Superman: The Wedding Album

Superman: The Wedding Album is an American comic book published in 1996 by DC Comics. It is notable for featuring the wedding of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane in DC Comics continuity, an event that was nearly 60 years in the making.

Superman: The Wedding Album
Cover art by John Byrne.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
FormatOne-shot
Genre
Publication dateDecember 1996
No. of issues1
Main character(s)Superman/Clark Kent
Lois Lane
Creative team
Written byDan Jurgens
Karl Kesel
David Michelinie
Louise Simonson
Roger Stern

Written by the five principal writers for the Superman titles at the time (Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern) and bearing a cover date of December 1996, the issue was published during the week of October 6, 1996, coinciding with an episode of the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman which also featured the wedding of the two characters.[1][2]

Previous weddings involving the two characters had all been hoaxes, dreams or imaginary tales, with the exception of the wedding of the Earth-Two Superman and Lois Lane, depicted in Action Comics #484 (June 1978).

Plot

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The story follows after a yearlong breakup between Lois and Clark. Lois returns to Metropolis from her job as a foreign correspondent and agrees to marry Clark. The wedding is put together quickly, but no corners are cut. During this storyline, Clark is without his powers as Superman, having lost them during the previous Final Night crossover. There are brief cameos by many DC superheroes and a short passage with Batman, who offers an apartment owned by him to the couple and gets the superheroes of the DC Universe to look after Metropolis while Clark goes on his honeymoon.

Jimmy Olsen serves as best man, with Lucy Lane serving as maid of honor. The wedding is a traditional Christian variety in a big church (the Metropolis Chapel of United Faiths) although Lois is estranged with her father Sam Lane at the time and refuses to be walked down the aisle by him. Despite this, Sam attends his daughter's wedding as a witness, refusing to miss this moment. The priest that presides over the wedding is drawn to look like Jerry Siegel, one of the creators of Superman. The pews are also filled up with the writers and artists that have contributed to the Superman comic books over the years, including Joe Shuster, Superman's other creator.

Honeymoon

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After The Wedding Album, The Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comics #728 and Superman: The Man of Steel #63 featured Lois and Clark's honeymoon in Hawaii. Clark is captured by Rajiv Naga and needs Lois's help to escape since he does not have any powers, having lost them during The Final Night crossover story arc.

Artists

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Nearly every living major artist who had ever worked on a Superman comic title contributed to this issue:[3][4]

Collected editions

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  • Superman The Wedding and Beyond – the wedding and honeymoon of Lois and Clark are collected in one volume, includes Superman #118, Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comic #728, Superman: The Man of Steel #63 and Superman: The Wedding Album, released in November 1997.[5][6]
  • DC Comics Presents: Superman: Lois & Clark 100 Page Super Spectacular – reprint of Superman: The Wedding Album, released in November 2015, with cover art by Ryan Sook.[7]
  • Superman & Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary Deluxe Edition – collecting Superman: The Wedding Album, Superman #118, Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comics #728 and Superman: The Man of Steel #63 and new extras, released in September 2021.[8]

Awards

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The book was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic-Book Story for 1997.

References

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  1. ^ Dimino, Russ. The Many Faces Of... Super-Weddings! KryptonSite.com.
  2. ^ John McNamara (writer); Michael Lange (director) (1996-10-06). "Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding". Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Season 4. Episode 3. ABC.
  3. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1990s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. The behind-the-scenes talent on the monumental issue appropriately spanned several generations of the Man of Tomorrow's career. Written by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern, the one-shot featured the pencils of John Byrne, Gil Kane, Stuart Immonen, Paul Ryan, Jon Bogdanove, Kieron Dwyer, Tom Grummett, Dick Giordano, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Al Plastino, Barry Kitson, Ron Frenz, and Dan Jurgens.
  4. ^ Jurgens, Dan; Kesel, Karl; Michelinie, David; Simonson, Louise; Stern, Roger (w), Byrne, John; Gammill, Kerry; Kane, Gil; Immonen, Stuart; Ryan, Paul; Bogdanove, Jon; Dwyer, Kieron; Grummett, Tom; Giordano, Dick; Mooney, Jim; Swan, Curt; Cardy, Nick; Plastino, Al; Kitson, Barry; Frenz, Ron; Jurgens, Dan (p), Austin, Terry; Anderson, Murphy; McLeod, Bob; Marzan Jr., Jose; Breeding, Brett; Janke, Dennis; Hazelwood, Doug; Rodier, Denis; Thibert, Art; Pérez, George; Guice, Jackson; Cardy, Nick; Plastino, Al; McCarthy, Ray; Rubinstein, Joe; Ordway, Jerry (i). "The Wedding Album" Superman: The Wedding Album, no. 1 (December 1996).
  5. ^ Superman The Wedding and Beyond. DC Comics. November 1997. p. 192. ISBN 1-56389-392-4.
  6. ^ SUPERMAN: THE WEDDING AND BEYOND. DC Comics. 9 March 2012.
  7. ^ DC COMICS PRESENTS: SUPERMAN – LOIS AND CLARK #1. DC Comics.
  8. ^ SUPERMAN & LOIS LANE: THE 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION. DC Comics. September 2021.
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