Superman: Doomsday and Beyond [Paperback]

Louise Simonson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1993

Beginning with Superman's epic confrontation with Doomsday in a battle that costs the Man of Steel his life, this adventure-filled story details as Superman's last thoughts, the disappearance of Superman's body, mysterious Superman sightings, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

As Doomsday surfaced from within the Earth, pounding his way toward Metropolis, nobody anticipated that Superman would finally meet his match--that the Man of Steel would have to risk his own life to put a stop to Doomsday's destructive rage. Now all the world is in mourning.

What will happen to lois Lane, Ma and Pa Kent, and the rest of humankind? Where is Clark Kent? And what about all the rumors of Superman's retum? Is Superman's body really missing from its tomb in Centennial Park? And who are the four mysterious super-beings, each claiming to be Superman?

Here, for the first time, is the complete story. Relive the events leading up to and following Superman's epic battle with Doomsday. And witness, at last, the ultimate fate of the world's greates super-hero.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Skylark (August 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553481681
• ISBN-13: 978-0553481686
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,426,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read the graphic novels instead, June 19, 2001

By 

Derek Lam (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Superman: Doomsday and Beyond (Paperback)

I am an avid Superman fan and received this book for Christmas. This is a prose adaptation of the Death of Superman, World Without a Superman, and Return of Superman arcs which appeared in the comics. Normally, when authors adapt comic books into prose, they expand upon what the characters are thinking, allowing the reader to peer into their innermost thoughts. Unfortunately, this adaptation falls far short, choosing instead to stay faithful to the superficial story.

However, this book might be appropriate for a younger child who lacks the patience to read all three graphic novels. This book does an excellent job of condensing all three graphic novels into one story, but unfortunately that's all it does.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weak Adaptation, October 10, 2005

By 

Mark Moore (Homosassa, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman: Doomsday and Beyond (Paperback)

This is a novelization of the comic books that dealt with Superman's death and eventual return back in the early 1990s. The author, Louise Simonson, also worked on some of the comic books. It was a big event, even getting coverage by the mainstream media. Unfortunately, there's little sense of that epic feeling here. Novelizations are supposed to expand on the original material and offer additional insights, but Ms. Simonson tries to adapt 40 issues of comic book material in too short a space. The official page count is 190. However, 9 of those pages are used to give a skimpy, chopped-up novelization of the 6-issue "Man of Steel" miniseries that gave us Superman's definitive (until "Birthright") origin in 1986, 10 of those pages go to black-and-white reproductions of artwork from the comic books, and 6 of those pages are completely blank. That means that Simonson tried to adapt, I believe, 880 pages of comic books into 165 pages of prose. It doesn't work very well. Now, this might not have been her fault. DC Comics or Bantam Books might have dictated it. Still, I'm going to give my opinions of what's wrong here and how it could have been done better. First of all, the prologue was unnecessary. When this book was published in 1993, "The Adventures of Superboy" had recently ended, and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" had recently started. There were enough references to Superman's past in both series - plus "Superman: The Movie" was available on home video - to pretty much guarantee that anyone that would pick up this book would be familiar with Superman's origin. Even if it differed somewhat from the comic books, so what? The basic story is still the same: Clark Kent was raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville and grew up to become Superman. You don't need to take up 9 pages for that. Besides, you get as much in the main story, anyway. Second, the full-page illustrations weren't needed. This is a prose adaptation. If I wanted to see the pictures, I'd read the comic books or trade paperback collections. There's a nice, 2-page, headshot gallery of the main characters before the story begins, so everyone will know what they look like. We don't need the full-page illustrations for that. Third, the blank pages are the biggest waste of all. They seem to be there for no reason other than to make sure that each chapter starts on an odd-numbered page. There are also 4 blank pages after the story ends and a full-page illustration before the prologue. These 30 pages could have been used to flesh out the story a little more. For example, the author often gives us an expository account of a conversation instead of giving us all of the dialogue. This is a pretty good indication that she was trying to crunch the story down to make it fit in 165 pages. Fourth, the font size is too big. If it was a little smaller, she could have fit more story into the book. Maybe they intentionally used a large font size to make the story seem longer than it really is. Who knows? I saw this book and got it used just for Supergirl, because I'm a Supergirl fanatic. I admit that I like her full-page, black-and-white illustration on page 65. Anyway, if you find this book cheap, go ahead and pick it up. It's an okay diversion for a few hours.

3.0 out of 5 stars Super Reader, August 5, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman: Doomsday and Beyond (Paperback)

This is more of a direct adaptation of some comics, than a novel. For that, as such, it is ok, but I wouldn't recommend it as a book. For a quick, inexpensive second-hand recap of the Death of Superman surrounding storylines, it is not bad. Especially if you prefer to consume this sort of material in a prose rather than a comic format, then this is the way to do it.