilton really got the relationships right, In this story as in others, he focused on the humanity of his characters and making them real. And, as you say, Dan, it's about friendship and sacrifice. Jimmy stays locked up in the glass room with Superman so that he wouldn't infect anyone else. Without the humanity of the story, it would have been forgettable.
ReplyDeleteOf course, not to nitpick, none of the accomplishments in the story were ever mentioned again! :)
1000 times better then the mid 1980s "Death of Superman" gimmick.
ReplyDelete