Movie Talk - The Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen

Next up for the month is a return to DC’s Animated Movie Universe. While I’ve seen a few of them like the Batman ones and a couple of the Justice League ones, they haven’t been on my radar much. I don’t know if it’s the changes to the animation or the fact that they were heavily inspired by the New 52. While I did like that era of comics, it wasn’t all good. One thing that definitely piqued my interest was that they were going to do the Death and Return of Superman once again. Now, DC had tried this before, but Superman: Doomsday was just okay as a whole. It would’ve been nice if it felt like a true adaptation, though.

The WB released The Death of Superman in 2018 and it’s sequel, Reign of the Supermen, in 2019. The voice cast is more or less the same it’s been for this DC animated universe. We got Jerry O’Connell as Superman, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Jason O’Mara as Batman, and Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern.  There are some new voices too. Lois Lane is voiced by Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O’Connell’s wife. Lex Luthor is voiced by Rainn Wilson, Superboy is voiced by Cameron Mohonagan (Joker from Gotham), Steel (John Henry Irons) is voiced by Cress Williams (Black Lightning), and Patrick Fabian is Hank Henshaw.

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

Trade Tales! - Smallville Season 11: Guardian

Next up for this month, it’s time to revisit something cool. Smallville may not be one of my favorite TV shows, but it is at least in the top 20. The show went from showcasing the early days of Clark Kent to almost becoming a Superman show in itself. It definitely felt like that in the last few seasons when Clark actually got his crap together. I know the series finale disappointed some and I was a little underwhelmed as well. It was less “where is the suit” and more “this should be a little better” for me. I still enjoyed it in the end.

In 2012, DC was getting its digital release schedule together and one of the new series put out there was Smallville Season 11. The comic was released weekly digitally in parts and the whole story would be put into print the next month. The comic ended up getting written by Bryan Q. Miller, one of the show’s executive story editors. He pretty much stuck with the series until its end in 2015. The pencils and inks for this volume was provided by Pere Perez.

Here’s a quick recap or those who don’t remember the finale.  The forces of Apokalips were staging an invasion on Earth. Clark ultimately saved the day when he finally donned the traditional costume and literally pushed Apokalips out of Earth’s orbit. How he did that and how Apokalips was able to do that, I don’t remember. Also, Lex Luthor returned to the land of the living via cloning, Darkseid, and a Lionel Luthor from the alternate Earth. Unfortunately (for him since he knew Clark’s identity), his memories were somehow erased when he killed his illegitimate sister, Tess Mercer. Wow, that show got convoluted in the end. The comic series would take place six months after those events.

Smallville Season 11 Volume 1: Guardian

Writer: Bryan Q. Miller

Artist: Pere Perez

Letters: Saida Temofonte

Colors: Chris Beckett and Randy Mayor

Cover Artist: Cat Scaggs

Trade Tales! - The Return of Superman

So, I’ve have looked at lot of homages to Superman this month. My next four (yes, four) aren’t homages as much as they are replacements. That’s right, I’ve finally gotten to this part of the Death/Return of Superman story arc from the 90’s. The Return of Superman pretty much contains all of “Reign of the Supermen,” the arc that had four heroes posing as Superman. I’ve already looked at the Death and the Funeral and enjoyed them both. Today, I’ll be seeing how well this stacks up with the rest of the story line.

The trade more or less has every issue from “Reign of the Supermen.” We have Superman: The Man of Steel #22-26, Superman #78-82, The Adventures of Superman #500-505, Action Comics #687-691, and Green Lantern #46. Pretty much everyone from the previous arcs are here on the book. The biggest change is that Karl Kesel replaced Jerry Ordway as writer of The Adventures of Superman. We also have Gerard Jones, M.D. Bright, and Romeo Tangal for the Green Lantern tie-in. So, sit back because this may be a long one.

The Return of Superman

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonsen, Roger Stern, Karl Kesel, and Gerard Jones

Pencils: Dan Jurgens, John Bogdanove, Jackson Guice, Tom Grummett, and M.D. Bright

Inks: Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier, Doug Hazelewood, and Romeo Tangal

Colors: Glen Whitmore and Anthony Tomlin

Letters:  John Costanza, Albert DeGuzman, and Bill Oakley