Superman at Earth’s End

Speaking of Superman, how about that time he killed two Hitlers?

"Superman at Earth's End" is quite possibly the most ridiculous single comic book issue ever published by one of the Big Two (Marvel and DC). I read it when I was a kid and even then, I thought it was just awful. It would be some years before I rediscovered it and realized that it's awful in the absolute best way.

I would also discover that it's author, Tom Veitch, was something of a contentious figure in the world of Star Wars, having written the Dark Empire series. But that doesn't factor into my love/hate relationship with Superman at Earth's End in the slightest.

I'm going to give a brief overview of this 1995 Elseworlds prestige format classic. If you'd like the full story with voices and pantomime, come into the shop and you'll have it. I also keep copies in the store available for purchase at all times.

So, on to the brief overview: Superman gets attacked by mutants with Bruce Wayne's face and teams up with a gang of pre-teen biker kids to find the people responsible for stealing Batman's body and making clone mutants.

Those people? You guessed it, Frank Stallone.

No, I'm kidding. It's not one, but TWO clones of Adolf Hitler. Superman uses a gun the size of a diesel engine called the Expunger to kill both Hitlers, but not before taking too much damage since his powers are fading from the apocalyptic nuclear winter cloudcover that blocks out the sun, which happened before the book starts.

So Superman takes Batman's corpse back up to Wayne Manor's front lawn, builds a fire, rebuffs the offer made by androids to turn Superman into androids (yes, that came from out of nowhere), and steps into the fire with his pal Bruce's body, ending his own life.

Also, the book's main point is that guns are bad. Take that for what you will.

I love this book. I've given this book out for Christmas gifts before, and as of this writing, we at the Comic Strip have sold 44 copies of this book since 2016 just by telling this story. And I'm leaving out so many details here! I didn't mention Batman's home decor, the robot flesh farmers, or the mutant SS officers.

If you want to hear about those, you'll have to come by the shop and get the full scoop. Or even better, grab a copy for yourself.

Because what does misery love?