Copyright Published by K.J.A. Press & Associates 4056 W. 7th Ave. New York, N.Y. 10017 Copyright Š 2014 by Jake Rosuck, Austin Auclair, and Kyle Aebischer All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. Manufactured in the United States of America. Cover artwork designed by Austin Auclair Anthology design by Jake Rosuck Introduction and author biographies written by Kyle Aebischer Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Table of contents Death of Flash.............................................................................Page 6 Death of Robin (Jason Todd)....................................................Page 8 Death of Superman....................................................................Page 10 Death of Green Arrow...............................................................Page 12 Death of Green Lantern............................................................Page 14 Death of Wonder Woman.........................................................Page 16
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Introduction
ince it has become a recent trend to watch movies instead of reading books, the average person knows only what the movies have shown of a superhero and nothing about their deep and intricate stories on the pages of dozens of comic books. Admiring superheroes as children, the general population is under the impression that Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, etc. are invincible. Well in fact each superhero has a long lasting strain of comic books written about them from various authors that cover multiple decades. Somewhere along the hero’s history, one author decides that it is their time to die by the hands of a villain and thus history is made. As superhero comic admirers, we present this anthology to open the eyes of the people who are unaware of the history their favorite heroes have and show them that superheroes are indeed mortal and can be killed. Within this anthology you will find the story of six of the most beloved superheroes that at one point in their lives have faced death and lost the battle. Presented in chronological order of the date that they were published, each of the six comics includes an author biography of the author that was writing the comic at the time of the hero’s death, a summary of the events that resulted in their death, and the actual page(s) of the comic book where the hero is killed. Our goal with creating this anthology is to educate the people about the superheroes they grew up watching and reading. Hopefully by the end of this anthology, the notion that superheroes are invincible is replaced by the truth and make the reader more aware of the time when their favorite hero was at rock bottom.
Marv Wolfman B
orn in Brooklyn, New York, Marv Wolfman grew up in the city attending various schools of which included New York’s High School of Art and Design where he studied artist techniques hoping to become a cartoonist. Being a fan of comic books, Wolfman landed his first real job as a cartoonist at DC comics where he first published a few new characters in already established comics and later created his own comic with a coworker titled Teen Titans. It wasn’t until nearly twenty years later that Wolfman and co-worker GeorgePerez put together the Crisis on Infinite Earths series to celebrate fifty years of DC comics. It was in the eighth book of this series that one of the most well-known superheroes died--Flash.
DEATH OF FLASH C
risis on Infinite Earths is a twelveissue storyline that brings every DC hero from multiple universes and different times together to defeat one nemesis named the anti-monitor. Each issue focuses on a different hero even though some are seen in multiple issues like Superman. Because we are focusing on the death of Flash we skip way ahead to issue number 8. In issue number 8 we see Barry Allen A.K.A. Flash sacrifice his life to save the multi-words by running himself to death to destroy the anti-monitors antimatter cannon. Flash was successful in destroying the antimatter cannon but the war wasn’t over yet. After the crisis was one Wally West, the apprentice of Flash, took up the role of his great mentor and became the new Flash.
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Jim Starlin
orn in America, Jim Starlin received his first big break in the comic book industry working for Marvel Comics in 1972. It was here at Marvel that Starlin worked on some of the most famous comic books including Iron Man and The Amazing Spiderman. Just a few years later, Starlin found himself creating and drawing new comic book strips for DC Comics. Meeting partner Bernie Wrightson in 1985, they went on to create multiple mini Batman series of which included “Batman: A Death in the Family” where Batman’s sidekick Jason Todd, is killed off
DEATH OF I
OBIN
n the DC universe there are 4 Robins, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damien Wayne. Death in the family focuses on Jason Todd. This comic was composed of 4 issues and it isn’t until the end of the second issue till we see Robin die and parts of it in the third issue. The main story line is long and complicated because a lot of background information on Jason is needed because the story arc follows him and his past and how he became Robin. We see Batman and Robin investigating rumors of crime and it leads to Robin finding out his birth mother is actually alive and he sets out to find her. Meanwhile, his mother is currently working for the Joker (she doesn’t know it’s the Joker) and sets up her son to be captured. Once captured by the Joker he is ruthlessly beaten with a crow bar in a warehouse in front of his mother who was betrayed by the Joker and tied her up to watch. After a brutal beating the Joker leaves the two of them in the warehouse with a bomb that is set to blow. Batman is trying to find where Robin is and races to the warehouse when he hears word of his capture. With the warehouse in sight and Robin and his mother nearly escaping the bomb goes off. After rumbling through the wreckage, Batman finds the body of Robin and is too late.
Dan Jurgens
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orn in Ortonville, Minnesota, Dan Jurgens attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design where he graduated in 1981. Impressing Mike Grell at a convention with one of his earlier portfolios, Grell recommended DC comics to hire Jurgens in 1981. His first work there at DC was on Warlord #63. Jurgens made his writing debut in the Sundevils series which ran from 1984-1985. Helping fellow co-workers launch a new branch of Superman comics, Jurgens later created two new villains in the Superman series-- Cyborg Superman and Doomsday. A year later in 1992, Jurgens continued his run on the Superman series by creating “The Death of Superman� storyline which saw the famous hero die by the hands of Doomsday.
UPERMAN
DEATH OF
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uperman volume 2, #75 A.K.A. The Death of Superman is only a 22 page issue of Superman. Prior to this issue is when they introduced the main antagonist: Doomsday. Trouble is in Ohio and the Justice League International (Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, etc.) are investigating and find a monsterous figure in a green suit reaking havoc and is said to be doomsday out there. The monster then recieved the name Doomsday...after wiping out the young heros effotlessly, Superman is on his way and the two begin a historic battle. This battle is so large in scale that they wind up in Metropolis for the finale. In front of the Daily Planet the two supreme beings exchange final, devastating blows to one another and the epic battle is over.
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Chuck Dixon
merican born, Chuck Dixon began his comic book writing career at Comico Comics in 1984 writing Evangleline. Shortly after, he was hired by DC Comics to produce a Robin mini-series that ended up gaining a large amount of popularity and resulted in multiple sequels. Before he left DC Comics, Dixon was a part of the team that wrote the Batman Detective comics which led to him pioneering Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. During his time at DC while writing The Punisher and Batman comics, Dixon was also able to put out multiple issues of Green Arrow including volume 2 #101 where Green Arrow is laid to rest.
DEATH OF GREEN ARROW T he Death of Green Arrow is very interesting because he didn’t have to die to save the day but he chose death. In Volume 2 #101 Oliver Queen A.K.A. Green Arrow is just a mess at the moment. He just killed Hal Jordan for reason unknown in this issue and then gets shocking news from Hal Jordan who he thought he killed that his apprentice Connor Hawke is his son. If that wasn’t hard enough Oliver has to deal with a new, crazy love interest named Hyrax who plans to destroy Metropolis. Oliver finds Hyrax on an airplane with the device that will be used to destroy Metropolis. After defeating Hyrax, Oliver is stuck in a predicament where he either lose his arm and save the day or lose his life and still save the day. With everything that has recently happened to him he decided that he would let his son take up the role and follow in the “family business” and sacrifice himself.
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Karl Kesel
orn in Victor, New York, Karl Kesel landed his first professional cartooning job at DC comics where he first drew contributions to DC’s New Talent Showcase book. Working his way up, Kesel soon landed a more permanent position in the company when he regularly contributed to Tales of the Legion of Super-heroes. He also worked later on for various other comic book publishers including Dark Horse Comics, Gorilla Comics, and Marvel Comics. It was during this time that he and co-worker Stuart Immonen created “The Final night” limited series which is where we find the death of the Green Lantern.
DEATH
F GREEN LANTERN
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nother multiple issue comic, The Final Night involves many DC characters including villains like Lex Luthor. We are primarily focusing on the 4th issue because this is where Hal Jordan A.K.A. Green Lantern sacrifices himself for the sake of the Earth. The nemesis is an unknown entity that is just labeled as a Star-eater and devours suns and he had just devoured the sun that Earth follows. Millions froze to death while others (hero’s mainly) tried to save the Earth. In the first issues Hal Jordan is consumed by Parallax and tried to take over Earth for the short time that was left. Easily being defeated by the stronger beings of the world Hal realizes that he became a villain and was no longer a Hero and has become an outcast. In one last attempt to save the world Superman is volunteered to send a device into the sun where the sun-eater is to try and prevent it from going supernova, which is what Luthor predicted. Hal accompanied by another hero named Ferro don’t give Superman the chance because he is too valuable to sacrifice and the two courageously head to the sun. Moments before approaching, Hal sends Ferro back to earth and then flies into the middle of the sun and the sun eater and recites the Green Lantern Oath while releasing his Green Lantern Power with Parallax’s powers to ignite the sun and save the Earth.
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John Byrne B
orn in West Bromwich, England, John Byrne attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Canada. Leaving school before graduating, Byrne entered the comics world by sending in a “Fan Art Gallery” piece in one of Marvel’s promotional pieces. Landing his first professional job at Charlton Comics, Chris Claremont of Marvel Comics saw his work there and implored Byrne to draw for a series he had written at Marvel.
DEATH OF WONDER WOMAN
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ot much is known about the death of Wonder Woman due to the rarity of this certain issue. One thing for sure is that Diana (Wonder Woman) was killed by the demon Neron. hy we used this comic in our anthology is because this is one of the few comics that have the hero die in an issue and not be ressureected for some time. All heros are eventually resserected at some point in time but most occur in the same issue but in this case Diana is ressurected into a goddess on Olympus and not a mortal.
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THE END
About Us Austin Auclair
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y name is Austin Auclair, I was born on June 8, 1995 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. My parents are Lima and Randall Auclair. I am the oldest of 4 children and the first in my family to go to Florida State University. I am currently studying Criminal Justice with aspirations of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. My favorite superhero is Spawn because he is the perfect example of a superhero that is a borderline villain.
Kyle Aebischer
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yle Aebischer was born on December 26, 1994 in Tampa, Florida. He is the son of Kris and Lisa Aebischer and has three sisters. Growing up, Kyle always had an interest in comic books and found them to be interesting and fun to read. Although he like many comics, Kyle’s all-time favorite hero is Spiderman. After high school, Kyle is continuing his education at The Florida State University majoring in Computer Science.
Jake Rosuck
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y name is Jacob Rosuck, I was born in New Brunswick, NJ and I am a Florida State Seminole. I am a die hard Batman fan and I never really got into comics as a kid, i was more into the animated series and live action films, but as I got older I began to read more Batman comics and absolutely loved the character, storylines and the comic as a whole.