What did you like better, Death and Return of Superman, or Knightfall?

[tib2d2]

Which 90s mega-event did you like best? Kightfall/quest/end or the Death and Return of Superman? Batman's beat down and return was about a year and a half, while Superman's took just a year to kill him and bring him back.

[lancerman]

Well lets compare all three parts.

Death of Superman was one overlong fight scene to get Doomsday over. It was well written in some parts, but I felt for the most part it was fairly by the numbers and what you expect. The last moments of the story are the best. Knightfall was a rather long showcase of Batman fighting most of his arch villains, psychologically breaking down, being stalked by this new villain who was one of the best additions ever to the mythos, and in general was just a well done portrayal of Batman reaching his limits and finally hitting the breaking point.

Verdict: Knightfall by a significant margin.

World Without Superman was relatively weak and was really just an bunch of filler with the Luthor maneuvering around and the Guardian being one of the main focuses, didn't really hit the emotional core that story should have taken and was rather shallow. Knightquest, all the stuff with Bruce kind of sucked, Jean Paul Valley had some decent stories here and there and I like the differentiation established between the two.

Verdict: Knightquest by a smaller margin, these were both the weakest parts of there respective stories.

Returns is far and away the best part of the Superman saga, minus the last issue or two of Death. It was again very bloated. The new characters introduced were pretty interesting for the most part. Superman's actual Return seemed kind of weak. It kind of felt a bit too much like a stereotype of 90's comics. But the action was great and kept the story going. Knightsend was probably the most cohesive part of the Knightfall trilogy. By that I mean, Knightfall and Knightquest were both very episodic with individual stories fitting in to the greater arc of Bane's war on Batman or Valley's ascension to the mantle. Knightsend was really one story all the way through with no breaks. The stuff with Bruce re-becoming Batman was great writing. It lagged a bit in the middle. The final fight was fantastic though.

Verdict: Knightsend by a decent margin.

Overall the Batman story was better. You really could read the last issue or two of Death, and the first few issues and last few issues of Returns and save yourself from a lot of dragging bloated material and not miss all that much and get the best out of the story. Knightfall was far more consistent all the way through and when it hit, it hit WAY higher than Death and Return. In fact the issue where Superman dies is the only one on par with the best of the Knightfall stuff.
So

[tib2d2]

Great breakdown Lancerman! I agree 100% with you. Who knows, if the Superman story had taken a little more time like Knightfall did, we might feel different.

[Joe Kalicki]

I love them both, but I must have read Knightfall a dozen times all the way through as a kid.

[Sacred Knight]

Knightfall was better than Death. Funeral For a Friend and Reign blew the rest of the Knightsaga out of the water though, so overall the Death/Return saga wins for me.

[hsalf]

Went with the double like option. Both Knightfall and Death pulled me from Marvel to favoring DC for good. What's not to like, Cyborg Superman, Superboy, Azrael, Bane...

[deadboy80]

Wow, this is a hard choice. I collected and love them both. There was the shock factor of the bid S's death, and the suprise/sadness of bruce crippleing. I'm a bigger Batfan than supes. So i guess Knightfall.

[SJNeal]

Knightfall was better than Death. Funeral For a Friend and Reign blew the rest of the Knightsaga out of the water though, so overall the Death/Return saga wins for me.

This is exactly how I feel. All things "Knightquest" really drag down the entire arc for me; it was drawn out and at times completely ridiculous.

Unlike the highly believable "Reign of the Supermen"...

[Sirnotappearinginthisthread]

Loved both, but ultimately it was Death and Return that made me a fan for life, so had to go with that.

[exile001]

Knightfall was better than Death. Funeral For a Friend and Reign blew the rest of the Knightsaga out of the water though, so overall the Death/Return saga wins for me.

Agreed, especially if we're allowed to include Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey as the ultimate conclusion to the saga.

[Tandaemonium]

Knightfall > Death of Supes (by a lot)
World Without Superman > both Knightquest (by a lot)
Reign of the Superman/Return of Superman > Knightsend (almost pretty even here, but slight edge to Reign/Return)

We should add the other four events that occurred slightly concurrently/very soon after:

Emerald Twilight/Emerald Fallout/A New Dawn/Parallax View/Baptism of Fire
The Contest/Challenge of Artemis/Fall of an Amazon
Cross Roads/Images/Where Angels Fear to Tread
Reckless Youth/Terminal Velocity/The Quick and the Dead/Flashing Back

So...pretty much all the foil cover events. We should name all of these The Foil Events. Superman had the foil bag death issue (maybe also at the end of Return, can't recall...Reign all started with a thicker stock cover with the cellophane-over-S-shields that maybe had foil too), pretty sure the end of Knightfall had a foil fold-out, and three of the other four had the black covers with foil lettering issue #100s while GL #50 had the thicker stock cover with glitter on it - kind of foil.

I know Spider-Man and the X-Men books all had a bunch of foil covers/events during this time as well: Age of Apocalypse/Onslaught and the Clone Saga/Armored Spidey

[dancj]

Knightfall, Knightquest: The Crusade and Knightsend were all significantly better than Death of Superman and World Woithout a Superman.

Knighquest: The Search was just terrible.

Overall though, The Return of Superman was just so totally awesome that it single handedly beats all of the other stories and had me voting for Death + Return of Superman.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Like most have said, The Death of Superman was no great shakes but as it occurred shortly after I started reading comics regularly, it made a far bigger impact on me than it would now. Obviously. Funeral for a Friend and the Reign of the Supermen/ Return of Superman are still pretty awesome though, even with the occasionally clunky 90s writing.

The whole Knightfall thing never made that much of an impact on me though and I've still only read portions of it.

[Blackest Knight]

Like most have said, The Death of Superman was no great shakes but as it occurred shortly after I started reading comics regularly, it made a far bigger impact on me than it would now. Obviously. Funeral for a Friend and the Reign of the Supermen/ Return of Superman are still pretty awesome though, even with the occasionally clunky 90s writing.

The whole Knightfall thing never made that much of an impact on me though and I've still only read portions of it.

I'm a Superman fan, first and foremost. Batman is okay, but the Man of Steel is my guy.

And I loved Reign Of The Supermen. Kudos to the writers and editors for fooling me into thinking the Cyborg Superman was the real deal. Totally got me with that.

Plus, I loved the new Superboy and the new Steel. Just a fun ride all around.

[eye of all]

I haven't read either since I was a kid, but Knightfall has always been my preference between the two.