Superman: The Wedding Album #1

History

The wedding had been on DC's editorial calendar ever since Clark Kent revealed his secret identity to Lois in Action Comics #662, but the launch of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman prompted DC to postpone the comics nuptials so the two could happen concurrently — a delay that, famously, gave editorial the opening to develop the entire Death of Superman/Funeral for a Friend/Reign of the Supermen arc as a bridge. When the television producers then moved their wedding earlier than planned (to Season 4, Episode 3), DC was forced to rush the comics storyline to keep pace, compressing what had been intended as a longer reunion arc into a rapid reconciliation. The one-shot was edited by Joey Cavalieri and written by the five principal Superman-line writers of the day — Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern — with pencils contributed by nearly every major living artist from Superman's history, and was published on October 7, 1996 with a December 1996 cover date.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First in-continuity marriage of Clark Kent and Lois Lane in DC Comics, with Jimmy Olsen serving as best man and Lucy Lane as maid of honor.
• The story is set immediately after the Final Night crossover, during which Superman lost his Kryptonian powers — meaning Clark weds Lois as an ordinary human.
• The officiating priest is depicted to resemble Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and is named 'Herbert Fine,' a reference to the early Siegel pen name 'Herbert S. Fine' under which the proto-story 'The Reign of the Superman' was first published.
• Six previously unpublished pages pencilled by the late Curt Swan (inked by Jackson 'Butch' Guice) were incorporated as a flashback sequence — the last DC work by Swan, who had died earlier in 1996.
• The one-shot features a rolling art-shift format across its roughly 89 pages, with pencil contributions from John Byrne, Gil Kane, Stuart Immonen, Paul Ryan, Jon Bogdanove, Kieron Dwyer, Tom Grummett, Dick Giordano, Jim Mooney, Nick Cardy, Al Plastino, Barry Kitson, Ron Frenz, Kerry Gammill, and Dan Jurgens, among others.
• The issue was published simultaneously with the Lois & Clark television episode 'Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding' (Season 4, Episode 3), a deliberate cross-media synchronization by DC and Warner Bros.
• Multiple cover editions were produced: a standard direct-sales edition, a DC Universe newsstand edition, a Collector's Edition with white cardstock and embossed Superman shield, and a limited Retailer Representative Program (RRP) edition distributed at DC's 5th annual retailer meeting.
• The issue was reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Superman: Lois & Clark 100-Page Super Spectacular (January 2016) and again in the Superman & Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary Deluxe Edition (November 2021), the latter also collecting Superman #118, Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comics #728, and Superman: The Man of Steel #63.

Cast · 40 characters

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Key issues in Superman: The Wedding Album

Variants (3)