When DC Comics released The Death of Superman in 1992, no one could have predicted how massive the event would be, or how angry some fans would get. Though most fans loved the event and all the ways it added to Superman's mythos, writer and artist Dan Jurgens revealed some fans took their negative reaction too far.
It's difficult to overstate the impact of The Death of Superman. While some comic events such as Crisis on Infinite Earths are famous among fans, The Death of Superman was so big that it made national news. People lined up around street corners to get their copy of the iconic Superman #75 which came in a black bag with a bloody Superman logo on it. Though Superman's actual death didn't last, the event is still affecting DC Comics today with characters such as Connor Kent, Doomsday, and Steel. Recently, DC even announced a Death of Superman 30th anniversary comic to celebrate the landmark event. No matter how fans feels about the event now though, nothing can match the raw emotions felt when the event was first released.
In an interview with Screen Rant, one of the event's creators, Dan Jurgens, revealed that more than a few fans crossed a major line in voicing their disapproval for The Death of Superman. According to Jurgens, "My phone would ring at like 11 o'clock at night and people would call up and say, 'Are you the one who's doing that comic where they kill Superman?' It was rather disconcerting for my wife and son at the time." Jurgens also mentioned how he couldn't imagine the response he would have gotten if the event was released in the age of social media like Facebook and Twitter. It's a sentiment that hits all too close to home, as Superman writer Tom Taylor recently received death threats over a story where Superman's son Jon comes out as bisexual.
The prospect of getting calls at midnight from angry fans is certainly a nightmare. While a level of disapproval or even anger is understandable, taking it to the level of actually calling a creator is unacceptable. Unfortunately, though comic creators might not get that exact form of harassment now, Jurgens is correct in pointing out how much worse the backlash would have been had Death of Superman been released two or three decades later. Now, massive harassment campaigns against creators are all too common. Though writer Superman writer Tom Taylor donated to LGBTQ organizations for every death threat he received, it's sad that he got death threats at all.
Regardless of how one feels about any given piece of media, there's a line between criticism and harassment. Calling a creator at midnight to yell at a creator is definitely far over that line. The Death of Superman is an iconic event that changed DC Comics forever, but it's sad that the creators involved had to deal with fans who were willing to turn their displeasure into harassment.