DC is celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Death of Superman, and they are going all out for the Superman story that truly shocked a generation of comic fans. The Death of Superman Anniversary Special brings back the original creative teams from the Death of Superman for four new stories revolving around the events of the original event, and that includes Standing Guard, an all-new story featuring The Guardian by writer Roger Stern, artist Butch Guice, colorist Glenn Whitmore, and letterer John Workman. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to speak to Stern and Guice all about their new Guardian story and stepping back into the world of such a memorable time in DC Comics history.
“Well, for me, it was weird because I’m going, ’30 years? Really?’ And I looked at the calendar, Oh yeah. That’s 30 years. I don’t feel 30 years older. Seems like we did it just a couple of years ago,” Stern said. “But there it is. It’s like, wow. I guess we better step up to the bat and do something important here.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
“Well, for me it was just totally unexpected. I did not expect to be asked to step back in and participate in, especially that storyline, and with Roger,” Guice said. “So I was just busy bouncing around, having the time of my life, and 30 years, it just shed away right then.”
“When Brittany Holzherr at DC approached me about this she says, ‘We want to do some stuff’. And I’m going, Well, yeah. Guardian would work because he was there at certain parts, but in comics, he just shows up. So in this story, we can show how he learned about things to show up, and what happened in between the panels,” Stern said. “And when I was told, ‘And Butch is going to draw it!’ I’m going, Okay. Sign me up. Let’s go. Let’s do this.”
Standing Guard takes place during the battle with Doomsday, and because of that readers get an up-close look at the devastation Doomsday caused on his way to Metropolis, including a massive explosion that Stern and Guice put a lot of research into creating.
“Yeah, when we did the story, the first time around, Mike Carlin was making sure that everybody got Xerox copies every week of what was being done by everybody else,” Guice said. “So there was this great synergy of looking at the guy’s previous to you, and then try to build off of that. And this time it was like looking back at the entire story, 30 years later and going, okay, explosion’s going to be like three times bigger now. You know?”
“Absolutely. Adventures of Superman preceded Action Comics. Which was followed by Man of Steel, which was followed by Superman, and all over again. So the explosion happened there,” Stern said. “In Action, Guardian has shown up, and here’s this town that’s been devastated. We get to show Guardian heading there, and a big pullback for this big honking explosion, when Superman and Maxima are fighting Doomsday in a small town, and a whole gas station goes up. Bloo-ey! In fact, I went on Google and found as many references for Jackson of gasoline explosions, and I said ‘Here. Make something better than these.’ And he did, because that’s what he does.”
The story also provides a much clearer picture of the physical toll the fight takes on the Man of Steel throughout the fight, and he always looks worse for wear. “Yeah. It’s true. Every time Guardian catches up to Superman, Superman looks worse than he did the time before,” Stern said. “And Guardian’s going, “Oh man! I’ve never seen this guy with bruises on his face before. What is this thing he’s fighting?”
The bruises have always been more impactful to me in regards to Superman’s worsening condition than the presence of blood, and I wasn’t alone. “The bruises, the swelling eye, the puffage that’s up on the side,” Guice said. Stern added, “You know, until this storyline, I think the only time I’d ever seen Superman bruised was a cover that Neal Adams had done 15, 20 years before, when he was brand new and didn’t know that you didn’t show Superman bruised.”
Stern explained that in many ways Guardian is a stand-in for the audience in this larger-than-life story, as well as an example of heroism in the face of massive odds.
“Guardian… As great a hero as Guardian is, he’s sort of playing stand-in for the readership, for the audience, in this story,” Stern said. “He’s learning more about everything as things progress, and everything he learns disturbs him more, but he keeps stepping up to the bat and doing whatever he can.”
Standing Guard will also deal with events that take place after Superman’s death, but for those details, you’ll just have to wait and read the full story. The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special hits comic stores on November 8th, and the special and collected editions go on sale on December 6th.
What did the Death of Superman mean to you and are you excited for the 30th Anniversary Special? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things comics with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
