Superman: Man of Steel #25

DC Comics - Sept 1993

Key Issue Notes
Superman returns from "Death"
First appearance of Superman's Black Suit

Joss Whedon has recently taken over the reigns of the upcoming Justice League movie after Zack Snyder stepped away for personal reasons. I'm not going to go into any details of those reasons, but if you're curious, a simple Google search will give you the info you're looking for.

Anyway, this blog isn't about movies, it's about comics. Key issue comics to be exact. The only reason I mentioned the movie above is because there is a lot of speculation that we may be seeing Henry Cavill don Superman's black suit in the film, and this is the comic where we are first introduced to it.

Back in the 90's, DC decided that they were going to kill off one of their most famous characters. If you were into comics back then, you probably remember all of the hype around this story line and probably even had a copy or two of Superman #75, the issue where Supes meets his fate at the hands of Doomsday. But, as we all know, in comics, nobody stays dead forever.

If you remember the Death of Superman, then you probably also remember the Reign of the Supermen story line that came out after that. In this story, that runs for several issues in several titles, there are for "Supermen" that are claiming to the be real Superman. One of the "Supermen" actually turns out to be evil and becomes the super villain in the story. I don't want to give too much away here, so I'll leave the identity of that character a mystery, for now anyway.

Regardless, at the end of this issue, a giant robot comes up out of the water, and two of the Supermen decide that it's there to destroy the city and go toe to toe with it, until they finally stop it. As this massive machine is disabled, a hatch or doorway opens up, and this man is basically birthed from it. On the last page, it is shown to be Superman, and he's in his black suit and sporting a great looking mullet.

Now that Supes has returned, he still has to prove to the world that he is the one true Superman. So the Reign of the Supermen story line goes through to The Adventures of Superman #500, where DC officially considers Superman to be back from the dead for good.

Variants

Newsstand

To the best of my knowledge and through my research, I could only find one variant for this comic, and that is the newsstand edition. Newsstand editions have become more sought out lately. As we got closer and closer to the millennium, these editions started to become a lot harder to find, making up only a fraction of the actual print run. At the time when this comic was released, it was only around 15%. As we got further along and closer to today, those numbers get even lower. Anyway, if you want one of these "rare" newsstand editions, click the pick and it with shoot you over to the current eBay listings.

Census

The census for this book is really low at this time. To be honest, this isn't a really sought out key issue. In fact, it's probably still unknown by a lot of people, and the census numbers reflect that.

To date, there have only been 41 copies graded by CGC. Of those, 22 of them are graded a highest 9.8 NM/M. CGC doesn't differentiate between the Direct and Newsstand editions, so how many of each are out there is unknown.

If you're looking for a copy, I wouldn't go any lower than a 9.8. There are a few of them out there and they're still very affordable as you will see in the next section.

Values

Values for Superman Man of Steel #25
On GoCollect

GoCollect, my go to site for comic values has only a few points of sales information data for this comic. In the two years worth of information available, values for this comic hasn't really gone anywhere. Back in 2015, you could snag a CGC Universal 9.8 NM/M copy for only $75. The last sale on June 16th went for only a few dollars less at $62. So, as you can see, there isn't a lot of demand for this minor key issue and you can still snag a copy for well under $100.

Now if you really want to add this comic to your collection on the cheap, you can take a gamble on a raw copy. If you have a good enough eye, you may be able to snag a copy for damn near cover price, which was only $1.50. But be warned, if you send in a copy thinking it's a 9.8 NM/M and it only comes back from CGC/CBCS a 9.6, you'll have lost money. It would cost you more to get it graded than the book is worth. Either way, good luck and happy collecting.

Find a copy here.
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Superman #75

D.C. Comics - Jan. 1993

Key Issue Notes
"Death" of Superman
"Death" of Doomsday

By now, most of us have seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Whether you liked it or hated it, we do see the apparent death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday at the end of the film, and this is the comic that sees the untimely end of Superman.

But, as with most comic book characters, he doesn't stay dead for long. He would make is way back into comics a mere five months later in Adventures of Superman #500.

When you read this comic, don't expect to find a story that has some deep meaning that is going to change your life. It's a straight up slug fest from beginning to end, and that's when we see both Supes and Doomsday lying in the rubble that used to be Metropolis.

The creative team, that includes editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway, came up with the storyline after Carlin wondered what the world would be like without Superman. I personally think they did it as a gimick and to sell a s#!t load of comics. Well it worked, they sold a ton of 'em. So many that this comic went all the way up to a fourth printing.

Let's talk about the differnt covers that this comic has. As I already mentioned, there were four total printings. So, that's four covers, plus the newsstand edition, and the two polybag editions. So that's seven total, not counting all of the various autographed copies, which I'm not going to get into.

There are minimal, but very obvious differences between all of the direct and newsstand editions of this comic, mostly in the title.

• The first print has a yellow and blue title
• The second print has a white and purple title
• The third print has a blue and purple title

and lastly,

• The fourth print has a green title.

I've included the picture to the right for reference.

Newsstand Edition (Top)
Direct Edition (Bottom)

There is also a first print newsstand edition of this comic. It's easily spotted by the UPC code in the lower right corner of the cover. These comics are a lot more rare than their direct market counterparts. It's estimated that only 10% - 15% of all comics printed around this time were the newsstand copies. So, if there were a million copies of this comic printed, then there are only 10,000 to 15,000 newsstand editions out there, which is significantly lower. These newsstand editions are starting to get noticed in the market, so if you're able to find a copy, there may have a chance of it gaining value better that the direct edition would.

Also be on the lookout for the more popular polybagged editions. The first is the more abundant black polybagged edition. This is the bag that has the red Superman symbol that looks like is dripping blood. There were a lot of extra goodies packed into the bag with the comic in this one. They called it the Superman Memorial Set. This set consisted of a memorial poster, a black armband, an obituary from the Daily Planet, a trading card and commemorative stamps.

The next is the Platinum Edition. There were only 10,000 copies of the Platinum Edition produced. This comic didn't come with all of the extras that were in the black bag, but it is the most valuable of all the variants.

Just to let you know, if you have one of these polybagged editions and you want to have them graded, CGC and CBCS will remove the comics from the bag to grade them. There will be no graded copies that are still in the bag. So, if you had an artist or writer sign one of the bagged copies, that signature will most likely end up in the trash when you send it in for grading. Just a little knowledge for those that might not know how CGC / CBCS deal with bagged comics.

Values for Superman #75 Direct Edition
on GoCollect

I usually only talk about one cover when it comes to the CGC census, but today I'm going to go over two of them. The first is the first print direct edition. So far, there are 1,595 copies listed on the census. That may seem like a lot, but if you consider how many millions of copies that might be out there, that number isn't that high at all. Of course, with this comic being a 90's comic, there are a lot of high grades available. Of the 1,595 copies, 897 are a 9.8 NM/M. If you're looking to snag a copy, I would suggest not going below that grade.

Recent sales for 9.8 NM/M copies of this issue haven't been spectacular, only selling in the $50 - $70 range. There was a boost in value shortly after BvS was released, with sales reaching over the $100 mark, but now that hype has faded, values are back down to where they were.

Platinum Edition

The next cover is the Platinum Edition. Of the 10,000 produced, only 369 have been graded by CGC. Most of these are also high grade, with 101 copies graded at 9.8 NM/M and 103 graded at 9.6 NM+.

This variant is by far the most collectible and most valuable. CGC 9.8 NM/M copies can easily go for over $300, and maybe even $400. Even 9.6 NM+ copies will probably still run you over $100.

This here is a very affordable key issue comic. If you're a fan of Superman, this is probably a comic you should have in your collection. You won't have any problems finding a copy. You may even be able to find a raw copy in a bargain bin somewhere, but the grade might not be up to par for collectibility though. Either way, good luck on your hunt.

Find a copy here
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