Back Issue Box: Superman/Doomsday:Hunter/Prey #3

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.

On to the book.

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.

Back Issue Box: Superman/Doomsday:Hunter/Prey #1

Based on the recent Doomsday storyline in Josh Williamson's Superman book, I pulled out Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1. After all, the ideas of Doomsday resurrecting more powerful, his connection to Krypton, and the Radiant being from Catalon all are introduced here. As crazy as it sounds and as old as it makes me feel, this mini-series is 30 years old. two years after the Death of Superman storyline. 

It is hard to believe but at this point we really didn't know anything about Doomsday. We knew he seemed to be alive, strapped to a meteor that Cyborg Superman shot into space. But who was he? What was he? 

Legendary creative team of writer/artist Dan Jurgens and inker Brett Breeding decide to answer the question. But this isn't a straight A to B line. Jurgens has this mini-series travel throughout the DCU with guest stars and other villains and pretty big action sequences. 

In fact, this is a big enough story with those big Doomsday reveals, I am surprised this took place outside of the main titles. This gets the slick, square-bound Prestige format which works great. But that means this major event is in a mini-series away from the Triangle era books. Would you feel cheated if you didn't get this and found out Doomsday's origin was here? Or is it par for the course

I don't know if I would call this a great mini-series. But it is very good. And it certainly has had historical legs. This has stuck, as seen even last month.

On to the story.