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Superman (Vol 2) #75 (Polybagged Art – Death of Superman)

“The Death of Superman” was marketed to be a significant event in comics, crossing over DC’s most popular titles, from Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel to Justice League of America. Millions of copies of these DC titles were printed. It was, after all, the death of the superhero which spawned an entire genre.

Superman #75 – in which Superman “dies,” along with his powerful prehistoric Kryptonian nemisis, Doomsday – was polybagged in two different “memorial editions.”

• The standard polybagged memorial edition featured a red “bleeding” Superman logo and included a memorial poster, a black armband, an obituary from the Daily Planet, a trading card and commemorative stamps. Millions of these bleeding red logo editions were printed, packaged and shipped.
• The platinum polybagged memorial edition featured a silver “bleeding” Superman logo and was limited to only 10,000 copies. These Platinum editions were all bagged with a unique “serial” number printed on the comic and visible through the back of the polybag. This memorial edition did not include all the goodies of the standard edition, but it is by far the most valuable due to its comparative rarity.

These polybags are not archival safe and, thus, create a problem for collectors, who must choose from the following:

1. Leave the comic sealed in its original bag, which will cause the comic to degrade as time passes;
2. Remove the comic along with all other contents from its original bag and store the book in a comic bag designed to retard deterioration and other contents as appropriate;
3. Discard the original polybag;
4. Store the polybag perhaps in its own comic bag to preserve it separately;
5. Submit the comic to a grading company, such as CBCS or CGC, who if it is still in the polybag, will remove the comic and all other contents, discard the bag along with all other contents, and return the graded comic to the customer (as we understand it); or
6. Any combination listed above.

Without Superman, we would not have any super heroes or heroines today to love and appreciate. Superheroes and superheroines have influenced America’s entertainment through the modern age, from the days of radio, through the invention of black-and-white television and then color, to big-budget silver screen summer blockbusters. Without Superman, some of us – as collectors and individuals – would not be the person we chose to be. We chose to believe a man can fly. That a woman could be equal to and enjoy the same rights as men, including the right to vote. That, with great power comes great responsibility.