Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/The Death of Superman/archive1
- The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.
The article was archived by Ian Rose via FACBot (talk) 21:28, 10 January 2019 [1].
- Nominator(s): JOEBRO64 19:42, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
"The Death of Superman" is an infamous 1992—1993 crossover event in which DC Comics killed their icon, Superman. Now, comic book publishers killed major characters all the time— Uncle Ben, Elektra, Jason Todd, the list goes on. Those characters were minor ones who did not have a significant impact on the wider public. But Superman—the Big Blue Boy Scout, the first superhero—was a cultural icon. Chances are, if you can remember what was going on in late 1992, you can at least vaguely recall the media storm that followed the news that Superman had bit the dust because of a giant sunburned Ninja Turtle. Of course, you can't make much money off of the licensing of a corpse, so DC then published this lengthy storyline that involved five different versions of Superman, Green Lantern, Mongul, a missile, and a robotic city. Because comics. "The Death of Superman" has been adapted numerous times, including in the successful but critically panned 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Anyway, I've been building this article since April and got it to GA status in May. Since then, I've greatly expanded the article, with numerous interviews, reviews, retrospectives, and other sources. I'd also like to thank Argento Surfer for lots of invaluable research. Now, you'd better review this article quickly before Doomsday comes for you and you lose your chance! JOEBRO64 19:42, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
CommentsSupport by DWB
[edit]I'll take a more detailed look later but first thing that stands out to me is that the first sentence says "was". It still is a crossover event that took place in DC Comics, so talk about it in present tense. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 10:08, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
- Done. JOEBRO64 11:43, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
- @Darkwarriorblake, just wanted to ask if you were still planning on taking a look (it's 100% fine if you're not, just curious) JOEBRO64 20:49, 5 December 2018 (UTC)
- Sorry, I don't get as much time on here as I used to and sadly forgot about this. While the content is robust, has the article gone through a copy edit? There are a lot of re-used words such as "conceived". I've taken a quick run through the opening paragraphs to tidy it up but it may be worth seeing reviewing the text to see if it can be cleared up a bit. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:24, 5 December 2018 (UTC)
- I took a quick look yesterday and did some c/e. I'll do some more tomorrow. JOEBRO64 02:02, 7 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Darkwarriorblake: copyedited JOEBRO64 21:00, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- Hi Joe, I will take a look tomorrow. If I don't respond tomorrow message me to remind me. I will fit it in. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:03, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- Given the tidy up and the overall comprehensiveness of the article I am inclined to support. I would have maybe waited to nominate it until the second animated film is released to add commentary on how they differ, if at all, and the reactions, given how soon it comes out, but I don't see that as a reason to withhold my support. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 20:08, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
- Hi Joe, I will take a look tomorrow. If I don't respond tomorrow message me to remind me. I will fit it in. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:03, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Darkwarriorblake: copyedited JOEBRO64 21:00, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- I took a quick look yesterday and did some c/e. I'll do some more tomorrow. JOEBRO64 02:02, 7 December 2018 (UTC)
- Sorry, I don't get as much time on here as I used to and sadly forgot about this. While the content is robust, has the article gone through a copy edit? There are a lot of re-used words such as "conceived". I've taken a quick run through the opening paragraphs to tidy it up but it may be worth seeing reviewing the text to see if it can be cleared up a bit. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:24, 5 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Darkwarriorblake, just wanted to ask if you were still planning on taking a look (it's 100% fine if you're not, just curious) JOEBRO64 20:49, 5 December 2018 (UTC)
Comments by Favre1fan93
[edit]I'm going to leave some comments regarding this article. As I've indicated to the nominator, my time currently editing is limited and I will hopefully get through the full article and review in a timely manner for them. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 18:40, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
These comments have been addressed
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Lead[edit]
Background[edit]
Development[edit]
Publication[edit]
Collected editions[edit]
Arcs[edit]
{| class="wikitable" width=100% ! scope="col" align="center" | Title ! scope="col" align="center" | Issues ! scope="col" align="center" | [[Cover dates]] ! scope="col" align="center" | Writers ! scope="col" align="center" | Pencilers ! scope="col" align="center" | Inkers |- ! scope="row" | "Doomsday!" ... |- ! scope="row" | "Funeral for a Friend" ... |- ! scope="row" | "Reign of the Supermen!"
Characters[edit]
Synopsis[edit]
At release[edit]
In later years[edit]
Legacy in comics[edit]
Adaptions[edit]
References[edit]
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Discussion
[edit]Some initial comments for now. Please note that after I look at text/formatting/links of each section, I will go back and make comments on references if need be. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 18:40, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
- Comments about the Development section added. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 20:45, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
- @TheJoebro64: Hey there, I see you've made some adjustments in the article based on my comments. If you wouldn't mind, could you add a "Done" or something below the comments above just so I know where we stand on them all? Thanks! I'm hoping to continue my review where I left off tomorrow. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 22:34, 24 November 2018 (UTC)
- I've responded to most; there are a few I still need to work on. JOEBRO64 01:13, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
- Perfect, thanks! - Favre1fan93 (talk) 16:30, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
- I've responded to most; there are a few I still need to work on. JOEBRO64 01:13, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
- @TheJoebro64: Hey there, I see you've made some adjustments in the article based on my comments. If you wouldn't mind, could you add a "Done" or something below the comments above just so I know where we stand on them all? Thanks! I'm hoping to continue my review where I left off tomorrow. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 22:34, 24 November 2018 (UTC)
Added comments for "Publication", "Collected editions" and "Arcs". - Favre1fan93 (talk) 17:28, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
- Added comments for "Characters" and "Synopsis". - Favre1fan93 (talk) 18:42, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
- @Favre1fan93, just wanted to let you know that I've moved the page source over to my sandbox so I can update the article there until the Vertigo dispute is settled JOEBRO64 23:17, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
- No problem. I'll monitor the changes there, and once you can implement them in the actual article, add your responses above. I hope to get through the last few sections soon with comments. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 23:19, 29 November 2018 (UTC)
- @Favre1fan93, just wanted to let you know that I've moved the page source over to my sandbox so I can update the article there until the Vertigo dispute is settled JOEBRO64 23:17, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
Added comments for "At release". - Favre1fan93 (talk) 05:11, 2 December 2018 (UTC)
- Added comments for "In later years" and "Legacy in comics". - Favre1fan93 (talk) 16:55, 7 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Favre1fan93, I just wanted to ask if you think the polybagged cover of Superman #75 ([3]) is technically a free image? The Superman logo is PD since it's just a triangle and an "S", and I don't think the drips of blood are original enough to make it copyrighted. JOEBRO64 19:25, 8 December 2018 (UTC)
- @TheJoebro64: I think you're correct. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 05:11, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
- I've added it to the publication section. JOEBRO64 13:51, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- ...aaaand someone's tagged it for deletion JOEBRO64 20:24, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
- I think it should be fine. Maybe you did not use the correct public domain/trademark templates to tag it for use? - Favre1fan93 (talk) 04:08, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
- @TheJoebro64: I think you're correct. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 05:11, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Favre1fan93, I just wanted to ask if you think the polybagged cover of Superman #75 ([3]) is technically a free image? The Superman logo is PD since it's just a triangle and an "S", and I don't think the drips of blood are original enough to make it copyrighted. JOEBRO64 19:25, 8 December 2018 (UTC)
Last few comments added for "Adaptions" and the references. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 19:35, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
- All of my comments have been addressed. I give my support for this nomination. Well done! - Favre1fan93 (talk) 03:08, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
Support from Argento Surfer
[edit]All of my concerns were addressed during the GA review, and I have no concerns with the additions/changes made since then. Excellent work. Argento Surfer (talk) 21:52, 29 November 2018 (UTC)
Support from MaranoFan
[edit]- "while the second, Reign of the Supermen, will be released in 2019." -- Change "will be released in" to "is scheduled for release in" as these things can get cancelled or delayed.
Once this is addressed I'll support the article for promotion. Great job on the sourcing and prose. Would appreciate if you took a look at this FLC of mine which is currently inactive. Best!--NØ 06:44, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
- @MaranoFan, done. Thank you for taking a look! I'll check your FLC later. JOEBRO64 12:11, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
- This article has my support. Best!--NØ 12:13, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
Comments by Cognissonance
[edit]- Before you go down the list, there are two general things I'd like you to keep an eye out for and fix. 1) Citations need to be in numerical order (e.g. 4, 11, 12, 42). Make sure that's consistent throughout. 2) There are many repeated instances of "and" creating longwinded sentences (e.g. "Steel represents Superman's nickname "the Man of Steel" and wears a suit of armor and wields a hammer. As a boy, he witnessed the death of his parents, and Superman later saved him"). These should be copyedited for better flow.
Lead
[edit]- "antiheros" Spelling: "antiheroes"
- Shoulda noticed this, fixed JOEBRO64 20:46, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
- "the teams" What teams exactly? Writing teams? Be more specific.
- There should be a period after "Reign of the Supermen!".
- "bloodthirsty monster" Possible WP:POV. I suggest replacing it with "supervillain".
- "repeatedly adapted into various forms of media" "repeatedly" is unnecessary.
Publication history
[edit]Background
[edit]- "new, diverse" "new and diverse".
- "Generally, we all got in a room and toss around story ideas. A lot of times we disagreed, had some big fights, and the last person left standing was the winner and ultimately got their way" This should be paraphrased.
- "Carlin had to act like a babysitter for the eighteen divergent, artistic egos crowded in one room, and the teams often compromised" Needs more formal language.
- Changed to Carlin recalled that he had to act like a "babysitter" for the 18 diverse creators in a meeting JOEBRO64 00:34, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
Development
[edit]- "so the stories would coincide" Improve prose: "in order that the stories could coincide".
- "The postponing" "The postponement".
- "the first has four per page, while the second has three" "while" is unnecessary.
- "horrible ramifications" WP:POV Just stick with "ramifications".
- "had to have consequences." Unless you can name the one who said this, paraphrase it. Same with "an extraordinary amount of time".
- Added who said it to the consequences part, and paraphrased the time part JOEBRO64 20:46, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
- "did not take long to make" "to make" is unnecessary.
- "Simonson stated, "we had to sign nondisclosure agreements saying we couldn’t talk about it. We couldn’t reassure people that he was coming back.”" Paraphrase: "They signed nondisclosure agreements preventing them from revealing that Superman would return."
- "the teams knew bringing Superman back here"} Clarify: "the teams knew bringing Superman back in that issue".
- "Simonson suggested to let each writer" Improve prose: "Simonson suggested that each writer".
- "Henshaw, who he created a few years earlier" "whom" fits better.
Publication
[edit]- "the height" No need for quotations here.
Overview
[edit]Characters
[edit]- "brave, kind-hearted" WP:POV
- Removed
- "He has incredible powers, including the abilities to fly, use x-ray vision, and super-strength" WP:POV. Suggestion: "He has the power of flight, x-ray vision, and super-strength".
- "He is excellent at gymnastics" WP:POV. Suggestion: "He is accomplished in gymnastics".
- "a brilliant inventor" WP:POV. Suggestion: "an inventor".
- "He is an enemy of Superman who is much stronger than him, intelligent, and can use telekinesis" Clarify: "An enemy of Superman, Mongul is stronger than him, intelligent, and can use telekinesis".
Synopsis
[edit]- "Project Cadmus steals his body from his mausoleum to clone him" Avoid repetition: "Project Cadmus steals Superman's body from his mausoleum to clone him".
- "they begin to build Engine City, an effort to recreate Mongul's home planet Warworld, in its ruins" Improve prose: "they begin to build Engine City in an effort to recreate Mongul's home planet, Warworld, in its ruins".
Adaptations
[edit]- side-scrolling beat 'em up WP:OVERLINK
- Removed side-scrolling
- There should be a period after "Doomsday!".
Cognissonance (talk) 12:21, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Cognissonance, thank you so much for taking the time to review! I've responded to your points above and also did some copyediting to remove some repetition. JOEBRO64 00:51, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
- Count me in as support for the nomination. Good luck. Cognissonance (talk) 09:34, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
Comments from Aoba47
[edit]- I do not believe that the following caption (Cover of Superman vol. 2, #75 (Jan 1993) Art by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.) should have punctuation as it is a complete sentence.
- For this caption (Interior artwork from Superman #75 (January 1993), depicting Lois Lane mourning the dead Superman. Art by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.), I do not believe the second sentence needs punctuation as it is not a complete, standalone idea.
- A wikilink for “mausoleum” seems unnecessary to me.
- I see what you mean, removed JOEBRO64 22:57, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
- For the “Den of Geek” parts, I believe that it should have an exclamation point at the end.
Great work with the article! Ths FAC has appeared to received a lot of commentary already, and it is very polished. Once my relatively minor comments are addressed, Once they are addressed, I will be more than happy to support this nomination. If you have time, I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my current peer review on an article that I would ideally like to put through the FAC process sometime in January. I understand if you are not interested or do not have time. Either way, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week! Aoba47 (talk) 01:48, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Aoba47, thank you for taking the time to review! I've responded above and will look at your PR later this week. JOEBRO64 22:57, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
- Thank you for addressing everything. I support this for promotion. Aoba47 (talk) 23:04, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
Image review by Hawkeye7
[edit]Not a lot of images in this one.
- File:Superman75.jpg Fair use image, has appropriate licence and fair use rationale.
- File:Mike Carlin.jpg Flickr CC image, Bot-verified.
- File:10.14.12JerryOrdwayByLuigiNovi.jpg CC 3.0 image, appropriately licensed I have added a {{Personality rights}} tag
- File:Dan Jurgens (40373973904).jpg Flickr CC image, Bot-verified. I have added a {{Personality rights}} tag
- File:SupermanDeath.jpg Fair use image, with appropriate NFCC template. (Aside: terrible image. The artist has reduced the impact with clutter. Hard to tell if Lois is crying or sneezing.)
- File:Reign of Supermen-.jpg Fair use image, with appropriate NFCC template.
All images have appropriate licences. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:31, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
Laser brain
[edit]Oppose on 1a thus far. I've just been through the lead but I find the writing to be clunky and inelegant. It's possibly at a GA standard but not what's required for a Featured article. Some examples, and I hope to make it through the rest of the text today:
- I had trouble following the explanation in the lead of why the marriage storyline was postponed. They wanted to ensure the comic was running the story at the same time as the show? Prose needs clarity.
- "[T]he writing teams felt the concept would allow them to explore why the character matters" This strikes me as clunky writing and I'm sure the underlying idea can be conveyed more elegantly.
- "The third sees the emergence of the Supermen, four individuals claiming to be Superman, and the original's return." This isn't particularly clear... I had to read through a few times to understand what you are conveying.
- "'The Death of Superman' introduced a number of characters" You're switching tenses in writing about the arc, even in the lead. --Laser brain (talk) 14:15, 3 January 2019 (UTC)
- @Laser brain: thanks for taking a look at this so far; I've just done a copyedit of the lead and Publication history. I'll get to the rest of the article very soon JOEBRO64 21:37, 3 January 2019 (UTC)
indopug
[edit]I might come in with a more detailed review soon. For now, I think you should remove all the ISBNs from the prose; they make the text ugly and somewhat unreadable. In any case they're probably useless; surely search for books by googling their names rather than looking up ISBNs?—indopug (talk) 16:39, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
- @Indopug, done. Replaced the ISBNs with normal citations JOEBRO64 22:13, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Sarastro
[edit]Oppose on 1b and 1c: It's actually quite hard to see what references have been used as there is no bibliography with this article. There are a few print sources used, but they are listed in among the references rather than in a bibliography. And I'm not sure how well used they are; for example, the phrase "to immediate success" is cited to the whole Larry Tye book, which seems a little strange. A whole book to cite three words? Has the book even been consulted?
Furthermore, I don't think we have consulted all the available sources. I'm a little concerned that we have few print sources when a huge amount of written (as opposed to drawn) material exists about Superman, some of it quite scholarly. For example, I'm not at all an expert on Superman, but I know there is a book "Superman: The Unauthorised Biography" which would probably have quite a lot on this topic. Our article on Superman, although no longer a FA, has a list of print sources which will presumably have plenty of information on his death. A quick check on Google revealed that there is writing on the death in The Ages of Superman: Essays on the Man of Steel in Changing Times edited by Joseph J. Darowski. And a search of JSTOR shows several academic articles looking at the death of Superman. Now, it is possible that none of these sources have much in them, but I suspect they will; they were easy enough to find with just a few minutes searching. The fact that they are not used, and have possibly not even been looked at makes me think we are failing on criteria 1b and 1c (particularly the "thorough and representative survey of the relevant literature" part). And more academic sources are preferable to the online reviews and specialist websites which we seem to be mainly using for references at the moment.
A final point (again with the qualification that I'm NOT a comics expert by any means): if I recall correctly, in the 1990s there was a huge collapse in the comics market, and we only hint at this in the article. But I'm pretty sure that this was attributed to a large extent to the cash in of Death of Superman, and things like multiple printings and variant covers. It's possible I'm not making sense as this isn't my area. Just a few points on the sourcing of this topic as well:
- "However, many retailers say The Adventures of Superman #500 was the beginning of a decline in the comic industry. Retailers and distributors were stuck with unsold copies" is referenced to page 135 of the Gearino book. I cannot see the page numbers in a google preview but I'm interested in what the source says to back up this statement. "and thousands of stores closed" is referenced to a book on Batman.
- "Additionally, those who bought Superman #75 could only sell first printings for cover price a few months after its release" is not quite the same emphasis as in the Randy Duncan book it is sourced to. The source says "They could only recover their purchase price if they had a first printing", which is very slightly different. Our article reads as if they were selling first printings and only getting the cover price. The source says that the only way to recover the cover price is if they had a first printing. Subtly different, but still different. Incidentally, this source covers this ground quite thoroughly.
I think this article has quite a way to go on sourcing to meet the FA criteria so I'm afraid I have to oppose. Sarastro (talk) 12:39, 9 January 2019 (UTC)
- @Sarastro1, I had spent days looking for sources on this article and never came across those... I can't believe that. @FAC coordinators: you can archive this one. I'll spend a month or so doing more research. JOEBRO64 20:24, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
- Tks Joe. Can I suggest that after doing your research and improvements you ping the reviewers above for a reality check (a peer review in effect, either formal or just a discussion on the article talk page) before renominating here? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 21:27, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
- Closing note: This candidate has been withdrawn, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Ian Rose (talk) 21:28, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
- The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.