Superman: The Man of Steel #17
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman: The Man of Steel #17 is the issue that first introduced Doomsday to the DC Universe — a single panel of a gloved, bone-spiked fist punching through a steel wall accompanied by the caption '...Doomsday Is Coming!' — making it ground zero for the 'Death of Superman' saga that would redefine what could happen to a superhero. By choosing to tease a wholly new villain rather than repurpose an existing foe, the Superman editorial team signaled a tonal shift toward raw, unstoppable physical menace that the character had never faced before. The issue also carries an in-memoriam tribute to Joe Shuster — Superman's co-creator, who passed away on July 30, 1992 — giving the issue a poignant dual significance: it buries one chapter of Superman's history in the same pages that secretly launch another. As the opening chapter of DC's 'Triangle Era' weekly Superman publishing experiment, it represents the moment that coordinated, multi-title Superman storytelling reached its most consequential creative peak.
Find on ebay
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Doomsday was conceived at a 1991 annual brainstorming session among the Superman writing and editorial team, where several writers proposed killing Superman at the hands of a purely bestial, physically overwhelming foe; editor Mike Carlin reportedly scrawled 'doomsday for Superman' on a wall chart, and the name stuck. Dan Jurgens, who was simultaneously writing and pencilling the main Superman title, designed the character — initially described in the room as a 'living rage' or 'force of nature' — and deliberately obscured Doomsday's appearance in his debut with a restraint suit and burial wrappings to maximize the eventual reveal. Issue #17's main story, 'Here Be Monsters,' was written by Louise Simonson with pencils by Jon Bogdanove and inks by Bob McLeod, with a cover by Bogdanove and Dennis Janke; the Doomsday cameo appears on only a single page at the very end, a deliberate slow-burn tease coordinated across the Superman editorial group under editor Mike Carlin.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First cameo appearance of Doomsday: a single panel showing only a bone-spiked, gloved fist punching through a steel wall, with the caption '...Doomsday Is Coming!' — his face and full body are not shown.
- Doomsday was created by Dan Jurgens (character concept and design) under the editorship of Mike Carlin; the issue's main story was written by Louise Simonson with art by Jon Bogdanove (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), and a cover by Bogdanove and Dennis Janke.
- Cover date: November 1992; on-sale date: September 17, 1992. Published as Triangle issue #41 of DC's weekly Superman rotation.
- The main story, 'Here Be Monsters,' follows Superman's conflict with the Underworlders, a subterranean faction of Metropolis — the Doomsday cameo is a one-page coda entirely separate from the main plot.
- The issue includes an obituary/tribute to Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman, who died on July 30, 1992 — with a quote from Jerry Siegel paying tribute to his creative partner.
- The issue was reprinted with a second printing (direct edition) and exists in a newsstand variant, making three distinct first-print formats.
- One page of this issue was reprinted in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992) — Doomsday's full debut issue — to bridge the narrative continuity.
- The issue has been collected in multiple editions including The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus, Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus Vol. 2, and The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2022), as well as an Eaglemoss German-language graphic novel collection.
Key issues in Superman: The Man of Steel
Other variants of Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.