World Without a Superman

Superman Post-Crisis #21

by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson

This collection of the enormously successful "Funeral for a Friend" storyline recounts the aftermath of the death of the Man of Steel and his startling reemergence from beyond the grave. This volume guest-stars the Justice League, Supergirl, and others, and serves as the middle section of the saga that begins in THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN and concludes in THE RETURN OF SUPERMAN. Graphic novel format.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superman, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

How hard is living in a world when you have lost someone


THE EMPTINESS OF LOSING SOMEONE

Everybody has lost someone at some point in their lives. And when that someone was really close to their hearts, the void left behind in this realm is a heavy burden to carry on. And even worse if it happened when you thought that it would be just another day.

Superman is dead. The Earth's Greatest Hero fell while defending Metropolis and its people from the raging stampede provoked by the monster known as Doomsday. He was a hero to most of the people of the planet, but for a secret circle, even unaware ones from others, Superman was a friend, a best friend, a former boyfriend, an ally, a fiancée, and even a son.

This group, in the most of cases, to protect the real identity of Superman and his close ones still alive, they must mourn in secret, they must hide their tears and sadness, since they can't reveal that they lost someone too close to their hearts than the rest of humankind.

And even some embittered human soul must to hide a lot of emotions, since he lost an enemy, an opponent, a challenge, the only worthy to call him an equal. Even for him, the world is now emptier than yesterday.

WHAT PEOPLE TAKE FOR GRANTED

It's easy not giving much thought about Superman when you think that he will be out there always. However, now the people is starting to realize how is living in a world without Superman. A world where when something really bad, really awful, really tragic, would happen and there won't a Superman to stop it, to save the day, to guarantee a sense of safety. People is starting to understand how lucky they were when a small spacecraft landed on that planet and a baby was raised with moral values to understand that he should use his powers to protect those who can't defend themselves. Who will stop the next time that something like Doomsday would appear? Who will not hesitant to stand in the harm's way and sacrifice everything, even his own very life to defend others, facing a menace that no other would be able to fight?

WAS IT ALREADY HIS TIME?

In a part of this story arc, there is an odd experience that you can interpret as you prefer. Was it true? Was it the allucination of an old man during a difficult operation? But in any case, certainly it shows that some crutial moment that some people may believe and other don't, but it offers the decision of trascending to another realm, to rest, or getting back if you really think that it's still not your time and there are still a lot of things remain to do.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the events in The Death of Superman, Dan Jurgens brings us an excellent volume filled with stories that reflects on a world without a Superman.

This is an essential volume that collects a bunch of issues that show readers how much impact the loss of Superman can have on humanity. From individuals who have lost their source of hope to grave robbers who have evil intentions. I honestly enjoyed how every issue explored different angles on this event, and even focused on Lois Lane's immense loss and her attempt to cope with it. There's a lot that happens, and sometimes they seem like completely random events with completely random characters, but at the heart of everything, it is what Superman represents to all of them that makes it so interesting.

This is definitely a nice volume to check out after The Death of Superman and before The Return of Superman.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I disliked the subject matter, this is one of the greatest Superman books ever written.

[Jason Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my comic book reread project. Continued from The Death of Superman.

2.5 stars rounded up to three.

This is just a stepping stone from The Death of Superman to The Return of Superman for me, and I read it for the sake of completeness because the other two installments are kick-ass! It's not bad by any means, but it's slow. There's the aftermath of the death, the funeral, the aftermath of that, and lots and lots of crying. That takes care of the first half of this nine issue installment. The second half involves Superman's body being stolen and the efforts to get it back, plus Jonathan Kent's trip to the afterlife to get Clark's soul back. And a lot more crying.

Yes, everyone is very sad, and they should be, and we should be shown these things because they're part of the story, but I read comic books for action, and there's a dearth of it here. Every time I get to this installment I stride through it with a sense of purpose. I don't have to do that with the other two sections since I thoroughly enjoy the ride. This one is more like "yeah, yeah, c'mon, get on with it."

Plus, there's no Superman in it since he's dead. It's fun reading up on the other characters, but it's just not the same. There's no major villain in this besides Lex Luthor, and he doesn't even get to do much since Supes is dead and everyone thinks he's a good guy at this point anyway since he's in a cloned body that's supposed to be his son. But I better stop there. If I start trying to explain all the side plots being fleshed out in this, I'll fill up the rest of this review space because everything would necessitate an explanation of how things got to this point. Ongoing soap opera shit, you know? If you really want to know, go get the 1986 six installment Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries and then read that and all the Superman titles up to this point, a mere seven years worth of material. DC rebooted all of its major characters that year and gave them crossover stories from time to time.

And while I don't like this story as much as the other two, I did enjoy my trip this time. But that's more because I got a day to myself for the first time in a while, and I spent most of the afternoon reading this. It reminded me of the first few times I read this back when I was a teenager, back when days to myself were more frequent and I didn't have any adult responsibilities to contend with. I cherish the days when I can slip back into that for a while; they're opportunities that shouldn't be missed.

Next checkpoint: The Return of Superman.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether titled “Funeral for a Friend” or “World Without a Superman,” this is really a story about the Battle for the Body, and it’s a fascinating tale of what happens after the death of the world’s most famous superhero. Project Cadmus desperately seeks to clone Superman, Lex Luthor grieves that he wasn’t the one who did the deed, Lois and the Kents simply grieve…Like modern times the media turns ghoulish, opportunistic, looking for an angle, and regular folk just try to process what happened. Tom Grummett’s art never looked better, in Adventures of Superman #500, with its muted coloring as Pa Kent battles for the soul of his son. It strikes me that his really was the best art of the era, though his later association with Superboy obscured that. This was two months of comics, and then “Reign of the Supermen,” and some people still think it was just a publicity stunt regardless of how many times the creators themselves explain it was merely an attempt not to preempt a wedding in Lois & Clark on TV (ironic how the wedding there played out…). No one could have predicted how big the story became. But it was the comics that played it all so wonderfully. Worth the trouble.

[LaGranVacaCosmica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy interesante, denso, emotivo, y en un todo, un producto de su época.

Como escribí cuando leí "Superior", quiero introducirme al universo de Superman. Los 20 años que estoy vivo tuve un desagrado hacia esto superhéroe por parecerme simple, por ende se me hizo un movimiento inteligente buscar un comic de Superman sin el susodicho. Por eso llegue acá y la sorpresa fue agridulce.

El dibujo es bueno y algunos capítulos son emotivos a niveles variopintos, como los diálogos de los padres adoptivos de Clark o como los superhéroes que lo conocían interpretan su fallecimiento.

El ritmo es lento y es una constante ya que son casi 200 paginas de gente triste. Algunos diálogos están escritos de manera muy rimbombante matando el drama, pero suelen ser la minoría. Se nota mucho que esta hecho para quienes llevan acompañando mucho a este héroe, si bien entiendo a que me enfrento, se nota que no soy el target

Tengo el presentimiento de que si me adentro mas y vuelvo a el lo apreciare mejor, el tiempo dira. De momento, no lo recomiendo

[Anastasia Bunda · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER: Superman is dead in this one.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little disjointed. And it was heartbreaking at times and sort of odd at others.
I don't know what's going on with Lex's weird Supergirl clone thing I just know it's not Kara and it's really unsettling to know whatever's going on with that.... I ... want answers but not enough to wiki it because I feel like I'll be scarred.

Anyway it's satisfying to catch up and read this.

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kent family angle of this book is endlessly beautiful and tearjerking! I'd recommend the book just for that!

The follow up of quite a few characters from "Death" and this Post-Crisis continuity are done excellently here!

The Cadmus angle (while it does have a great pay off after this) is kind of a slog everytime I've read this.

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collecting The Adventures of Superman #498–500, Action Comics #685–686, Superman: The Man of Steel #20–21 and Superman #76–77 as well as stories 1 and 4 from Superman: The Legacy of Superman #1, this volume picks up where The Death of Superman left off.

Now, in my review of that preceding volume, I expressed a certain disappointment about the content – in particular the fact that the whole thing is just a long drawn-out fight without any proper narrative depth to it. World Without a Superman, while naturally not featuring the demised hero, is nothing like its predecessor in that sense. Here we have a story, or perhaps a set of stories, really, dealing with the loss on several layers. The spotlight shifts between different characters and even includes the social fabric of the city of Metropolis itself. All done very nicely, I have to say.

All of this is not to say that there is no action in the volume, because there is. Superman's demise naturally leaves a vacuum and there are people who would take advantage of that. Not to mention that there is the question of Superman's body and what to do with it.

All in all, a much more enjoyable read than The Death of Superman and I have already started reading the concluding volume, The Return of Superman (surprised?), in this "trilogy" of a sorts.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actively painful and embarrassing to read. This is why comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s sucked. What's scary is that this lame piece of garbage was written in 1993. Was I ever juvenile enough not to cringe at page after page of "plain, everyday Americans" proclaiming (in what I can only imagine is the authors' idea of workingman's patois) that "Sooperman was a real Amurrikin"? Lame, boring, bad. Reminded me of a bad Latin American soap opera. I'd call it "World Without An Excuse". Feel free to translate that into Spanish.

It also features a lame representation of (President) Bill and Hillary Clinton. I can't remember a time that that sort of thing has ever worked.

Avoid.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anything, this was more interesting than the Death of Superman. It is far less action-packed, but a lot more nuanced. There are some pretty well-written episodes of grief from people who knew Superman well, and some heartening moments of people learning from his example. There is also a mystery story woven in, and I can see how this led up to the Reign of the Supermen storyline, though I can't recall all of the details of that any longer. These books showed a variety of reactions to Superman's death, with a lot more depth than I had expected for a comicoff its age.

[C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter drivel.
This a book that is torn between TELLING you how seriously you should take it (one character verbally compares the Superman memorial to a Vietnam war memorial) and trying to shoehorn in a bunch of new or then-current characters as a transparent attempt to use Superman's death as a launch point. And that's all before it contrives reasons to have action scenes in what should be a somber story of grief and mourning.
It's a mess of editorial mandates and artificial unearned prestige, complete with a jump scare by the Clintons.

[J.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this when I was a kid. I meant to get the others but only ended up getting this one. Anyway, this story is well done, i think, and shows the kind of vacuum that occurs once a mighty legend has been taken down.


my favorite moment is with Lex Luther, who, after finding out Superman is dead, crashes a chair on Doomsday (the dude responsible for beating Superman) and yelling "he was MINE!".

[DrTowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es extraño leer un cómic de Superman, sin Superman. Es una transición obligada para entender lo que ocurre después de la muerte del hombre de acero.

Me gustó: 1) Hacen RCP a Superman. 2) El "sueño" de Jhonatan Kent.

Me pareció curioso: 1) La frodosa cabellera roja de Lex Luthor. 2) Se que no hay relación, pero antes de que Luisa encuentre a Superman, algunos personajes me recordaron al Maestro Jiraija.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edición mexicana con la saga posterior a la muerte de Superman.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints The Adventures of Superman #498-500, Action Comics (1) #685-686, Superman: The Man of Steel #20-21, and Superman (2) #76-77 (January 1993-June 1993). Superman is dead, struck down by Doomsday in battle. The world is reeling as it’s great hero has fallen, but that doesn’t mean that the need for Superman ends. While Lois tries to find a way to cope with losing Clark and Superman, Lex Luthor finds his ultimate enemy now gone. Supergirl and others investigate the strange occurrences involving the disappearance of Superman’s body from his tomb, and Ma and Pa Kent face the fact that their son is gone. With Superman’s death, new heroes arise and a greater mystery…can the world survive without a Superman?

Written by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern, Superman: World without a Superman collects the Funeral for a Friend story following the monumental Superman: Death of Superman storyline.

The Death of Superman series was a big deal. It made the news, and Superman (2) #75 (January 1993) became a coveted collectors’ item for a time following its release and multiple reprints. While The Death of Superman dealt with fighting and battle, Funeral for a Friend focused on what the death of the world’s greatest hero would really mean…but it does get bogged down in comic minutia.

Superman: World without a Superman should have been a real though provoking story. It is a big societal question of what would happen if the major peace keeping force was suddenly gone. With a power vacuum, would there be crime or would there be mourning? World without a Superman occurred before 9/11, so writers couldn’t predict it, but I kind of feel that the world would have reacted very similar…and for some extent the stories in the collection got that right…I just wish it had been the thrust.

The comic instead serves to lead up to the Reign of the Supermen which introduced the four new Superman (Superboy, Cyborg-Superman, Steel, and the Eradicator). This means there is a lot with the stolen Superman body and leftover dealings with the Metropolis underground superhuman population that Superman had been involved…it frankly gets a bit confusing and deters from the story. The better stuff is the Lex, Kent, Lois, and the world reaction to actual death.

Superman was kind of was in a weird period when this storyline was released. You had Lex back to life (with his really bad long hair) and the not-really-Supergirl Matrix in a bizarre relationship. You had a ton of supporting characters like Bibbo and you also had extremely forgettable characters like Bloodwynd on the Justice League. Superman’s death provided a nice jolt to the DC Universe and got a lot of eyes on it. Marvel was struggling financially and DC took advantage. Superman: The Death of Superman and Superman: World without a Superman were nice far-reaching events that really drew attention to comics which had kind of floundered after the critical successes of the ’80s. Superman: World without a Superman was followed by Superman: Reign of the Supermen.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is where the Death of Superman saga starts to get interesting. World Without a Superman is a nice step back from the multiissue slugfest that was the battle with Doomsday. It is slower, less action-packed, and far more emotional. The main threads in this series follow Lois and the Kents grieving, The Cadmus Project scheming to steal Superman's body for shady research, Lex Luthor coming to terms with his new status quo (and also scheming), other heroes including Supergirl, the Guardian, and Ganbuster trying to step up, and various other members of Superman's supporting cast trying to get a grip on life without the big guy around. In the midst of this series is a Christmas issue where other superheroes get together to read Superman's mail and help people who need it, which was a nice, uplifting moment. I did have to take a moment and consider that the team that did so--including Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Dr. Light, and Captain Marvel--would have been much more adept at containing Doomsday than the actual Justice League of the day. Still, the point was to honor Superman by doing good and not just beating people up, which they did. Even Gardner.

One could argue that these issues were just a holding pattern until it was time to bring Superman back, but I don't agree with that. I think these issues were necessary to help process that the death meant something in-universe. Sure, we knew he was coming back, but the loss was real to the cast and I could feel it in the writing. The grief and despair from Superman's friends and allies felt very real, as did the cynical power plays from his adversaries. Jonathan Kent's "adventure" at the end of the series left me cold the first time I read this years ago, but I'm a lot warmer to it now. We never know whether he really did what he thought he did or just dreamed it, but he sure knew what he felt.

In all, I thought this book was well handled. It was a nice middle act before things start to get crazy in the next book: The Return of Superman (of Reign of the Superman if you follow the newer edition).

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does the world cope with the loss of its greatest hero? Read here to find out! From cults arising to worship him to vigilantes taking up his fight, the people of Metropolis deal with the fallout of Superman's death, but that's not the real story. This is a story of personal loss as told through the eyes of those who cared about the 'man' behind the 'super', as we find Lois Lane in a grief-spurred depression and Clark's parents in a daze over the secret loss of their presumed missing son Clark, and the emotional buttons that Jurgens and team pushed throughout this collection all hit the right switches.

This is nowhere near the first time I've read this collection, but it was the first time in well over a decade and it hit just as fresh as when it was new. In the interest of full disclosure, pretty much right after I started reading this yesterday I was given some pretty devastating news about a friend of mine, so the timing of reading this was actually pretty perfect as I've had some difficult moments working through my own grief, and I know this is stupid to say about a decades-old comic book story, but it was nice to have some fictional friends to help me process my feelings as they worked their way through the same ones. Now, of course, their friend gets to come back from the dead eventually and we're obviously not all that lucky, but it was still a very relatable read for what I was feeling and it really did help me sort out some of my more depressing and confused emotions.

[Pirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although at times a little confusing, a much better story than the death itself. The story deals with two main aspects of Clark's death: the impact it has on his loved ones, and the impact it has on the world at large. I find the former to be much more successful and touching, especially the parts with Jonathan Kent reminiscing on young Clark's journey to becoming superman. I think the impact of his death on the world at large is a little confusing, especially with its strange focus on characters like Guardian rather than say Batman and Wonder Woman, who each get only a few panels. The Lex stuff is great, though. Idk I just feel like there's something lacking in the way the story treats metropolis and the loss of its protector, but maybe the return of superman will deal with that much better. If nothing else, I like the fact that this book really does show why superman is such a good hero and so important to the genre. He's the best of the best.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An out of context quote from a conversation between the Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, where Batman said this to Superman:

"Superman, the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead"

That quote reminded me of this book, the storyline that came after the "Death of Superman," where the world mourned the death of their hero at the hands of Doomsday.

"A World Without Superman" had a particular chapter where the Justice League with Batman, picked up the slack from the hero vacuum that was created without Superman. They were clearly inspired to continue Superman's tradition of answering letters to him for Christmas.

The emotional heart of this story were the Kents, Superman's adoptive parents, coming to grips with the reality of their son gone. No parent should have to feel the pain of outliving their child.

This was a story that DC could only be told once, because they could only the death card once, and they nailed it.

[Your_Average_Magical_Girls_Fan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag. Up until the end of the funeral is very emotional and well written, except for the cheesy and stupid scene where Bibbosky spends an entire page praying to god for the salvation of Superman. It's also good to see Guy Gardner reveling himself as the fundamentally good hearted guy he is, which is what made me appreciate him as an underdog more than the REALLY egocentrical and genocide-inclined John Stewart (see Cosmic Odissey on that). After the funeral the steam is pretty much lost, with a meandering plot line and shitty art highlighting the fact that people hadn't any actual idea of how to raise Superman from the dead in a convincing manner. The worst offenders are Johnatan mimicking his son's death and Lois magically wearing a sub suit from a scene to another, which scream shark jump a mile away. I'll Still go 3 starts for the first half, then you can safely skip it.

[kaden · Rating 1 out of 5]

liked it even less than death of superman, i do not care about booster gold please go to hell, lex luthor 2, “supergirl” and whatever talking frog that people ride in can go to hell too. also “I’m gonna do it— hand me dem paddles! I owe it to sooperman — onna counta he was my fav’rit!” is the dumbest fucking thing ive ever read in a comic so thank you dan jurgens for being dumb as rocks

[Gilberto Toscano García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuando con esta saga creada por el fabuloso escritor y dibujante Dan Jurgens y que marco historia en el mundo de DC, ahora tocó leer qué pasó después de la muerte de Supermán, como es un mundo sin Superman y el famoso tomo de Funeral para un amigo. Sumamente recomendado para fan del hombre de acero.

[Robert Noll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably closer to 3.75 stars - The last 25% is weird and appears to be included as filler. I also think either Jonathan Kent either dies or he lives, and Lex Luthor should be the happiest son of a bitch in six counties.

[A.L. Bellettiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

I question how much i remember as well as if I really did get all the comics at the time . And that goes for The Death of superman AND World Without Superman. Still a guilty pleasure and a nostalgic look back about 30 years ago. I'm assuming what I'll read next is the main part I remember.

[Kaeshani · Rating 4 out of 5]

რიჟა ლუთორი მაგარიკაცია :DD მთლიან ჯამში გაასწორა რა

[Srikumar Krishna Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice compilation. Loved the art as well as the plot.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story arc! A strong story that captured my imagination

[Marlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I really enjoyed this. I just found the lack of use of imagination hard.
The story was packed full of emotion, and I loved the story. Looking forward to the last entry in the saga.