30 Years Ago, a Hero Died and the World Stopped.

Sort of. Superman #75 (1987; 2nd Series) was published in November of 1992, and the news got out months earlier about what would happen inside the pages (damn those leaks!). We asked our neighbor Dan Jurgens, who happened to be the regular writer and artist of that title leading up to and including this historic issue, if he would stop by for a little meet and greet the night it came in.

Right. Little. Nationwide, it was a cataclysm, rhetorically and economically speaking. I thought it was the biggest selling comic book ever, by a large margin, but Google says X-Men #1 beat it by hair a year earlier. In Minneapolis, it was a dark and stormy, well, at least miserable, night, but we gave away 500 numbered tickets to fans who wanted to meet the man Dan. And get a copy signed. It was the biggest event in our retail careers, those of us who were there. The store was painfully small, so to get as many people in out of the cold, we moved shelves and counters around to have the line snake through the several rooms, with conveniently placed snacks and merchandise to bide the time. Steve Jones’ always entertaining white boards announced the event for a week or so above the new comics. Several other valued staff members were also there. (Wow, what a payroll! I count 8 plus me, I think.)

If you were there and strongly object to being pictured here, let me know and I’ll try to learn how to do that pixellation thing.

I could write for days, but for now, I’ll just post the only pictures I, Ralph, have from that night. I feel like I should have taken more and different. If you have any, find the contact link at the bottom and let me know if you would like to share.

Enjoy. And remember, if you can.

Turns out there were 5 pictures of 4 collages. Too tired to change all the captions, which I see are not displaying, and I’m too tired to fix that, too.