In an interview with World’s Finest, Bruce Timm said his goal was to “provoke a strong emotional response for the audience,” admitting that his favorite moments are, “the emotional ones … guess [he’s] just a big softy.” When asked about his favorite moment from any of the series he’s worked on, would you believe he picked one of the most distressing events from his Superman show?
“Apokolips… Now!” is a two-part story that ran towards the end of the show’s second season. It depicts Darkseid’s attempt to rule Earth before he’s repelled by Superman and Orion, with the help of heroic police officer Dan Turpin. Unfortunately, before Darkseid calls off his siege of Earth, he casually kills Turpin on his way out, sending Superman into a frenzy before the episode closes with Turpin’s funeral and the famous line, “In the end the world, didn’t really need a Superman. Just a brave one.” And that series of upsetting events just so happens to be Timm’s favorite moment, which he told World’s Finest was, “the ‘Ragnarok’ of ‘sob scenes'” that, “fires on every emotional cylinder”:
“The shock of seeing Turpin annihilated/Superman going berserk/Lois can’t even watch/Superman’s fury spent/the cemetery based on Jack Kirby’s final resting place in Thousand Oaks/the Rabbi singing that gorgeous Kaddish/star-spangled avengers, super-spies, African princes, various comics professionals and even Luthor pay their last respects/sad but proud cops/Toby comforting a stoic but clearly destroyed Maggie Sawyer/the last few family members leaving the funeral as a soft wind blows/Superman’s gentle good-bye to his friend/the last silhouetted shot as the day ends/the one-two sucker punch end titles, ‘Not the end…’ and ‘Long Live The King’/all scored with impeccable good taste by Kris Carter….What’s Not To Love???!!! I swear to God I’m choking up just thinking about it …”
