The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus [Hardcover]

Roger Stern (Author), Dan Jurgens (Author, Artist), Jerry Ordway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2007

One of the most stunning events in modern comics history is collected at last in a single, huge graphic novel.

The Death of Superman at the hands of the nightmare creature called Doomsday made headlines across the country in the 1990s, and now DC Comics has gathered the story of the Man of Steel's death and return in one volume for the first time ever. This amazing story guest stars the Justice League of America and many other DC Comics heroes as they witness the fall and rise of the greatest super-hero of all time.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (September 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401215505
• ISBN-13: 978-1401215507
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.9 x 10.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many cuts, too little soul, October 22, 2007

By 

Russell T. Burlingame "Comics Journalist" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus (Hardcover)

"The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus" is a great example of editorial and sales having a fundamental inability to understand what makes a story great, and trying to make decisions based on what's flashy and will sell, instead. The result is profoundly dissatisfying.

The Doomsday/Funeral For a Friend/Reign of the Supermen story is one of the great superhero epics ever written, with record-breaking sales and a generation of Superman fans who grew up with this as their foundation with the character. And while "The Death of Superman" was what drew people in, "Funeral For a Friend" is what made them care--and what guaranteed that the clever third act would be a success. Without "Funeral For a Friend," it's just a really long action movie. And while those can be fun, you're left with a story that has very little soul. And that, more than anything else, is what happened here. In an effort to keep costs down, DC opted to remove a ton of content from "Funeral for a Friend" (some other stuff, too, but mostly from FFaF) and ended up with a story where the most important, interesting part of the saga--how the world gets along without a Superman, after having had one--is almost completely lost. The emotional core of the story is shattered and all you're left with is the continuity stuff--this feels like a Cliff's Notes to the death and return of Superman.

In that respect, though, it accomplishes what it set out to--it's a great companion to the equally disappoinging "Superman: Doomsday" DVD movie.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed - Expected Better, October 13, 2007

By 

Garry M. Kump "gman" (Cary, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus (Hardcover)

There really is no reason to get this omnibus. Usually you can expect a larger size, better quality paper, etc. The fact is the format/size is same as previous TPs and if you do side by side comparisons, the color is richer in previous TPs while the omnibus is more on the faded side. The quality is poorer than the previous paperbacks. Sad.

I immediately put this one away. Its the poorest hardback omnibus I've yet seen at a price where you are much better off purchasing the three TPs. This reprint makes no sense, especially for previuos collectors looking for a better treatment of their favorite collections. Why a hardback book? I've had much better treatment with paperback.

This is the first I've seen anything like this, and I hope its the last. Should have been cheaper and in paperback. Top Cow Compendium's are paperback and far exceed this, and at a better price. Just crazy.

I hope sales are not good, even though folks like me will be stung. There should be a clear message back to the publisher by lack of sales to stop this trend. If you are going to reprint as omnibus and give it the hard back treatment, PLEASE provide something extra, such as better reproduction, larger format, improved paper quality, etc.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars DC GOES CHEAP AGAIN!!!, September 16, 2007

By 

Sebastian Frank Nye "speelbergo" (Salt lake City, Ut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus (Hardcover)

When i was thirteen, "The Death of Superman" was the story arc that got me into comic books for the first time. Naturally i was thrilled to have the whole saga in one hardcover collection. Imagine my grief and disappointment when i picked up the book to find it printed on cheap newspaper quality paper. When you spend 75 dollars on something, you expect quality. Take DC's Absolute Editions for example. 75 bucks gets you an oversized, hardcover slipcased edition full of rich, glossy pages and tons of extras.
Don't bother on this overpriced cheap reprint. You can still get the individual Death, Funeral and Return paperbacks for half the price and the same quality.
Shame on you, DC. Shame!

Since writing this review last year, several people have piped up, defending this volume by saying I shouldn't compare it to an Absolute Edition because it has twice the page count. Fine. Let's compare it to a Marvel Omnibus. The Captain America-Ed Brubaker Omnibus has about the same page count as this one, but for 75 bucks, you get an OVERSIZED volume, rich GLOSSY pages, and MORE extra features. There's NO EXCUSE for DC to put out such a sub-par volume. NONE.