Back Issue Box: Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2

Today I review Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2, the middle chapter of the 1994 mini-series that filled in the backstory of Doomsday and set up the first of many rematches between the Man of Steel and his killer. 

Doomsday has returned in recent issues of Superman and writer Joshua Williamson has really leaned into this Prestige Format mini which I found impressive. One of the strengths of DC, as crazy as it sounds in the current comic world, is it's continuity, is its history. But it also makes me feel wizened and archaic when I realize this book is almost 30 years old. As such, reviewing this to remind folks of this history made sense.

It is in this issue we learn about the planet Catalon and its hero The Radiant, both heavily involved in Williamson's story. In this issue we learn about how Doomsday went from world to world, devastating places, the origin of Williamson's Aftermath. And we learn about Doomsday's origin, about how he resurrects and is impervious to his last weakness, all of which ties into the evolution of him to the Time Trapper Doomsday. So once again, kudos to Williamson for leaning in.

And kudos to Dan Jurgens, the writer/artist of this series. It couldn't have been an easy task to bring back Doomsday. Not only Doomsday, but the Cyborg Superman as well. These were the ultimate villains of both Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen. Can you write them in a way to make them more compelling? Doomsday felt like a literal tool in Death, there only to kill Superman and not have any sort of story. Jurgens brings a horrific origin to the thing which has stuck.

On reread, I'll say the series is solid. But there is no denying its impact on the Superman mythos.

Last issue, Doomsday and the Cyborg Superman ended up on Apokolips. Doomsday defeats Darkseid in hand to hand combat. The Cyborg Superman plugs himself into the technology of Apokolips and takes out the Parademon armor with a thought. Suddenly it seems he might be in charge of the whole place.

I really liked this moment where Jurgens shows he understands the Fourth World characters. In the blink of an eye, Desaad goes from asking the JLA to come and help defeat the Cyborg to declaring Henshaw his new master. What an obsequious toad!

And I like that the Cyborg recognizes it and tosses Desaad aside. 

Meanwhile, Superman runs across the battered Darkseid and realizes the dark god is dying. 

I love a noble and inspirational Superman.

He could let Darkseid die. He could let the Cyborg run roughshod over Apokolips. But that isn't Superman.

He puts the Mother Box he borrowed onto Darkseid to speed up healing. And he knows that he needs to defend the helpless of Apokolips and defend them now. He can't wait for help.

Look at that last panel. He knows this could be his last battle, looking down in shadow. Art and words meshing! I love comics!

Last issue, Waverider and the Linear Men didn't help Superman in his mission.

Now Waverider feels compelled to help.

I am not a Waverider fan but at least here he recognizes that his past included activism. He wasn't passive. And so he has to break his code and help Superman. 

And so he provides the exposition we need, Doomsday's origin.

On a brutal planet with a noxious atmosphere and filled with monstrous creatures, there is a lab within an inertron dome.

Within, a scientist named Bertron has an experiment in mind to push forward evolution. 

He jettisons an infant from the lab onto the surface. Within seconds, the poisonous air and the rabid animals kill it. The crew then shocks the creatures away and go out and scrape up the remains of the baby. 

They clone it and repeat, hoping this experience will somehow shape the baby's genetic makeup.

Now ... SPOILER ALERT ...

We learn next issue that these scientists end up being tied to Krypton. 

When I look at this panel, the art and faces and even the clothing remind me of Mike Mignola's art in the World Of Krypton mini-series. Could Jurgens have been slipping in a meta-clue here?

Over decades they keep repeating the experiment. What goes from seconds of survival stretches to minutes. We start to see what was a humanoid being is becoming more like Doomsday. 

But the experiment continues.

Until finally, the baby has become Doomsday, impervious to injury, no internal organs, brutal.

Moreover, he has some sort of vestigial memory of what has been done to him. 

He breaks into the lab and kills all the scientists. All scientists should know that if they create an omnipotent being, it never ends well.

The supply ship lands to replenish the lab and Doomsday kills them. The ship returns to where it came from and he kills those people. And we hear that he sort of ship-hops to countless planets, massacring the people and moving on. 

This is how Williamson came up with The Aftermath, the surviving people from the worlds Doomsday devastated.

Until Doomsday lands on Catalon.

The royal family subjects themselves to a ritual where they merge into The Radiant, an incredibly powerful being who is able to kill Doomsday through energy blasts.

The Radiant has been a big part of the recent Doomsday arc.

Great art by Jurgens.

But you might recall the Doomsday nonsense from the beginning of the Death arc.

How did he get to Earth? Why was he dressed like he was? 

Part of that, I am sure, was so the writers could have Doomsday beat up the JLA with one hand literally tied behind his back. 

This was all some religious ritual from the people of Catalon, dressing Doomsday in these chains to bind its soul and rocketing him to Earth. (Going back to Williamson's arc, the Radiant is in similar garb when he first arrives to Earth, more continuity fun!)

Okay, it's a stretch. But at least Jurgen is trying to answer the questions we all had from Death. It explains who Doomsday is, why he was where he was, and how he is so powerful. 

And we hear, at last, that he regenerates even more powerful. He cannot be killed the same way twice. And he simply can't be killed ... he always comes back. 

We need to tie up some of the Apokolips storylines though.

It looks like the Cyborg might actually take over but then a healed Darkseid arrives and vaporizes Henshaw with the Omega Beams.

We needed to see this. Darkseid was taken out last issue by Doomsday, a way to show how powerful Doomsday is. Here, he eliminates the Cyborg after everyone else was struggling.

How powerful is Darkseid? He took out the Cyborg Superman.

How powerful is Doomsday? He took out Darkseid who took out the Cyborg Superman.

This is a simple splash page but it gets to the point. 

But what about Doomsday who was boom tubed away last issue?

Desaad sent Doomsday to the one place he was killed before, Catalon.

Of course, we know now that, given his powers, that the Radiant can't kill Doomsday again. And we know, based on that, that Superman can't defeat him either ...

I do think we need this dialogue to make sure that the reader can connect the dots between what we learned of Doomsday's origin and where he has been sent. It is 'telling' the audience not showing but here I think it makes sense to do so.

Nice cliffhanger.

But what do you think about this issue? What do you think about Doomsday's origin? The explanation of his powers? The explanation of his being on Earth dressed like that?

All this really stuck and is still impacting stories 30 years later!

Overall grade: B+