Dying Earth is a

subgenre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

of science fantasy or

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

which takes place in the far future at either the end of life on Earth or the end of time, when the laws of the universe themselves fail. Themes of

world-weariness (; literally "world-pain") is a literary concept describing the feeling experienced by an individual who believes that reality can never satisfy the expectations of the mind, resulting in "a mood of weariness or sadness about life arising from ...

innocence Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

(wounded or otherwise),

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected t ...

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynam ...

, (permanent) exhaustion/depletion of many or all resources (such as soil nutrients), and the hope of renewal dominate.

Genre

The Dying Earth genre differs from the apocalyptic subgenre in that it deals not with catastrophic destruction, but with entropic exhaustion of Earth. It is therefore described as more "

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...

". The genre was prefigured by the works of the Romantic movement.

Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville Jean-Baptiste François Xavier Cousin De Grainville (3 April 1746 – 1 February 1805) was a French writer who wrote a seminal work of fantasy literature: '' Le Dernier Homme'' (''The Last Man'') (1805). This was the first modern novel to depict ...

's ''

Le Dernier Homme ''Le Dernier Homme'' (English: ''The Last Man'') is a French science fantasy novel in the form of a prose poem. Written by Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville and published in 1805, it was the first story of modern speculative fiction to depict ...

'' (1805) narrates the tale of Omegarus, the Last Man on Earth. It is a bleak vision of the future when Earth has become totally sterile.

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's poem "

Darkness Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low ...

" (1816) shows Earth after the Sun has died.

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

's ''

The Last Man ''The Last Man'' is an apocalyptic, dystopian science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, first published in 1826. The narrative concerns Europe in the late 21st century, ravaged by a mysterious plague pandemic that rapidly sweeps across the enti ...

'' (1826) details a future in which humanity is slowly but inexorably wiped from the face of the planet by an unstoppable outbreak of the

Great Plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, killing almost everyone but the protagonist, immune to the disease's effects. Another early example is ''La Fin du Monde'' (''The End of the World'', aka '' Omega: the last days of the world''), written by

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fic ...

and published in France in 1893. The first half of the novel deals with a comet on a collision course with Earth in the 25th century. The last half focuses on Earth's future history, where civilizations rise and fall, humans evolve, and finally Earth ends as an old, dying, and barren planet.

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

novella ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'' utilizes Dying Earth imagery. At the end of the novel, the unnamed time traveller travels thirty million years into the far future, where only gigantic crabs, butterflies and lichens exist on a barren Earth, then travels even further into the future to see the Sun go out and Earth freezing over. Two brooding works by

William Hope Hodgson William Hope Hodgson (15 November 1877 – 19 April 1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and scie ...

would elaborate on Wells's vision. '' The House on the Borderland'' (1908) takes place in a house besieged by unearthly forces. The narrator then travels into a distant future in which humanity has died and then even further, past the death of Earth. Hodgson's ''

The Night Land ''The Night Land'' is a horror/fantasy novel by English writer William Hope Hodgson, first published in 1912. As a work of fantasy it belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre. Hodgson also published a much shorter version of the novel, entitled '' ...

'' (1912) describes a time, millions of years in the future, when the Sun has gone dark. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid, the Last Redoubt, under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. A work by the early French science fiction author J.-H. Rosny aîné, '' La Mort de la Terre'' (1910), deals with the last, scattered generation of an evolved humankind on an exhausted, desert Earth and their encounter with a new type of mineral-metallic life. In some ways it reads like the inversion of his earlier '' Les Xipéhuz'' (1887), in which early humans encounter and battle an utterly alien and incomprehensible form of life. From the 1930s onwards, Clark Ashton Smith wrote a series of stories situated in

Zothique ''Zothique'' is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the firs ...

, the last continent of Earth, where its inhabitants live out their lives in a similar manner to the civilisations of the

Classical era Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

. Smith said in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp, dated November 3, 1953: Under the influence of Smith,

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

wrote the

short story collection A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., ''Les Soirées de Médan''). The s ...

The Dying Earth ''The Dying Earth'' is a collection of fantasy short fiction by American writer Jack Vance, published by Hillman in 1950. Vance returned to the setting in 1965 and thereafter, making it the first book in the ''Dying Earth'' series. It is retitled ...

''. The collection had several sequels and gave the subgenre its name.

Examples

* H. P. Lovecraft and Robert H. Barlow"

Till A' the Seas "Till A' the Seas" is a post-apocalyptic short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. The title is a reference to the poem "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns. Plot The story consists of two parts. The first descr ...

" (1935) is a tale of the slow fading of human civilization and the extinction of all life on Earth, as the planet became a desert under the sun that has expanded into a red giant. The story centers on a male protagonist named Ull, the last of his tribe, and his journey across lands and abandoned cities in hopes of finding water, shelter and other survivors. * Don A. Stuart''Night'' (1935). Short story. As an unexpected side effect from an experimental

anti-gravity Anti-gravity (also known as non-gravitational field) is a hypothetical phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or t ...

device, a test pilot is sent countless billions of years into the future. The

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

has been reduced to less than a light-year in diameter, and the dead Earth is

tidally locked Tidal locking between a pair of co-orbiting astronomical bodies occurs when one of the objects reaches a state where there is no longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a complete orbit. In the case where a tidally locked bo ...

to a much larger and colder red sun. All the gas in the atmosphere, except for neon and

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

, is frozen solid. A huge city contains the frozen remains of humans, and the machines humanity had perfected are dead due to the superconductivity caused by the cold. *

Edmond Hamilton Edmond Moore Hamilton (October 21, 1904 – February 1, 1977) was an American writer of science fiction during the mid-twentieth century. Early life Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. So ...

''The City at World's End'' (1951) and the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

story "Superman Under the Red Sun" from ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/ magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications ...

'' #300 (1963). * Arthur C. Clarke'' The City and the Stars'' (1956), a revision and expansion of the earlier novella "

Against the Fall of Night ''Against the Fall of Night'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Originally appearing as a novella in the November 1948 issue of the magazine '' Startling Stories'', it was revised and expanded in 1951 and publis ...

". * John Brunner''Catch a Falling Star,'' an extended version of ''The 100th Millennium'', first published as "Earth is But a Star" (1958) which features in the Broderick anthology, (2001, below). An early example of a far future tale influenced by Vance. *

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for o ...

'' Hothouse'' (1962, also known as ''The Long Afternoon of Earth''). The Earth has locked rotation with the sun that has increased output, and plants are engaged in a constant frenzy of growth and decay, like a tropical forest enhanced a thousandfold; a few small groups of humans still live, on the edge of extinction, beneath the giant banyan tree that covers the entire day side of Earth. *

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

''Epilogue'' (1962). A novella about a starship from Earth on its way to a new solar system, but which due to malfunction returns to its original solar system again three billion years into the future. The sun has become a red giant, and life on Earth has been replaced by cybernetic organisms, descendants of human technology. *

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

'' Giant of World's End'' (1969), and following prequels. Sword and sorcery

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

novels set on a

decadent The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...

far-future Earth in which all the world's

landmass A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land. The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island. In the field of geology, a landmass is a defined section of continenta ...

es have supposedly drifted back together to form a last

supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", which leav ...

called Gondwane. *

M. John Harrison Michael John Harrison (born 26 July 1945), known for publication purposes primarily as M. John Harrison, is an English author and literary critic.Kelley, George. "Harrison, M(ichael) John" in Jay P. Pederson (.ed) ''St. James guide to sci ...

a series of short stories and novels set in Viriconium from 1971 onwards. Viriconium is the capital city in which much of the action takes place. Viriconium lies on a dying Earth littered with the detritus of the millennia, seemingly now its own hermetic universe where

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

no longer applies. *

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...

The Dancers at the End of Time ''The Dancers at the End of Time'' is a series of science fiction novels and short stories written by Michael Moorcock, the setting of which is the End of Time, an era "where entropy is king and the universe has begun collapsing upon itself". T ...

'' series (1972–6). *

Hideyuki Kikuchi is a Japanese author known for his horror novels. His most famous works include the '' Vampire Hunter D'' series, ''Darkside Blues'' and '' Wicked City''. Biography Kikuchi was born in Chōshi, Japan on September 25, 1949. He attended Aoyama ...

Vampire Hunter D is a series of novels written by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983. As of April 2022, 40 novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes. They ha ...

'' series *

C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbelo ...

'' Sunfall'' (1977-2004), a collection of short stories set in various locations on Earth in the far future. The tone, themes and fantasy conventions employed in this collection differ by story. (These were reprinted in '' The Collected Short Fiction of C. J. Cherryh''.) * Doris Piserchia''Earthchild'' (1977), in which the last human being on Earth faces competition from the world-spanning alien creatures that have devastated the planet. *

George R.R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels '' A So ...

'' Dying of the Light'' (1977), a novel set on Worlorn, a world whose course is taking it into the far reaches of space, where all life on the planet will die. *

Philip Jose Farmer Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

In '' Dark Is the Sun'' (1979) a tribesman from the distant future quests across the landscape of a dying Earth. As with much of "Dying Earth" science fiction, this text ruminates on the nature of ending, and the meaning of time itself. * ''

Thundarr the Barbarian ''Thundarr the Barbarian'' is an American Saturday morning animated series, created by Steve Gerber and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The series ran for two seasons on ABC from October 4, 1980, to October 31, 1981, and was rerun on NBC ...

'' (1980-1981) Saturday morning

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

, created by

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include '' Man-Thing'', '' Omega the Unknown,'' '' Marvel Spotlig ...

and produced by

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

. Set in a future (c. 3994)

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

wasteland divided into kingdoms or territories—the majority of which are ruled by (mostly evil) wizards (who combine magical spells with reanimating technologies from the pre-catastrophe world)—and whose

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

typically feature recognizable geographical features from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The hero Thundarr (voiced by

Robert Ridgely Robert Ridgely (December 24, 1931 – February 8, 1997) was an American actor, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work. Biography Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, Ridgely worked as a cabaret entertainer.Staff"Robert Ridgely, 65 ...

), a muscular warrior, whose companions include Princess Ariel, a formidable young sorceress, and Ookla the Mok ( leonine humanoid) traveled the world on horseback, battling evil wizards. *

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...

The Book of the New Sun ''The Book of the New Sun'' (1980–1983) is a four volume, science fantasy novel written by the American author Gene Wolfe. It inaugurated the "Solar Cycle" that Wolfe continued by setting other works in the same universe (''The Urth of the Ne ...

'' (1981–3) chronicles the journey of a disgraced torturer named

Severian Severian is the narrator and main character of Gene Wolfe's four-volume science fiction series ''The Book of the New Sun'', as well as its sequel, '' The Urth of the New Sun''. He is a Journeyman of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence (a Guild o ...

to the highest position in the land. Severian, who claims to have a perfect memory, tells the story in first person. ''The Book'' takes place in the distant future, where the sun has dimmed considerably. Wolfe stated that Vance's series directly influenced this work. ''The Book'' has several associated volumes. *

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

'' The Shattered Goddess'' (1983), fantasy novel set at the end of man's dominion over Earth, in the interval between the death of the last deity of the former age and the rise of the first of the new. Followed by '' Echoes of the Goddess'' (2013), a prequel short story collection. * Michael Shea''Nifft the Lean'' (1982), a series of sword and sorcery tales set in a far future age where demons and alien entities vie for dominion over Earth. A later story set in the same universe involved a mash up with Vance's Cugel the Clever. * Alan Grant''King Barman'' (November 1, 1996), A supreme evil overlord observes as reality itself is falling apart from his castle citadel situated in front of a dying star. He peers back in time featuring a penultimate battle between good and evil which effected the very nature of the universe itself, horrid outcomes leading to the abysmal state in which he surveys. Using his almighty power the last monarch known as He-Who-Dares uses his abilities to torque the outcome of said fateful conflict between Nu-Gotham and its legacy hero/monarch against the assault of an invading horde in goods favor. Causing reality to shift into a form of higher existential consciousness thus bringing about a new dawn. *

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

''Wildstorm Spotlight'' #1 (February 1, 1997), set at the penultimate heat death of the Universe. Majestros of Khera/Earth heads up a small conclave of immortal nomads eons in the future as reality dies around them. *

Damien Broderick Damien Francis Broderick (born 22 April 1944) is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. His science fiction novel ''The Dreaming Dragons'' (1980) introduced the trope of the generation time machin ...

, ed.''Earth is But a Star: Excursions through Science Fiction to the Far Future'' (2001), an anthology of canonical dying Earth short stories mostly set on Earth in the far future, interwoven with specially commissioned critical essays on the dying Earth theme. *

Ian Edginton Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer, known for his work on such titles as ''X-Force'', '' Scarlet Traces'', '' H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds'' and ''Leviathan''. Career Ian Edginton is known for his steampunk/ alternate history wor ...

The Establishment ''The Establishment'' is a term used to describe a dominant group or elite that controls a polity or an organization. It may comprise a closed social group that selects its own members, or entrenched elite structures in specific institution ...

'' (November 1, 2002), the end of which being re-visitation of Alan Moore's ''Wildstorm Spotlight: The Big Chill'' where Majestros had found a vastly evolved iteration of his former

WildC.A.T.s Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi. Publication history The team first appeared in August 1992 in the first issue of their epon ...

associate

Spartan Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

who sought to restart creation itself as it was ending. A deranged scientist from an alternate future would endeavor to co-opt his remaking of the dying continuum for his own purposes, with the British superteam and main leads of the comic itself mobilizing to stop him. *

Greg Bear Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict ('' Forge of God'' books), parallel universes ('' The Way'' series), c ...

'' City at the End of Time'' (2008), a novel that is a homage to William Hope Hodgson's ''

''. *

Jason Aaron Jason Aaron (born January 28, 1973) is an American comic book writer, known for his creator-owned series ''Scalped'' and ''Southern Bastards'', as well as his work on Marvel series '' Ghost Rider'', ''Wolverine'', '' PunisherMAX'', ''Thor'', and ...

''The Last Days of Midgard'' (2013), a comicbook miniseries for '' Thor: God of Thunder'' comics in early 2014, where Allfather Thor sits at the end of time overseeing both the rebuilding of Old Asgard and a dying planet Earth after humanity killed its ecosystem, the race itself dying off as a result.''Thor: God of Thunder'' #19-24 (2014) *

Rick Remender Rick Remender (born February 6, 1973) is an American animator, comic book writer and television producer who resides in Los Angeles, California. As a comic book creator, he is best known for his work on '' Uncanny X-Force'', ''Venom'', ''Captain ...

'' Low'' (July 30, 2014), a comic series set billions of year in the future where the rapid expansion of the sun forces humanity to live underwater. *

Joe Keatinge Joe Keatinge is an American comic book writer and editor, best known for his writing work with Marvel Comics and Image Comics, and as the co-editor of '' Popgun'' with Mark Andrew Smith. Early life Joe Keatinge was born on June 11, 1982 in Sant ...

''Strange Visitor'' (August 27, 2014), at the ultimate heat death of the prime

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

. Earth's denizens of the distant future begin evacuating as the world comes to and end while old friends Rathotis and Kamandi regale each other using old tales of Superman and his feats of courage and hope. Eventually the Starchild of El would return far more powerful than ever to rescue an astronaut crew from being stuck in another dimension in the distant past. The now immortalized Superman would use his newfound abilities to halt the coming bite of entropy long enough to save everyone onboard before letting the old universe wink out so he could ferry them into the next. *

Dan Jurgens Dan Jurgens (; born June 27, 1959) is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline " The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw and Booster Gold. Jurg ...

''Of Tomorrow'' (Apr 18, 2018), a short story spinning out of

Action Comics 1000 ''Action Comics'' #1000 (cover dated Early June 2018) is the 1,002nd issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series ''Action Comics'' (after special #0 and #1,000,000 tie-ins to '' Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!'' and ''DC One Millio ...

. Superman pays final respects to his adopted home planet billions of years in the future where Earth's sun was in the onset of consuming it. He and most of humanity, his wife included, having left for the stars long ago; Kal-El simply leaving a glass mini-figure of his surrogate parents behind at the memorial for Jonathan and Martha Kent before flying off.

References

External links

The Eldritch Dark
his website contains almost all of Clark Ashton Smith's written work, as well as a comprehensive selection of his art, biographies, a bibliography, a discussion board, readings, fiction tributes and more.

website about "The Night Land" by William Hope Hodgson, includes also original fiction set in his universe, with influences of Cordwainer Smith and others Dying Earth authors. {{Fantasy fiction Fantasy genres Science fiction genres End of the universe in fiction

Genre

Examples

See also

References

External links