Sometimes comics can be so silly, but when you dig a little deeper they’re way cool because the concept is much more complex than you first imagined. Case in point, Superman has a Doomsday virus that has made him look and act like Doomsday. Kind of stupid sounding admittedly, but is it good?
Action Comics (2011- ) #33 (DC Comics)
The book opens with Lana Lang and Steel jumping into a spaceship to figure out why everyone is dropping into a coma. Signals from their brains are being sent out into space. At the same time Superman is fully Hulked out…ahem, I mean has the Doomsday virus and is raging. He’s spent a good portion of his time smashing asteroids to “burn” the virus out of himself. That doesn’t seem to work, but when Supergirl offers up a villain to smash he decides maybe she’s right.
He sure is uggoz, but makes a good point.
Greg Pak writes this little ditty, and I can’t help but remember he was the guy behind Planet Hulk when reading this. Superman is basically dealing with the same thing Hulk does, which is controlling the rage and anger inside him. It’s also an identity story and touches on the idea that you’ll always be the same person, even under distress, you just need to find it. Considering Superman is always in control it’s a nice change of pace for the character. There’s also a scene where Doomsday himself speaks to Superman, but there’s a question as to whether it was really him or just Supes trying to talk himself into being heroic. The scene works because the Clark inside Superman is actually scared he may have killed thousands and it’s necessary for him to gain control through his rage to save them.
Cool spaceship.
The art by Aaron Kuder is pretty spot on and detailed, especially the outer space scenes. I don’t care much for the way Kuder draws the human characters, but Superdoom looks adequately gnarly and monstrous. There are times things feel claustrophobic, but for the most part the space scenes are rather cool, colorful and interesting to look at.
Is It Good?
While it feels way too much like a Hulk story, it still manages to work due to some interesting internal monologuing by Superman and a very real threat looming for Earth.
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