Originally the plan was to have Lois and Clark marry, but when the higher ups put the kibbosh on that to have the marriage happen at the same time as in the Lois and Clark TV show they had to come up with something to replace it.

The Funeral for a Friend section is my favorite Superman story period. All the relationships Clark had built up since 1986 were paid off spectacularly. The heart and emotion of those issues is something special, from Bibbo praying to the kid Mitch completely changing his tune on Superman. The Kents and Lois mourning is heartbreaking. The Matrix Supergirl finally came into her own since she no longer had to job to make Superman look good. Even Luthor's reaction was spot on. This is something that I feel is often lost today, especially since secret identities and larger civilian casts have been largely abandoned, that it's the effect of and reaction to the deaths that make them impactful more than the death themselves. That's why Jason Todd's death was so impactful - because it affected Bruce for so many years and the image of the costume in the lass case, and why people love the silent issues that sometimes follow a character's death like Damian and the Human Torch. But how many books would spend months and months dealing so thoroughly with the aftermath of a major character death nowadays?