Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey

Today’s story is a bit of a triple feature. See, I got three major villains for this one but only really pose a threat. They are Doomsday, Darkseid, and Cyborg Superman (or Hank Hensahw). I might as well start off with the one who’s not the villain of the story: Darkseid. Darkseid first appeared in Forever People #1 (1970) and is probably one of DC’s best villains. He’s a New God and the despot of the planet, Apokalips. While he’s more of a general DC villain, he’s been most associated with Superman since his inception. In fact, Superman faced off against him a few times in the Post-Crisis, but this isn’t one of those stories. Outside the comics, we’ve seen him in animation and kind of in live action.

Here are the main threats of the story. Doomsday first appeared in Superman: the Man of Steel #18 (1992). He was an unknown alien threat that woke up, caused destruction, and killed Superman. Doomsday also died in that battle but he was last seen floating in space… and laughing. The person who put him there was Hank Henshaw, aka The Cyborg Superman. He first appeared in Adventures of Superman #466 and was basically a Fantastic Four homage that went terribly wrong. He has the power to control technology and has a hatred for Superman. He tried to sully Superman’s name by pretending to be him during “Reign of the Supermen.” We all know how that turned out. He’s also one of the villains who succeeded in destroying Coast City, the home of Hal Jordan.

Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey was pretty much the sequel to the storyline. Instead of occuring the main series, it was made into a 3-part miniseries. I can’t tell where it takes place with the time-wise but it’s definitely before Zero Hour. Dan Jurgens handled the writing and layouts. Brett Breeding handled the finishes. So, let’s see Superman go "all-Last Action Hero" on some baddies.

Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey

Story and Layouts: Dan Jurgens

Finished Art: Brett Breeding

Letters: Bill Oakley

Color Guides: Greg Wright

SYNOPSIS

Clark is having nightmares about his battle with Doomsday and tells Lois about them. He’s worried about who might find Doomsday’s body. There’s also the fear that Doomsday could come back like he did.  To ease his fears, he decides to search for monster. He says his goodbyes to Lois and heads off to find the Linear Men. Since they are supposed to protect time or some crap like that, they refuse to help. Waverider has his misgivings, though. Meanwhile, a spaceship has found the asteroid that Cyborg Superman tied Doomsday on. When they bring it on, Doomsday wakes up and kills everyone on the ship. When the ship lands at its destination, Apokalips, he breaks out and causes more havoc.

While Doomsday is doing his thing, a chip on Doomsday that contains what’s left of the Cyborg Superman activates. He’s able to cobble together a body using Apokalips’ technology and his knowledge of Kryptonian DNA. When Henshaw’s reborn as The Cyborg (not this guy), he too starts wrecking stuff. Darkseid decides that enough is enough ,so he meets Doomsday on the battlefield and uses his Omega Beams. Doomsday shockingly shrugs that off and beats the crap out of the New God. DeSaad contacts Earth to warn the New Gods there that Doomsday is around. Superman hears the call, grabs a Mother Box, and heads to Apokalips to face the beast.

Yeah... not as menacing without the "S".

When Superman makes it to Apokalips, he runs right into Henshaw and they fight. He sees Doomsday but before he can do anything, DeSaad Boom Tubes Doomsday off of Apokalips and to Calaton, the world that originally imprisoned Doomsday. He also finds a beaten Darkseid and uses his Mother Box to heal him for some reason. Yeah, even Superman will let a cool villain like Darkseid not get that embarrassed. Meanwhile, Henshaw starts to use Apokalips’ technology against itself. He plans to turn it into another Warworld.

Waverider of the Linear Men shows up and decides that he’ll help Superman by showing him Doomsday’s origin. He shows him a world that was experimenting with genetic engineering. The scientists would create a baby, send it out into the wild, let it get killed by beasts, gather the remains, and then start the whole process over again. Years pass and the being, Doomsday, becomes impervious to the creatures of this world. He eventually turned on the scientists that created him and was able to get off of the planet. For years, he caused destruction on other worlds until he was beaten by Calaton’s creation, The Radiant. They imprisoned him and shot him into space where he somehow ended up on Earth. We all know how that story went.

This feels like peak 90's and in a good way too!

We then jump out of flashback since Henshaw is still wrecking the place. Since Henshaw can control technology, he’s still a pretty serious threat. Superman and Darkseid reluctantly team up to take him down. It’s definitely a battle to behold. Henshaw even adds more to his body to take down the titans but this is Darkseid and Superman we’re talking about. Darkseid “Omegas” Henshaw into oblivion and the day is… saved? I mean, this is Apokalips, so things won’t get too much better. There’s also the fact that Darkseid used his power to trap Henshaw’s essence in a small ball.

Okay, what's the loincloth for?

With that threat over, Superman and Waverider “Boom Tube it” over to Calaton where Doomsday has wrecked shop. He even killed The Radiant, the being who defeated him long ago. Superman realizes that even he may not be able to beat Doomsday. Still, the Man of Steel goes into battle sporting a new suit and gadgets that his Mother Box created for him. It’s here where Waverider informs him that Doomsday originated on Krypton. Superman uses all his arsenal against Doomsday and even tries to outsmart the beast. Unfortunately, he falls. Waverider even gets into the action and falls.

Their battle ends up destroying Calaton’s power battery. Doomsday still stands while Superman is struggling. In a last moment, Superman finds Waverider’s teleporting device and he uses it to transport Doomsday and himself to the end of time. All seems lost for Superman until Waverider (who somehow re-formed himself) comes to save him. They leave Doomsday there to being destroyed by time itself. Waverider brings Superman back to Earth and the Mother Box heals him as well. With the threat “finally” over, Clark goes to see Lois.

OPINION

While this isn’t the best story ever, it’s still a nice follow-up to the Death/Return storyline. It picks up the literal floating plot in space and does something cool with it. Superman comes off here as aggressively determined to find Doomsday and that’s something I don’t see every day from him. He knows what Doomsday could do in the wrong hands. Even though he’s actually afraid of the beast, he faces him head-to-head. As you can tell, this isn’t a 3-part adventure of Superman and Doomsday duking it out. We build up to that moment and it was a pretty awesome fight. Yeah, Superman’s dressed like a refugee from a Jack Kirby book, but it’s cool.

"Here I am,

Rock you like a hurricane!"

It was nice to get Darkseid and his world involved too. It was interesting that he wasn’t a villain here. Yeah, he’s a bad guy, but it was his world being destroyed. That’s not a good thing for the folk under his rule. I also liked the idea that Doomsday is this long-time threat to the galaxy since a lot of folk (even Darkseid) knew about him. While it was weird that he’s also from Krypton, I was fine with that revelation.  Henshaw’s role in the story felt like an add-on we didn’t necessarily need, but was nice to see him pop back up. The guy did destroy Coast City, after all.

The artwork was brilliant. I can’t say that it’s Jurgens’ best work, but it is really good. Superman looked awesome. Yeah, he’s sporting the long hair (not a mullet) but it’s cool. It’s definitely cool in an 80’s action movie type of way. Pretty much everyone looked good. Darkseid, when he wasn’t beaten, looked good. Heck, Lois even looked good in those pajamas… what? She did! The action was even more epic than Superman’s actual death  at points. The inks and colors just added to the coolness of it all. The artwork is pretty much flawless though I do wonder what that loincloth on Superman’s new suit was supposed to do.

There really isn’t much I don’t like the story. I will say that the dialogue can be a bit much to get through at times, but it isn’t all bad. Also, I have a tough time believing that Darkseid can get beat by Doomsday. Superman can barely beat Darkseid himself. Still, it is written that Doomsday can adapt. Outside of those things and other nitpicks (did Doomsday really have to come from Krypton?), this was nice.

Darkseid, come on! Don't let him do that to you!

In the end, this was a nice follow-up to one of Superman’s biggest storylines. It’s not the best Superman story, but it is a nice one that has Superman kicking lots of butt. Doomsday is a nice villain for Superman. Even though there’s not much to him mentally, he’s a major threat physically. He’s like the Hulk in a lot of ways. Whenever he shows up, that’s not good. He's even taken down the JLA, so you know he's serious. Cyborg Superman is also a nice threat with his power to control technology. He’s not the best of the bunch, though.

As for Darkseid, he’s awesome. There’s a reason he’s one of my favorite villains in general. Even when he’s not the villain, he’s still exudes coolness. Heck, he rules his own planet! All of the villains, when used well, can be pretty cool. Well, I’m outta here. Next time, the villain may not be as cool as these cats. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and stay safe out there. While we don't have a Doomsday, we do have these ridiculous hurricanes and God knows what else.