One of DC’s biggest stories is coming back to the comic book page, with a fresh creative a team and a much different angle than what we previously knew.
Today, DC Comics has announced that a new digital-first comic series titled The Death of Superman will be released as a tie-in to the animated movie of the same title. In fact, the announcement was made at the same time as the first chapter of the comic was made available for download online. Written by fan-favorite scribe Louise Simonson and illustrated by Cat Staggs, Joel Ojeda, Laura Braga and more, the digital comic is a 12-part series that will unfold weekly.
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The Death of Superman: Part 1 is meant to be a prequel of sorts to the animated film The Death of Superman, which was already released digitally last week. The events that unfold in the comic take place hours before Superman’s fateful battle with the raging monster known as Doomsday. Some of the chapters are said to follow the heroic feats of Superman prior to the confrontation, while subsequent stories will examine what Jimmy Olsen was up to during that time, or deal with the fallout of the death of a major hero.
“These are never-before-told stories of what happened before, during, and after the conflict with Doomsday that cost Superman his life,” the writer of the series, Louise Simonson, said. “Each story will explore what power means—for someone like Superman who wields it for the good of humanity, or the villains who use it to further their own selfish agendas.”
The original Death of Superman comic book was one of the most important in the history of DC Comics’ publishing. The loss of the character made national news, and it established a path for an equally epic story that unfolded in the Superman comics the following year with “The Reign of the Supermen” — a storyline that is set to be turned into an animated movie in 2019.
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The first chapter of The Death of Superman digital comic series, written by Louise Simonson and illustrated by Cat Staggs, with colors by Wendy Broome, lettering by Carlos M. Mangual and cover by Jerry Ordway and Wendy Broome, is availble for download now. The Death of Superman animated movie was released digitally on July 24. The film will be available on Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD August 7.