Closed Door Genesis

When I was a kid, I thought a lot about comic books and cartoons. I didn't consider the creative process behind cartoons that much, and focused more on the plot and the characters as though they were real. By the time I was a teenager though, I paid attention to the credits in the comic books. Pencillers, writers, inkers, and editors were right up front. There were people who came up with characters, their motivations and appearances, and the things they would face. It seemed like an awesome way to make a living. By the time I was in college, I started paying attention to the credits on cartoons as well, from writers to animators to voice actors.

What happens behind closed doors? It's easy to imagine brainstorming sessions for the more colorful printed material in our society, but every printed piece is given a lot of thought in conference rooms by various teams. Whether it's the circular for your favorite department store, a newspaper, a comic book, or a random piece of junk mail, someone designed it and others directed that design. On the Superman: Doomsday DVD I bought this week, one of the special features delves in to one such session, and explains how the original Death of Superman came about.

As a collector, I always skewed more toward the Marvel side rather than DC, even if the latter had a better presence in popular culture through movies and television series, and exposed me to the notion of super heroes. When word got out that Superman was to die, I started buying all the issues leading up to the event. The news covered it. Mainstream magazines wrote about it. Every week, a new issue came out as heroes and civilians fell before the unstoppable might of a new menace, Doomsday. I bought multiple copies of issue #75, an all-splash page slugfest in which the hero pushes himself harder than ever before, saving the day and making the ultimate sacrifice in the process. I had the black armband and all the gimmicks they issued.

No one who has a familiarity with comics ever believes death is permanent. Characters “die” all the time, only to return. Maybe the one who died was a clone or a robot. Maybe the character was in suspended animation in a state resembling death. Maybe there was no body, and someone went over a ledge or a cliff. Sherlock Holmes certainly was part of that tradition. Every now and then the person inside a costume might die, but another character takes on that role. The originals always seem to return. But Superman was more than some random civilian in a costume with gimmicks, and was such an iconic figure that his death made the news. These days, it's common for things like Captain America's assassination or Spider-man's unmasking to make the news. Before the early ‘90s, these would just be plot threads only comic book fans cared about. The Death of Superman brought the comic book world more into the mainstream.

There was a plan; that much was clear to me at the time. The hero fought a valiant final battle, was laid to rest, and the series ended after a few issues of the supporting cast mourning. Three months later, Superman comics started coming out again, but the main character was conspicuously absent. Four pretenders rose, with the possibility that one of them was the real deal. Eventually it got sorted out, and the world kept turning. Superman even settled down and finally married his longtime love interest Lois Lane. Who knew that very wedding was what led to his death in the first place?

Bruce Timm and company did an excellent job as usual bringing DC Comics to animation. Their adaptation of the classic death storyline was decent enough, and managed to hit on the key themes. At just under an hour-and-a-half, obviously a lot had to be cut from a story that spanned well over a year and probably close to 50 issues if not more. I had one or two critiques, most of which I won't spoil here, but I enjoyed it. James Marsters stands out among the new voice cast, and did an amazing job with Lex Luthor. Some of his actions definitely contribute to the PG-13 rating. Kevin Smith has a cameo, and utters a perfect line.

What I like best about the both Marvel and DC's animated DVDs is the behind-the-scenes stuff. The format allows for great featurettes in which creative people get screen time, and get to explain their thought processes. What did happen behind closed doors? How does a voice actor get chosen, and what leads a hero to his demise? How do they think up this stuff? The featurette on this particular DVD gave me some surprising insight. Years before it happened, the creative team had a wedding mapped out. Storylines are planned a year in advance, and with four different comics a month, they had to make sure each creative team coordinated. Plans were made, and they were happy.

Meanwhile, in another medium, Lois and Clark were enjoying fame on a quirky action/drama/comedy. The people behind the series had plans for a wedding as well, but not for a few seasons. They wouldn't allow the characters to wed in the comics before they wed on the television series. It could happen at the same time, or after, but not before.

I wasn't aware of this back in 1993. I just remember being glad that the television show was still on, and that the character lived on somewhere. Honestly, was Superman ever going to leave popular culture for good? At the time, I think a lot of us were naive enough to fear just that. I worried about the show being canceled without the comics to support it, not knowing the workings inside the mechanism. Writers, artists, and editors suddenly were told that their plans for the coming year were unacceptable, and they had to come up with something else.

People were bitter. They sulked and brooded, and it wasn't much of a creative environment. Writer and artist Jerry Ordway made a joke in this meeting that he'd made countless times before in meetings: “Let's just kill ‘im.” For once though, the people in the room stopped and considered the idea. What if they did kill Superman? What stories could they tell about a world without its greatest hero? And so, a television marketing directive combined with a bitter creative joke led to one of the most historically significant events in comics.

It's funny how things work out. We don't often think about the process, about everything that has to happen before we read or watch something. By the time we're enjoying an end product, a lot of time and planning has taken place, months and even years in advance. The next time you see a flyer or a package or a book, think about its genesis behind closed doors.