Customer Reviews

Superman/Doomsday Omnibus

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Back in the early 90's, DC comics came up with one of the greatest marketing promotions in the history of comics...They planned to kill Superman. And thus over the course of a number of different issues and titles, Superman faced off against a threat far greater than he had ever faced. A mysterious, monstrous creature named Doomsday, whose origin was shrouded in mystery. A being who wiped the floor with the entire Justice League and did the unthinkable...he, or it, killed Superman. Well, of course it was a big media event and the issue where Superman died sold a bazillion copies. Sure, we comic fans knew that it's very rare that a character truly dies and DC certainly wasn't going to kill off the franchise. But it did what it set out to do, namely sell a lot of comics and generate a lot of PR. The trouble was it wasn't a great story. What was Doomsday? Where did he come from? How come we never heard of him before? Those questions remained unanswered in favor of basically one big slugfest where lots of things get destroyed.

Now in fairness, in the introduction to this book, writer Dan Jurgens who wrote the original story states that that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to give Superman a villain who could go toe-to-toe with him. This Superman Doomsday Omnibus collects the sequels (and prequels) to the monumental storyline. The initial sequel from Superman Doomsday Hunter/Prey # 1 - 3 is actually superior to the original Doomsday storyline. Superman is actually having nightmares about the creature and shows genuine fear. Convinced that Doomsday still lives he sets out in space to find him. His instincts were right as not only has the menace survived, but he's now on Darkseid's world of Apokolips. Even Darkseid cannot withstand Doomsday's power and he's severely defeated in battle. Superman finally learns the origin of Doomsday. He was created through a decades long process of evolution some 250,000 years ago that constantly died but became stronger each time he was re-born genetically, until he killed his creators.

I found Hunter/Prey vastly superior because it DID finally reveal Doomsday's origin, rather intelligently, and there was a definite suspense about the book that the first lacked. I mean, we all knew that Superman was going to die long before the issue came out. The sequel at least has some mystery and as Doomsday had once again evolved to become more powerful and you wondered how Superman was going to survive and defeat the creature.

The next portion of the book is actually some nicely done prequels which unfortunately present some problems. In these tales we see Doomsday first encounter Darkseid some 245,000 years ago and yet in the opening Hunter/Prey story, Darkseid clearly acts as if it's their first encounter. Then we see Doomsday battle the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe. He even kills hundreds of Green Lanterns. Yet no one seems to know who or what Doomsday was just a year or so earlier in the original Death of Superman storyline. You'd think someone might remember a monster that killed hundreds of Green Lanterns even if it was thousands of years in the past.

In the Doomsday Wars the creature is back again, this time rescued from his fate in Hunter/Prey by a Coluan named Prin Vnok working with Brainiac. Their sinister plan? Transfering Brainiac's consciousness into the indestructible body of Doomsday. Seeing Doomsday actually talk in complete sentences is surreal to say the least. Another story finds Superman actually having to ally himself with Doomsday to battle an even more serious threat called Imperiex. There is one final story but you might be getting the jist of the problem here. Each time Doomsday appears his threat is diminished. DC had the potential for a great end to a great villain if they had let things lie after Hunter/Prey but they couldn't resist bringing the creature back again and again. This is much the same thing Marvel did with Galactus. Galactus was never more terrifying or as much as a threat as he was in Fantastic Four # 48 - 50. Heck, Doctor Strange even took Galactus down single-handedly once.

Despite these problems, I still recommend the Omnibus, if for nothing more than the Hunter/Prey story and the prequels, which are quite good despite the inconsistencies.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

The Superman: Doomsday Omnibus features the sequel to the Death of Superman, as well as various prequels to the DC mega event from the early 90's that saw the Man of Steel bite the big one. Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey finds the Man of Steel learning that Doomsday is still alive and on Apokalips causing problems for Darkseid. This chapter reveals Doomsday's origin as well, as the two go toe to toe once again. While this section of the Omnibus is great on it's own, it's the other issues collected here that are disappointing. Among others, they feature a past meeting between Doomsday and Darkseid, as well as Doomsday slaughtering the Green Lantern Corps some years before. While these stories are compelling, they are basically non-sensical and make no sense for continuity's sake either. Doomsday Wars is by far the worst part of the book, which finds Superman and Doomsday becoming unlikely allies. While the Doomsday Omnibus has it's moments to be sure, the overall package is a mixed bag. There's solid action and great artwork throughout the Omnibus, but whether or not it's worth picking up is entirely up to you.

The first half of the Doomsday compilation rocked. It was great learning the history of Doomsday (and what a rich history). It nicely ties together why these two arch enemies must rematch, and the action on the rematch is great. Unfortunately, the second half of the book is a disappointment. DC kept on resurrecting Doomsday for sales - and in the process ruins the legend of Doomsday. The low point was the final story where Lex Luther has resurrected Doomsday. The artwork was terrible; the story made no sense; and Doomsday no longer is the force to be feared. Superman barely breaks a sweat finishing him off - which is absurd becomes Doomsday cannot be beaten the same way twice.

One of the best Superman books I've ever read, holds up to the classic Death of Superman saga well.

This has to be one of the most exiting, action packed, informative, cool artistic comic in omnibus format I have got in my hands. I L-O-V-E-D the Hunter/Pray saga. I think only that arc is woth having this entire book. Finally we get the so precious answers about Doomsday's origin and some other subjects not yet touched in Death of Superman or Funeral or even Return of Superman. The rest of the stories are pretty good too, but the art not always do a good job. My real big problem with this is the final story, Doomsday Rex, which is an entire and complete anti-climactic end for the product.

I won't give any spoilers, but you'll understand once you get it. Anyway, beyond that, I think this Superman omnibus is strong and is a good purchase for the Amazon price above.

A good next episode to the Death of Superman. Its a compilation of follow up stories with Doomsday involved. And every one is a really excellent rematch with Superman.

I was never a Superman comics guy (strictly Batman), but like many, did read the Death of Superman series. While nothing will top that, this was pretty solid. However, as the comic progresses, the stories get weaker and weaker. I was under the impression this was a compliation similar to the original. However, this series ends about 1/3 of the way through, and then there are subsequent stories with different writers and artists which are not as good.

Also, I am not that into aliens, time travel, other worlds, etc. However, I get that if you are coming up with enemies that will challenge Superman, you probably need a lot of this as he would cut through earth's mortal villains pretty quickly. Still, there was an awful lot of this here and some of it was over the top.

However, the core Superman vs. Doomsday stuff is really good, and the origin of Doomsday is excellent. Not bad for a sequel that has no hope of living up to the orginial (think Jaws 2 or Matrix Reloaded).

With 400-plus pages of prequels and sequels to the classic stories on the death and return of Superman, this collection becomes a mixed bag of oftentimes muddled story lines, but solid artwork.

The stories do not flow together, though there is some outstanding material on the "early" years of Doomsday and an interesting meeting between Doomsday and Darkseid. But there are also some baffling pieces on Doomsday squaring off against the Green Lantern Corps and the pairing up of Superman and Doomsday. The book includes Superman: The Doomsday Wars #1-3, Superman/Doomsday: Hunter Prey, Doomsday Arrival #1, Adventures of Superman #594 and Superman #175.

This is not an essential volume to further appreciate an iconic series, but it has enough tidbits to provide a few solid angles.

Doomsday is just painful to look at and never says anything of interest and no two cartoonists manage to draw him the same way. I'd love to see the DC "bible" on what he's supposed to look like, because as it stands now, they just throw down any old pile of gray blobs and white-blue cartilage knobs (and those teeth) and they say it's Doomsday. Well, to distinguish him from a stalagmite they surround him with giant red letters spelling out some mirthful defiant cry of power like HAHAHAHAHA that rings the entire page in horror.

Doomsday's retreat to Apockolips was the direst and dreariest story I've ever read in comics, and I got tired of Darkseid even before he showed up, so what else is there? It didn't make sense for Doomsday to invade the Green Lantern universe, because, well, it tears the continuity of the book into shreds, if noone in "The Death of Superman" was ever supposed to have seen DD before, and yet he had already been a legend for destroying Green Lantern's simple existence back during the Renaissance or whenever.

Superman has a great story though trying to save the premature baby of Lana Lang and Pete Ross. The story weaves back and forth between the present and the past, when Clark was about 17 or 18 I guess, and the Kents were about to lose their farm due to the death from freezing of all of their cattle. Now it looks as though Lana, who loved Clark back then and who loves Pete now (or does she?!?!), might lose her infant baby unless Superman can evade Doomsday's powers of following through the air, for Superman has been charged with bringing baby Ross to a powerful incubator. Eight weeks premature! And so cute. I didn't find Lana very cute though, not in these pictures, whoever drew her has a grudge against redheads.

I wanted to get the Death of Superman collection since it was first published. This is exactly what I wanted. It is a nice hardcover collection of the comics surrounding the Death of Superman.