With no new super-books on the shelves this week and a splendid Doomsday story finished up in the current Joshua Williamson Superman book, I have been dipping into the back issue box to review Superman/Doomsday:Hunter/Prey, wrapping it up today with the third issue, the finale.
Writer/artist Dan Jurgens has been weaving a pretty good narrative here, filling in Doomsday's origin and amping up the threat of both Doomsday and the Cyborg Superman, both fresh from their debut storylines. This wasn't long after the monumental 'Death of' and 'Reign of' arcs. We were just getting to know these characters.
Last issue, we learned how Doomsday was the product of an accelerated evolution experiment by a scientist named Bertron. We saw the Cyborg Superman get atomized by Darkseid. We saw Desaad send Doomsday to the planet Catalon, the planet Doomsday was killed on prior to Superman doing the same deed on Earth. But since his resurrected form is invulnerable to his last mode of death, Catalon is in trouble.
As I said, Jurgens is wrapping up the loose ends of the first Doomsday story, giving us a narrative. This is the beginning of Doomsday's story, explaining his powers, and here tying him in specifically to Superman, linking them forever. I have to give him credit. He does a fine job explaining everything. And he seems to put an end to it all. The ending feels like an ending ...
But 30 years later we know better. We have seen Doomsday a lot. We have seen Superman turned into Doomsday. We have seen a Doomsday plague. We've seen an army of Doomsdays. We've seen Doomsday in Hell. And know we have seen a Time Trapper Doomsday, intelligent and skinny.
Joshua Williamson has been doing a great job mining this story for its key elements and bringing them to the current arc. Heck, in Superman #20 he has Dan Mora draw Superman in the Mother Box armor we see him in here. We have The Radiant, the Aftermath of the planets Doomsday has destroyed, and a Time Trapper Doomsday, perhaps echoed in the finale here.
I haven't thought about this series much over these last decades. But revisiting it, I have to say, its embers still glow in the DC Universe. It has had impact.
Let's get one piece of story out of the way.
Last issue it appeared that Darkseid vaporized the Cyborg Superman.
Turns out he captured Henshaw's essence to utilize as a tool later on.
Much like Doomsday (and Zod), I feel the Cyborg Superman goes through spurts of being overused. I feel like there were some years where every other arc had him popping up. Perhaps the comic world would have been better if he stayed dead.
Superman has learned of Doomsday's powers. A resurrected Doomsday returns invulnerable to the last way he died. Desaad has sent Doomsday to the planet Catalon, one of the places he has died before and therefore a place he will be unstoppable. Despite knowing that Doomsday has upgraded in a way so Superman cannot defeat him again, our hero cannot let Catalon suffer.
Before our heroes, Superman and Waverider, boom tube to Catalon, the Mother Box transmutes Superman's costume into the semi-classic armor we saw Mora copy recently.
Before our heroes, Superman and Waverider, boom tube to Catalon, the Mother Box transmutes Superman's costume into the semi-classic armor we saw Mora copy recently.
It has a very 'Jim Lee in the 90's' feel, doesn't it?
What follows is a long drawn out brawl on Catalon.
It starts with the current version of The Radiant being ripped in half. Doomsday has grown stronger.
And he has somehow grown wiser. Or perhaps he has developed the power to detect weaknesses. Catalon is powered by a central power station. It's atmosphere maintained by another, singular facility.
Off he goes to destroy.
The battle rages.
Superman has a different tactic this time, trying to stay far away rather than brawl.
But Doomsday has seemed to upgrade even beyond what we have learned. He seems to be able to evolve on the fly. His claws can be fired/extended as a way to reel Superman in. When Superman uses Mother Box sonics on Doomsday, he evolves growths so his ear canals close.
He has seemingly become the perfect weapon.
And then the big reveal.
In attempt to slow down Doomsday, Waverider touches him to get a glimpse into the beast's mind.
When Doomsday looks at Superman, he sees Bertron, the scientist who slaughtered the Doomsday baby for decades to create him.
And Bertron was working for ... you guessed it ... Krypton.
It links Doomsday to Superman. It explains Doomsday's dogged pursuit of Superman.
It makes Doomsday more than just a simple adversary for Superman. It connects them.
Check out the sheepish look on Waverider. He knew all along!
The melee goes on.
Doomsday blows up Catalon's central power station, evaporating Waverider in the process.
He grabs Waverider's gauntlet, the time-travel technology.
It does show how clever Superman is in a pinch.
And perhaps dying is the best thing that Waverider ever accomplished?
Superman takes Doomsday to the end of time.
Thankfully (???) Waverider is able to reconstitute himself and join Superman and Doomsday.
Nice pages by Jurgens here showing the crazy environ, a mix of swirling colors and negative space.
Perhaps the only thing that could kill Doomsday is entropy, the passing of the universe.
And this is where I think Williamson is brilliant. For what is the Time Trapper if not the essence of Entropy. Somehow linking this ending to that villainous name is brilliant.
Did this ending influence Williamson's story? If I ever meet him, you know I am going to ask.
But that's it. The fight is over.
Doomsday is dead.
(You don't really believe that, do you???)
Thankfully Jurgens gives us the ending this issue needed. After page after page of brutal, bloody brawling, he gives us a the ending our hero needed.
Remember, this whole thing started when Superman had nightmares about Doomsday which reminded him of his childhood fears. But he was raised with love, a complete opposite of Doomsday's life.
And we see the transition in Superman's life, an evolution of love from Ma to Lois, a different sort of evolution than Doomsday's. This isn't the end of time. This is the beginning of the future.
So if you went into this mini-series hoping to see a fight, you got it here. Superman is bloodied and sword-wielding. People and planets are immersed in death and destruction. If you went into this hoping to learn more about Doomsday, you got a belly full. And if you went into this for some sort of better closure for the Death of Superman arc, I think you got that too.
This is a solid comic mini-series and has somehow withstood the test of time and reboots. I am glad I revisited.
Overall grade: A
5 comments:
Action and Absolute Superman were both released this week.
Plus Supergirl got her usual couple of panels flying around in DC vs. Vampires: World War V. At least she's still human-ish - I mean non-vampire - which is more than many in that series can say. And, nice to see her working as a team with Mary Marvel. Looks like they are smashing through Parademons. Literally. Just flying through hordes of them, blasting them into pieces.
T.N.
Didn't know she was in Vampires because I thought she died at the end of the last one! Sounds like I am not missing too much.
I'd prefer that we leave characters like this mysterious. but I do understand the commercial and creative impulses to fill in all the blanks.
It is an interesting creative decision.
'Funeral for a Friend' and 'Reign of the Supermen' are better stories than 'Death of Superman' which is just the Doomsday brawl.
In 'Death of ..' Doomsday feels like a tool for the writer. To tell Funeral and Reign, Superman has to die. To die, we need something to kill him ... Doomsday.
I think left alone it would seem a bit empty.
But be careful what I wish for. He has been overused. Maybe he'd be better as a one story plotpoint!
Many people thought she did. If Rosenberg was aware of that, then even if that's not what he had intended, you'd think he'd have made it a big reveal when she appeared in World War V (in the 2nd or 3rd issue, I think). But no, she just was there, like no big deal. I found that disappointing. Anyway, the series is far from great.
T.N.
Post a Comment