Superman: The Wedding Album | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
Format | One-shot |
Genre | |
Publication date | December 1996 |
No. of issues | 1 |
Main character(s) | Superman/Clark Kent Lois Lane |
Creative team | |
Written by | Dan Jurgens Karl Kesel David Michelinie Louise Simonson Roger Stern |
Superman: The Wedding Album is an American comic book published in 1996 by DC Comics. It is notable for featuring the wedding of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane in DC Comics continuity, an event that was nearly 60 years in the making.
Written by the five principal writers for the Superman titles at the time (Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern) and bearing a cover date of December 1996, the issue was published during the week of October 6, 1996, coinciding with an episode of the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman which also featured the wedding of the two characters. [1] [2]
Previous weddings involving the two characters had all been hoaxes, dreams or imaginary tales, with the exception of the wedding of the Earth-Two Superman and Lois Lane, depicted in Action Comics #484 (June 1978).
The story follows after a yearlong breakup between Lois and Clark. Lois returns to Metropolis from her job as a foreign correspondent and agrees to marry Clark. The wedding is put together quickly, but no corners are cut. During this storyline, Clark is without his powers as Superman, having lost them during the previous Final Night crossover. There are brief cameos by many DC superheroes and a short passage with Batman, who offers an apartment owned by him to the couple and gets the superheroes of the DC Universe to look after Metropolis while Clark goes on his honeymoon.
Jimmy Olsen serves as best man, with Lucy Lane serving as maid of honor. The wedding is a traditional Christian variety in a big church (the Metropolis Chapel of United Faiths) although Lois is estranged with her father Sam Lane at the time and refuses to be walked down the aisle by him. Despite this, Sam attends his daughter's wedding as a witness, refusing to miss this moment. The priest that presides over the wedding is drawn to look like Jerry Siegel, one of the creators of Superman. The pews are also filled up with the writers and artists that have contributed to the Superman comic books over the years, including Joe Shuster, Superman's other creator.
After The Wedding Album, The Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comics #728 and Superman: The Man of Steel #63 featured Lois and Clark's honeymoon in Hawaii. Clark is captured by Rajiv Naga and needs Lois' help to escape since he does not have any powers, having lost them during The Final Night crossover story arc.
Nearly every living major artist who had ever worked on a Superman comic title contributed to this issue: [3] [4]
The book was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic-Book Story for 1997.
Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1. Lois is an award-winning journalist for the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet and the primary love interest of the superhero Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent. In DC continuity, she is also his wife and the mother of their son, Jon Kent, the newest Superboy in the DC Universe.
David Michelinie is an American comic book writer best known for scripting Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and Iron Man and the DC Comics feature Superman in Action Comics. Among the characters he created or co-created are Venom, Carnage, Scott Lang/Ant-Man and War Machine.
Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, Jon Kent, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.
"The Death of Superman" is a crossover story event mostly featured in DC Comics' Superman-related publications. The crossover, which originated from editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel, began in December 1992 and lasted until October 1993. It was published in Superman, Action Comics, The Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, Justice League America, and Green Lantern. Since its initial publication, "The Death of Superman" has been reprinted in various formats and editions.
Roger Stern is an American comic book author and novelist.
Karl Kesel is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio and is best known for his collaborations with fellow artist Tom Grummett on The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, and Section Zero, as well as the first Harley Quinn comic title.
Louise Simonson is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Conan the Barbarian, Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel. She is often referred to by the nickname "Weezie". Among the comic characters she co-created are Cable, Steel, Power Pack, Rictor, Doomsday and the X-Men villain Apocalypse.
Jon Bogdanove is an American comics artist and writer. He is best known for his work on Power Pack and Superman: The Man of Steel, as well as for creating the character Steel with writer Louise Simonson in 1993.
Thomas Grummett is a Canadian comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work as penciller on titles such as The New Titans, The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, Power Company, Robin, New Thunderbolts and Heroes.
Ronald Wade Frenz is an American comics artist known for his work for Marvel Comics. He is well known for his 1980s work on The Amazing Spider-Man, particularly introducing the hero's black costume, and later for his work on Spider-Girl whom he co-created with writer Tom DeFalco. Frenz and DeFalco had earlier co-created the New Warriors in the pages of Thor.
Nicholas Viscardi, known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.
Stuart Immonen is a Canadian comics artist. He is best known for his work on Nextwave, Ultimate X-Men, The New Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man. His pencils are usually inked by Wade Von Grawbadger.
Superman: The Man of Steel was a monthly American comic book series that ran for 136 issues from 1991 to 2003, featuring Superman and published by DC Comics. As a result of introducing this series alongside its already existing titles, DC Comics was able to publish a new Superman comic each week. Included in these 136 issues were two special issues: #0 and #1,000,000, which were tie-ins to Zero Hour: Crisis in Time and DC One Million, respectively.
Barry Kitson is a British comic book artist.
Kieron Dwyer is an American comics artist. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics as well as for his creator-owned projects.
Bob McLeod is an American comics artist best known for co-creating the New Mutants with writer Chris Claremont.
Alfred John Plastino was an American comics artist best known as one of the most prolific Superman artists of the 1950s, along with his DC Comics colleague Wayne Boring. Plastino also worked as a comics writer, editor, letterer, and colorist.
Superman, given the serial nature of comic publishing and the length of the character's existence, has evolved as a character as his adventures have increased. Initially a crime fighter, the character was seen in early adventures stepping in to stop wife beaters and gangsters, with rather rough edges and a rather looser moral code than audiences may be used to today. Modern writers have softened the character, and instilled a sense of idealism and moral code of conduct.
Superman was an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero of the same name. The second volume of the previous ongoing Superman title, the series was published from cover dates January 1987 to April 2006, and ran for 228 issues. This series was launched after John Byrne revamped the Superman character in 1986 in The Man of Steel limited series, introducing the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of the Superman character.
Paul Ryan was an American comic artist. Ryan worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comic book titles. He is best known for his 1991 to 1996 run as penciler on Fantastic Four, which represents his longest association with an individual comic book series. From 2005 until his death in 2016, Ryan penciled and inked the daily newspaper comic strip The Phantom for King Features Syndicate.
The behind-the-scenes talent on the monumental issue appropriately spanned several generations of the Man of Tomorrow's career. Written by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern, the one-shot featured the pencils of John Byrne, Gil Kane, Stuart Immonen, Paul Ryan, Jon Bogdanove, Kieron Dwyer, Tom Grummett, Dick Giordano, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Al Plastino, Barry Kitson, Ron Frenz, and Dan Jurgens.