Adventures of Superman #498 (1993)

After the devastating battle with Doomsday, the streets of Metropolis have been razed. Bloodwynd, Guardian, Jimmy Olsen, Dubbilex, Captain Sawyer, and Officer Dan Turpin gather around where Lois Lane is holding Superman's body in the middle of the rubble. Civilians watch from the sidelines in shock. Bloodwynd claims that Superman cannot be saved, but that his injured comrade, Ice, still might survive if he takes her to a hospital. As Bloodwynd spirits Ice away, Jimmy asks Lois if Superman truly is dead. She doesn't respond, still clutching Superman's body. Turpin and Sawyer insist that he must be alive. Dubbilex sadly tells those gathered that Bloodwynd was correct in his assessment; he cannot detect any brainwaves from Superman. He also assures the nervous members of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit that Doomsday is gone as well. Lois pleads for someone to save him as Jimmy tries to usher her away from Superman. Cat Grant has arrived and tries to do the same, halfheartedly suggesting that maybe S.T.A.R. Labs could do something. Captain Sawyer coordinates emergency medical services to assist. The Guardian decides to attempt to revive Superman with CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to little effect. EMS crews arrive soon after with a defibrillator and begin to administer electric shocks. Turpin forces himself to turn away from the scene as it becomes increasingly apparent that Superman is dead, and discovers the badly-burned Matrix as he does. Before he can help her, Lex Luthor II arrives to take her away. Meanwhile, the EMS crews continue to increase the voltage of the defibrillator until they reach the maximum amount, still with no results. Captain Sawyer reports that they can't expect assistance from S.T.A.R. Labs due to the federal government declaring Metropolis a disaster zone, as well as the damaged communications infrastructure resulting from Doomsday's rampage. Cat and Jimmy manage to lead Lois away to allow the first responders to work. Jimmy suggests contacting a doctor who has attended to Superman before. Lois appears increasingly distraught, and Cat pulls Jimmy aside to ask if he can contact Clark—known to her only as a civilian and Lois' fiancé—to come pick Lois up. She comments that she is surprised that he hasn't come to the scene yet, with his reporter tendencies and it being such a highly publicized incident. Lois overhears and worries internally about Clark's parents and the implications for her partner's civilian identity. A WGBS news van pulls up to tell Cat that they are ready to go live. Cat tells Lois that she needs to snap out of her state of shock and grief and carry out her obligations to the public as a reporter. Though she is still upset, Lois agrees; reluctantly, Jimmy does, too, saying that he needs to get his pictures to his boss, Perry White. Cat goes on the air to report on the situation. Watching Cat's report is Cat's son, Adam, and Cat's partner, José Delgado. After hearing that Superman has died, José is stunned, but Adam responds flippantly and changes the channel to a cartoon. José snaps at him for his callous attitude, snatching the remote from Adam and sending the kid running off to his room crying. José tries to apologize, but Adam just lashes out by saying that José isn't his father, "just one of Mom's boyfriends!" José recognizes this as an attempt to lash out and get under his skin by playing on his insecurities, and his anger subsides somewhat. He pulls out a case from a closet containing his costume from his time as the vigilante known as Gangbuster. He laments the fact that he was sidelined babysitting Adam and recovering from his previous injuries while Superman gave his life to protect Metropolis. His fury rises as he overhears a WMET newscaster make light of the hero's death on TV, and lobs his retired helmet at the screen to destroy it. In their Smallville home, Jonathan and Martha comfort each other and pray for their son's survival. In LexCorp Tower, Luthor is able to convince Matrix to return to her Supergirl persona despite the pain of transforming from her injured state. She decides to wear the residual bruising on her body to honor Superman's sacrifice. Paul Westfield and his Cadmus subordinates arrive to load Doomsday's body away onto a truck, and to take away Superman should they fail to resuscitate him. Turpin doesn't take this well and punches him in the gut. With Westfield down, Guardian takes command, telling the only remaining Cadmus Shock Trooper with power to assist with resuscitating Superman. Professor Emil Hamilton and Bibbo Bibbowski arrive, dragging an "energy collecting unit" invented by the former that they can use to supercharge the defibrillator. Bibbo volunteers to be the one to administer the powerful electric shock, agreeing to wear the Professor's force field-generating belt to protect himself from a level of energy that would kill a human. The charged Shock Trooper flies above to shoot his cannons at the collection device, which powers up, and Bibbo applies the paddles to Superman's chest. The shock is so powerful, it creates a burst of light and sound, and throws Bibbo up in the air from the sheer force. Superman remains unresponsive, with no brain activity. Bibbo is dazed and unable to administer the shock again. Professor Hamilton takes over with the paddles and the belt and tries again, with the same result. At the Daily Planet, Jimmy talks with Perry about how he is disgusted over the news reports trying to be the first to proclaim Superman's death. He feels conflicted about preserving and publishing the images of his final moments and passing, worrying that he is betraying their friendship but doing so. Perry disagrees and talks him out of it, declaring that the world needs to see him, remember him, and honor him as the hero he was. It is their responsibility as journalists, he argues. He also reminds Jimmy that their colleague and friend is likely struggling the most and will need their support, seeing as Lois may have lost Clark Kent, who has been numbered among the hundreds missing, as well as the figure of Superman. Jimmy gives his photos to Ron Troupe to be published, and goes over with Perry to Lois to comfort her and assure her that nothing is definitive yet, and they will nonetheless work tirelessly to keep the memories of both Superman and Clark alive.