Speeding Bullet Has Superman’s Name on It : Comic books: Man of Steel will die in fight with escapee from cosmic insane asylum, editor says. Story line may add life to publisher’s bottom line.

An irresistible force is going to meet an immovable object in November and something’s going to give--Superman will meet his demise.

The Man of Steel will die fighting to save Metropolis from the super-lunatic Doomsday, a new villain who is an escapee from a cosmic insane asylum.

Wait a minute. Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And he’s only 54, a mere blink of the eye for somebody born on the planet Krypton.

But it’s true. Mike Carlin, editor of the DC Superman comic books, delivered the advance obituary in the November issue of Advance Comics, a trade publication that began arriving on the shelves of comic book stores this week.

DC Comics, publisher of the Superman comics that appear under four titles, would not officially comment on the report of the hero’s death. But when asked if Superman was going to die, DC Comics spokeswoman Martha Thomases said: “Yes, but that’s supposed to be the subject of a press release, and I won’t comment further.”

Within the comic book industry, the dramatic change in the story line was viewed as a boost to the bottom line: a necessity in the continuing comic book wars involving DC, Marvel Comics and a host of new, smaller publishers. DC Comics is owned by Time Warner Inc.

As word spread Friday, retailers in the New York area reported customers were reserving the key issue of Superman comics in record numbers.

Some customers, retailers said, were ordering out of nostalgia; others because they thought the comic would become a collectible.

In an interview with Advance Comics, Carlin said: “Superman is going to die in issue No. 75” of Superman Comics. That issue is scheduled to reach comic book dealers on Nov. 18.

Here’s what will happen, according to Carlin’s interview:

“Doomsday will emerge from somewhere in America and just start walking. The fight will be taken to Metropolis, during the course of the stories (which will be serialized in the four comic books). There will be a lot of death and destruction around Metropolis as a result of the fight. . . . Superman is going to die at the end. But he is going to die saving as many people on Earth and in Metropolis as he can, which is what he’s all about.”

And who or what is Doomsday?

“He is an unstoppable force. Some of us think he is a force of nature, some of us think he is a man-made creation, some of us think he is an occult horror. . . .”

Is he an alien?

“We’re not going to spell it out.”

According to the interview, the aftermath of Superman’s death will take two more months to tell in the four Superman comic books (Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics and The Man of Steel) in a continuing story called “Funeral for a Friend.” Each of the four is published monthly, in sequence.

And after that?

“I can honestly tell you that there has been talk about stopping publication on the four books,” Carlin said. But he added: “We don’t really know what death means to a Kryptonian. . . . Never say we wouldn’t kill Superman, never say we wouldn’t bring him back.”

Whatever the outcome, many readers will be looking forward to that fateful issue No. 75. Glenn Fischette of Fourth World Comics in St. James, N.Y., said that a special edition will come in a sealed plastic bag and will include an obituary from the Daily Planet newspaper and a mourning armband. It will cost $2.50.

Superman, who in everyday life appeared as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, was introduced by two high school students, artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel, in the first issue of Action Comics in June, 1938.

Carlin said he was amazed at the uproar over the death of the Man of Steel.

“I am surprised everybody is noticing,” he said. “No one was noticing Superman when he was alive.”