October 1984: Superman #400 is a 64-page special with a ton of star-power. Besides a seven-part story written by Maggin and drawn by not-often-Superman-associated artists including Frank Miller, Al Williamson, Marshall Rogers and Wendy Pini, there are a bunch of single-page pin-ups by the likes of Will Eisner, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Moebius, and a ten-pager by Jim Steranko–his final narrative comics work to date, if memory serves. On the radio: Prince and the Revolution’s “When Doves Cry.”
May 1995: There’s never been a Superman #500 (or #600), as such: following 1986’s Superman #423, the original series was retitled Adventures of Superman, and John Byrne relaunched Superman with a new #1. Dan Jurgens’ “The Death of Superman” story, which reached its climax with #75, was enormously popular, so for #100 of the new series, he follows it up with “The Death of Clark Kent.” On the radio: Madonna’s “Take a Bow.”
(More on Techland: Origins: Chris Roberson)
February 2004: Superman #200, written by Steven T. Seagle and drawn by twelve artists (including Jurgens), follows anniversary-issue traditions by having Superman travel to the future, and by having a portentous title (“The Last Superman Story”). On the radio: OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” This Superman series ended with 2006’s #226; Adventures of Superman changed its title back to Superman as of the following month’s #650.
This week: Superman #700 comes out, with stories by Jurgens, James Robinson and Bernard Chang, and J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows. We’ll be discussing it in the Comic Book Club on Thursday, so come back and see what we thought.
More on Techland: