December of 1992 saw Youngblood 1 & 2 being sold for $5 from American Comics and Entertainment (remember their ads that usually took up two pages in a standard ish?). X-Men rebooted under the pencils of current DC Overlord Jim Lee. And Todd McFarlane was well into Spawn after leaving Marvel and Spiderman at the altar. Every comic book or event was marked with a trading card set (even Ghostrider had sets, one with glow in the dark chase cards—go figure!). And DC utilized a diamond countdown on the front of each book to make continuity as confusing as Algebra II.

In the real world, William Jefferson Clinton was elected president, Hurricane Andrew blew the South, and Charles and Diana split. No wonder why I read so many comics and ignored the news.

DC began a plot to kill their flagship character, Superman. The Kryptonian villain Doomsday marched through the DC Universe starting with a cameo in Superman, Man of Steel #17. Issue 18 marked the first full appearance.

Superman: Man of Steel #18 starts with Doomsday wreaking havoc and crushing small woodland creatures. At this point the villain has just broken out of his prison and appears in bindings that make him look like a steampunk surgeon.

Issue 18 focused on a young boy named Keith wanting to get Superman’s attention, so Kal-El would save the boy’s missing mother from some monsters in the sewers. Those monsters are the Underworlders who want to steal Metropolis’ electricity. Superman dispatches the bad guys with ease while Doomsday’s wrath increases.

Fuck you, angry birds.

The book is standard fare in the way comic books go, yet the whole story arc marks the zenith of the comic book, action figure, and trading card bubble of the 90s. This was the time that spawned gatefold, prismatic, die-cut, and holographic alternative covers. With the surplus of overpriced, poor quality comics, the appreciation for the medium bottomed out, and so did the collect-ibility of comics.

Superman 75 was the conclusion to the story arc and period of comic book dominance. From that ish we get the iconic image of Lois Lane holding a broken and battered Superman. How poignant and truly heartbreaking.

What I find interesting about the story arc was the decision to coincide the number of panels with the chapter of the story. Here are the books in the “Death of Superman” storyline and the breakdown of panels:

“World Without A Superman” and “The Return of Superman” storylines were meandering and ponderous. (Remember Superman Blue/Superman Red?) One highlight from the series came from Lois speaking with a grieving Martha Kent. Martha could share her sorrow with no one else, for she never wanted to betray her son’s secret life. Again, that was a phenomenal touch to an otherwise terrible story arc.

Nevertheless, Superman: Man of Steel #18 was the story that had Superman and comic books the talk of the nightly national news. Maybe it was metafiction (the book reflecting the real world) because Doomsday signaled both the end of The Man of Steel and the comic book bubble of the 90s.

The run, naturally, has been collected in a trade paperback. Nevertheless, there’s something nostalgic and wonderful about owning the series of actual comic books, including the black, poly-bagged #75 with all the goodies intact inside.

Although Superman: Man of Steel #18 isn’t Golden Age, vintage, or comics-code breaking, it does hearken back to a most recent time when comic books were culturally more important than they are now.

Having a copy of this book is the equivalent of having a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Writer: Louise Simonson Artist: Jon Bogdanove Publisher: DC Comics Price: $1.25 (2012 price $3-$6) Release Date: December 1992