This one did little for me, since I never believed he was dead. It also didn't help that it took 2 minutes to "read" the story. The whole gimmick of reducing the number of story panels with each chapter, until the Death issue was just splash pages, just seemed counter-productive. The number of panels should have been determined by the story beats, not the story shaped to specific number of panels.
I had dropped the Superman books; but came back for this (after a scramble to find the first couple of chapters, but I wasn't impressed with the story. The aftermath, where the world adjusts, I found way more interesting; but, that came to an abrupt halt with the 4 potential Supermen, who obviously weren't going to be the real one. This whole Death and Rebirth thing, for me, boiled down to the World Without Superman issues, and Adventures of Superman #500, which I thought had must better storytelling than all of the rest of the event.
By contrast, the old Silver Age Death of Superman is far more emotionally engaging, as Superman is legit killed by Luthor, after being tricked into believing he had reformed (Superman #149). The first part of the story has Luthor find a meteor with a new element and he synthesizes a cure for cancer, which works. Superman speaks for him at a parole hearing and it is granted. he then continues working to benefit mankind, with cures for other ailments. The first half of the story convinces you that Luthor had reformed, then he calls Superman in an emergency and unleashes kryptonite rays on him, killing him, first determining that he is not a robot or some other trick. he broadcasts it to everyone on Earth, who are helpless to stop it...
Superman is truly dead and the world and the galaxy come to pay their respects to the fallen hero....
Luthor boasts of his accomplishment and how he will rule the planet...nothing can stop him...
Supergirl finds him and arrests him. He is put on trial by the government of the bottled city of Kandor, the last remnant of Kryptonian civilization. He is sentenced to the ultimate punishment, but thinks it is more jail time and his superior intellect will get him out...until he learns what a Kryptonian prison is...
The writing is a bit more simplified and Luthor is the cackling villain after the swerve; but, it has an emotional punch and a sense of justice, rather than yet another mindless fight. There is no coming back. Supergirl has to carry on his legacy.
Then, there is Superman #156, "The Last Days of Superman," where he is dying of an alien virus and must come to terms with death and say goodbye to his friends.
Everyone, from the Atlanteans, to Supergirl, to the Legion of Superheroes work to find a cure, but fail...
Only the last minute intervention of Mon-El, from the Phantom Zone, reveals that it is actually a small fragment of kryptonite, stick in Jimmy's camera, that is killing Superman and saves him.
Both of these stories had more emotional depth, for me, than the later one. In both cases, it is not some violent punch out that kills him, but something beyond his abilities. Just as he was helpless to save his planet or his adoptive parents, he cannot save himself. His friends have to say goodbye and someone has to carry on his work. Those were the elements that worked, in the 1990s storyline, because those are really what facing death is about: coming to terms with the inevitable, making peace with life, saying goodbye to loved ones and then their adjusting to a world without the departed in it.
This moment, from Adv of Superman #498, had more resonance, to me....
This, from Action Comics #685...
Man of Steel #20...
and this jab at the merchandising of the event....
The Kents have their own funeral, without the spectacle....
Lois' call to the Kents and an illustration of why Superman was who he was, from the love and strength of his adoptive parents...
I could go on; but, those human moments were far better handled than the lead into the fight and the death moment, for me. The real story wasn't in dying, but how the world carries on. The problem is, the power of those moments are undone by the return. The original Jerry Siegel story has no cheat, no last minute reprieve. Superman is dead and nothing can change it.