Superman: The Man of Steel #19 (January 1993)
Superman: The Man of Steel #19 (January 1993)
Doomsday hits Metropolis! Literally. He goes to Metropolis, and hits everything in it. Metropolis, however, is hitting him back:
(I love Doomsday's "What'd I do?!" face.)
After a dumb wrestling commercial apparently gave him the impression that Metropolis is the punching capital of the world, Doomsday has headed there for some action. The entire issue is about how pretty much every inhabitant of Metropolis we know tries to take down Doomsday: Maggie Sawyer and the Special Crimes Unit shoot him with their Cable-esque guns, Project Cadmus sends some flying goons with experimental weapons – even Bibbo, Professor Hamilton, and his darling Mildred attack him with a giant laser that Ham probably whipped up in five minutes. Supergirl finally decides to get off her butt and go help against Doomsday, but it, uh… it doesn't go well for her.
Of course, none of that makes much of a dent on the guy. Doomsday's rage is felt all across Metropolis, from the top of LexCorp Tower to the Underworlders' poop-filled subterranean homes. Superman is doing what he can, but between various explosions, buildings falling on him, and Doomsday stabbing him with his sticky bones, he's looked better. Still, when everything else fails, Superman is determined to stop him – in his own words, "even if it kills me."
NEXT ISSUE: It kills him.
Plotline-Watch:
Sorry for the larger than average images, especially to those of you on dial-up, but the ongoing panel countdown is currently at two panels per page. What's next? One panel in every page?! (Yeah.)
At one point, Doomsday crashes into the Underworld and accidentally liberates the three Warworld criminals who were imprisoned there last issue. The leader tries to recruit Doomsday into his cause… to which Doomsy responds by killing all three with one punch. Storyline over!
A running theme this issue is that everyone offers a different theory about where Doomsday came from:
Dubbilex of Project Cadmus wonders if Cadmus themselves could have created Doomsday and reads his mind to find out, but all he sees in there is senseless destruction. Presumably it looks a lot like Dawn of Justice.
Professor Hamilton thinks Doomsday could be a contingency weapon left over from the recent Warworld invasion. (More about this in Don Sparrow's section below.)
As Superman saves them from a Doomsday-caused explosion, Keith the Unlucky Orphan thinks he could be a Frankenstein monster while Myra the Orphanage Lady calls him the "Devil incarnate".
Supergirl has just enough time to think "Must be an alien" before getting turned into goo.
And finally, Lex Jr. explains that he had nothing to do with Doomsday before anyone can ask him. His theory is that it was Superman's presence what attracted Doomsday to Metropolis. Ridiculous! (SPOILERS: he's right.)
Incidentally, if you're confused about why Supergirl turns into silly putty when Doomsday punches her: he punched her so hard that she reverted back to her original protoplasmic form, which I believe we hadn't seen since all the way back in Superman #22 (discounting flashbacks).
His "pal" is dying out there, but Jimmy Olsen is more concerned about the sick photos he's getting. That kid has no soul.
More commentary (and EXCLUSIVE art!) from shameless Jimmy Olsen apologist Don Sparrow, after the jump:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
Yikes. The covers for this storyline, as we’ve been covering it, have been pretty coy about revealing Doomsday. No more. Here we get an extremely (and literally) in-your-face view of the monster, and it’s one of Bogdanove’s best covers ever. The texture of the bone spurs, and the elephantine skin and general three-dimensionality makes Doomsday seem all too real.
I think that Jurgens and Ordway (artists on the background of this very website, presently) are the best Doomsday artists, but man, Bogdanove and Janke give them a run for their money here. The double page splash of Superman smashing into Doomsday’s back again makes Doomsday look so real, and truly frightening. As we’ve been mentioning, the panel count per page is decreasing as we approach next week’s issue, and this week we’re down to just two panels per page, which is both a challenge (especially to fit in all the dialogue in certain exchanges), but also it’s a showcase for these artists to really let loose in the larger space.
Page 7’s very Fleischer-esque Superman holding up girders is a great image, and there are hints of the toll the battle is taking in Superman’s bloodied lip, torn cape, and tousled hair.
This issue keeps pace with the others in terms of bloodiness. While I never loved the Underworlder stories, even I was shocked and grossed out to see their heads reduced to black liquid with an annoyed swat of Doomsday’s arm (I’m thinking, especially in this issue, that it must have been easier to get away with a lot of blood, and still be a Comics Code Authority approved book if it’s black rather than red).
We see more of Doomsday’s lethal inventiveness, as he just happens to catch a power line to ignite the gas, and level an entire building on page 11, which gives credence to the theory recently shared on the blog, that Doomsday can “sense” things, like an opportunity to do harm, or the most populated area nearby. It’s also a great job of drawing a whole neighbourhood, which must be one of the most challenging things to do as an artist. [Max: He's also teasing the Conduit storyline! He really is smarter than he looks.]
Speaking of art, my contribution this week is a redraw of my pick for PANEL OF THE WEEK, which is on page 13, where Supergirl rebels against the constant, controlling pressure from Lex Luthor II and heads off to face Doomsday. There’s so much going on here, but it’s such a bummer that a noble and goodhearted person like Supergirl would feel the need to apologize for the annoyance of helping Superman save Metropolis. Not only that, but she has to interrupt Lex in the middle of his Donald-Trump-like rant about outsiders like Superman being a draw for super-powered dangers. The whole abusive boyfriend shtick is something that had developed so slowly and subtly that I almost hadn’t taken notice of it, but it’s actually been very deftly inserted into these pages. Add to that the possibility that, knowing how Doomsday’s strength seems to grow/evolve based on how long he’s fighting an adversary, the combined might of Superman and Supergirl (and Maxima and whoever else) might have actually stopped him, but for Lex’s passive-aggressive and controlling behaviour. And that’s why I chose this quieter dramatic moment as my re-imagination image of the week.
The panel of Superman losing his grip on Doomsday just looks so painful, and again shows that nothing on Doomsday is accidental–maybe he developed the long elbow spurs to avoid this very kind of airborne attack.
The image on the next page is another haunting one, as Doomsday smashes Supergirl so hard she can’t even maintain her form, and reverts to her protoplasmic state. The image of Doomsday’s knuckle claw straining through the flesh of her face is just awful to look at, and it’s made worse by the colouring error that makes us think that it’s an eyeball flying off of her, rather than “merely” protoplasm (indeed, we see as she falls that both her eyes are intact, if frighteningly close to detaching).
The next couple pages, of ordinary people trying to take the fight to Doomsday are inspiring (and that explosion on Hamilton’s rooftop is very well drawn–though Hamilton and Mildred sure have a lengthy, in-depth conversation as they fall!) Page 18 is a great page, as we really see how beaten down Superman is–hair messed up, side spattered with blood, but he still manages to shield our favourite Metropolis orphans from harm.
Lastly the panel on page 21, of Superman clocking Doomsday is a great one. It looks like Superman is exerting maximum effort, and it’s heartening to see actual damage being done to the seemingly unstoppable Doomsday.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
As exciting as this storyline has been, I’m glad it’s nearly at an end, just because of the extreme level of violence, which is normally out of character for the book. I get that it’s supposed to be jarring, and provides a contrast from the usual Superman storyline, but panels like that construction worker getting his neck snapped is pretty grim stuff.
GODWATCH!: Not that many this week. Lois calls out “Oh, Lord, where’s Superman?” on page 6, but that’s about it. [Max: The "other guy" gets a mention in Myra's dialogue, though.]
This comic might be the source of the aggressive rumour of the time that Doomsday was sent by Brainiac at the end of the Panic in the Skies storyline (though the source of that theory, Professor Hamilton still references the Swarm, which was the real failsafe released by Brainiac, that a lot of people thought contained Doomsday when we saw him hit the switch).
Probably the most foreshadowing of any of the other issues, as virtually every thought Superman has refers to him dying.
Ma and Pa Kent helplessly watching Superman’s fight is a haunting thought, and raises a question: do they regularly keep tabs on his adventures, or are they only tuned in on this one because it seems so dire, and important? Superman would have to be on TV in some form every day, and it makes me wonder if his parents would seek it out, or become so accustomed to it that they may not make a point out of checking it out. [Max: Well, Ma used to keep a scrapbook of his exploits, but we know how that turned out…]