Adventures of Superman #500
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAdventures of Superman #500 is the single most character-dense debut issue of the 1990s Superman era: in one oversized anniversary package it introduces four entirely new characters — Superboy (Conner Kent), Steel (John Henry Irons), the Eradicator, and Cyborg Superman — each of whom would anchor their own ongoing series or become a recurring villain in DC's line for decades. As the formal prologue to 'Reign of the Supermen!', it also marks the structural pivot point between 'Funeral for a Friend' and the return arc, making it the narrative hinge of the entire Death and Return of Superman saga. The issue broke sales records at the time, with distributor data indicating it topped the charts as the best-selling individual comic of 1993 — testimony to how much cultural momentum the Superman line had built. Its framing story, in which Jonathan Kent's near-death experience in the astral plane coaxes Clark's soul back toward life, gave the resurrection genuine emotional grounding rather than letting it read as pure spectacle.
In "Life After Death!", Clark Kent faces a haunting journey beyond the physical world when his father Jonathan’s spirit appears to him in the astral plane after a sudden heart attack. With time running short and the threat of being trapped in Blaze’s domain looming, Jonathan must guide Clark through his own mind before it’s too late. Written by Jerry Ordway and illustrated by Tom Grummett, with inks by Doug Hazlewood, colors by Glenn Whitmore, and letters by Albert DeGuzman, this pivotal issue features a cover by Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood.
In the quiet aftermath of a heart attack, Jonathan’s spirit finds himself adrift in the astral plane, reunited with Clark—though their connection is strained, fragile, and far from peaceful. With time running short and the shadows of Blaze’s domain creeping closer, Jonathan must guide Clark through the chaos of his own mind before it’s too late.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue grew directly out of a planning session editor Mike Carlin convened with his Superman writing team — Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel — at a Tarrytown, New York hotel dubbed the 'Emergency Super-Summit,' where DC's initial plan to resurrect Superman immediately was scrapped in favor of the four-Superman storyline that Louise Simonson reportedly championed. To maintain secrecy, the participating titles were solicited with blacked-out covers stamped 'top secret,' a tactic Ordway later called impossible to replicate in the modern solicitation environment. Superboy's design was worked out by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett — Grummett sketched the character's fully-formed look on an airplane napkin on his flight home from the summit, adding the leather jacket back at his studio and faxing it to Carlin. The issue was published on April 15, 1993, with a cover date of June 1993, and shipped in a white polybag — a deliberate visual echo of and contrast to the black polybag of Superman #75.
Trivia · 10 facts
- First appearance of Superboy / Conner Kent (Kon-El), created by writer Karl Kesel and artist Tom Grummett; the character was depicted as a genetically engineered clone of Project Cadmus director Paul Westfield, later retconned as a human/Kryptonian clone of Superman and Lex Luthor.
- First appearance of John Henry Irons, who becomes Steel; the character was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove for the Superman: Man of Steel title — Irons appears here as a cameo/teaser ahead of his solo debut in Superman: The Man of Steel #22.
- First appearance of Hank Henshaw as Cyborg Superman, the Man of Tomorrow, created by Dan Jurgens; Henshaw had previously appeared as a non-villain in Adventures of Superman #466 before being reimagined here.
- First appearance of the Eradicator in his 'Last Son of Krypton' Superman guise, though his identity as the Eradicator is not yet revealed in this issue — he appears next in Action Comics #687.
- First appearance of Angora Lapin (White Rabbit), a minor villain introduced in the Steel teaser segments; a 2025 IMDb credit has connected the character to a potential live-action appearance in Peacemaker Season 2, though DC had not officially confirmed this as of the research date.
- The main lead story, 'Life After Death!' by Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett, and Doug Hazlewood, uses Jonathan Kent's heart attack and astral-plane journey as the primary mechanism for Clark's soul being drawn back to the living world.
- The issue served as the prologue (#1 of 22) of the 'Reign of the Supermen!' crossover event, which ran across all four monthly Superman titles; the arc's title is a deliberate callback to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's original 1933 Superman story, 'The Reign of the Superman.'
- Multiple physical variants were produced: a standard direct edition, a newsstand edition, a white-polybagged Collector's Set with a removable translucent cover overlay and a Bloodlines trading card, and a rarer black-polybagged Platinum Edition with an embossed platinum-inked cover that included 8 additional story pages not found in the standard edition. Signed editions were also produced, including a Dynamic Forces run signed by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel limited to 350 copies.
- The entire issue has been reprinted in multiple collected editions, including The Death and Return of Superman omnibus volumes (2007, 2013, 2019), Steel: The Forging of a Hero (1997), Steel: A Celebration of 30 Years (2023), and the forthcoming Superman: The Death and Return of Superman Compendium (2025).
- The 'Reign of the Supermen!' storyline, which this issue launches, was adapted into the 2019 DC Universe Animated Original Movie Reign of the Supermen, in which Superboy was voiced by Cameron Monaghan.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Superman: World without a Superman #[nn] (1993), Superman: The Return of Superman #[nn] (1993), Superman: The Return of Superman #[nn] (1993), Super-Homem: Além da Morte #[nn] (1994), Superman #12/1995 (1995), Steel: The Forging of a Hero #[nn] (1997), Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told #2 (2007), The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus #[nn] (2007), Superman: The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus #[nn] (2013), Superman #2 (2016), Superman #3 (2016), Superman: The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Steel: A Celebration of 30 Years #[nn] (2023), Superman: The Death and Return of Superman Compendium #[nn] (2025), Superman #5
Key issues in Adventures of Superman
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