Our Financial Service Manager Chris Rocci knows a thing or two about financing (and protecting) your next vehicle, but did you know he also has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to comic books?

The story begins as Doomsday emerges from an underground bunker and encounters the Justice League International. He easily defeats them, but Superman arrives and the two fight across America. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are sent to cover the battle for television, while Lex Luthor dissuades Supergirl from joining the fight and convinces her that she is needed in Metropolis. Doomsday sees a commercial for a Metropolis wrestling competition and heads for the city.

Superman throws Doomsday on the mountain housing Project Cadmus, but fails to stop him from reaching Metropolis. Supergirl rebels against Luthor and goes to Superman’s aid, but a single punch from Doomsday knocks her to the ground. Professor Emil Hamilton and Bibbo Bibbowski fire a laser cannon at Doomsday, but it does not harm him. Doomsday and an exhausted and badly injured Superman fight and strike each other with so much force that the shockwaves from their punches shatter windows. At the struggle’s culminating moment in front of the Daily Planet building, both lay a massive blow upon each other, killing Doomsday and mortally wounding Superman. In the arms of a frantic Lane, Superman succumbs to his wounds and dies. Olsen, Justice League members Ice and Bloodwynd, and Guardian are also present at the end, with Olsen bitterly photographing Superman’s fall.

Superman’s death stuns and traumatizes the residents of the DC Universe. Superman’s funeral is attended by nearly every superhero, as well as some supervillains and the president of the United States.

Jonathan Kent takes Superman’s death the hardest. One night, while reading a newspaper story Lane wrote in Superman’s honor, Jonathan begins to feel responsible for his son’s death and has a heart attack in his wife Martha’s arms. In a coma, Jonathan meets Superman in the afterlife and convinces him to come back, before reawakening. Meanwhile, four men claiming to be Superman—Steel, the Cyborg Superman, Superboy, and Eradicator—emerge, and Lane discovers his grave is empty. Steel and Superboy are disproven as the original Superman, but Cyborg and Eradicator both seem to recall some of his memories. Hamilton tests the Cyborg and concludes he is the real Superman. In actuality, Eradicator stole Superman’s body and placed it in a regeneration matrix in the Fortress of Solitude, drawing on his recovering energies for power.

A powerless Superman, wearing a black costume, escapes the matrix. Cyborg helps Mongul destroy Coast City and, in its ruins, they begin to build Engine City in an effort to recreate Mongul’s home planet, Warworld. Superboy asks Steel to help him fight Cyborg, and Superman and Supergirl join the two. They travel to Engine City, where Cyborg launches a missile at Metropolis with the intent of destroying it and building a second Engine City in its place. Superboy manages to stop the missile before it strikes. Hal Jordan returns from space to find Coast City destroyed. Devastated, Jordan attacks Engine City and defeats Mongul. Eradicator joins the fight and shields Superman from Kryptonite gas. The gas kills Eradicator but also evolves within him. It passes into Superman, allowing him to regain his powers and defeat Cyborg. Supergirl uses her powers to reconstruct Superman’s original costume and they return to Metropolis.

Feel free to discuss the merits of Chris’s recommendation with Chris himself: chris@haltonhonda.com