It was labeled ‘The Event Of The Century’, and that was no exaggeration. This was it. After a courtship of almost six decades, Clark Kent(also known as Superman) and Lois Lane were going to be married in October of the year 1996.
This was originally supposed to happen four years earlier. However, the producers of the then-new TV show, ‘Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman’, wanted the television wedding and the comic wedding to happen at the exact same time. That meant that DC comics had to delay the wedding for a few years. In other words, the legendary ‘Death Of Superman’ story took place in the very issues they were supposed to be married in. After Clark came ‘back from the dead’, the writers had to come up with delaying tactic after delaying tactic to keep the wedding away until it was time. Among these delaying tactics were Lex Luthor accidentally destroying half of Metropolis, Clark’s powers going out of control, Kenny Braverman(renamed ‘Whitney Ford’ for ‘Smallville') hunting him, and even Clark being put on trial for the destruction of Krypton by one of his ancestors. They even went as far as temporarily breaking the couple up because of jealousy over a simple misunderstanding.
Then, in 1996, the producers of ‘Lois And Clark’ gave them the, excuse the pun, ‘flying order’. It was finally time.
All five Superman writers joined in for a 80-page blockbuster issue entitled ‘Superman: The Wedding Album’. Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson, David Michelinie, Roger Stern…and spearheaded by Dan Jurgans. Joined by more artists than can be counted(including comic legends Curt Swan and Gil Kane), they managed to finish it in time to coincide with the L&C episode “Swear To God, This Time We’re Not Kidding”.
Though, to tell you the truth, I find the comic version of the wedding to have been ironically more realistic. There was no ‘Wedding Destroyer’ to be foiled, nor a guardian angel showing up near the end. To add to it, Clark had temporarily lost his powers directly before, during a cross-company story called ‘The Final Night’(which is too complicated to explain here). Meaning that it was Clark Lois was marrying, not Superman. It is, in truth, the crown jewel of my entire collection.
But I’ll let you decide that for yourself. For now…enjoy.
Act One- The Proposal
Act Two- Preperations
Act Three- Superman, No More
Act Four- The Bachelor Party
Act Five- The Ceremony