Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Superman - Doomsday ::
by William the Bloody
In case you are completely oblivious to the major comic book events of the 1990s (which isn't necessarily bad because it means you managed to avoid Youngblood and Gen13), then let me fill you in on something. DC, one of the big comic book publishers, got it into its hive mind to kill its leading man, namely, Superman. It was a ploy to sell books of course, and it did. BIG TIME. Everyone knew it was coming, but HOW was it going to be done? Time and again Superman has been proven to be nearly invincible; unbeatable in his strength and power of character and goodness. Enter a character called Doomsday. Created specifically for the purpose of being bad-assy enough to off The Man of Steel, Doomsday and Supes duked it out across the pages of about seven titles in a throw-drown, dragged out fight scene that would put Dragonball Z to shame. Superman fought Doomsday until they both died.
That was then, this is now. DC recently issued this straight to DVD animated film in a revamp of that infamous Superman-Doomsday match up. For the purposes of this film's continuity, Lois Lane has been dating Superman, with him refusing to tell her his "other" name, despite the fact that she pretty much knows what it is anyway. Lex Luthor is doing some illegal mining somewhere outside of Metropolis, and at about two miles below the Earth's surface, the scientists find an alien craft. A holographic message displays, and even though it is in a language no one can understand, the message is clear: it's a warning. Moments later, the craft is ripped open by its single, gruesome occupant who immediately begins to massacre all of the people at the mining site. As this alien creature begins a path of utter destruction, it gets media coverage and the attention of Superman who was having some alone time with Lois in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman's robot butler searches the Kryptonian database and finds a match. This creature was created to be the ultimate weapon, only its creators had no way of controlling it. Instead of killing only their enemies, it would kill anything, anyone in front of it. It will not stop until it has extinguished all life. Superman knows he has to stop this monstrosity, and sets Lois down on the Daily Planet's roof on his way to do battle, hoping she'll stay safe. Lois being Lois, grabs Jimmy Olson, loyal photographer, and gets right where the action is, a front row seat to one of the battles of the century. Superman fights this monster above, below, and in Metropolis until finally, it stops moving and then, Superman dies in Lois' arms. There is a memorial service for the fallen hero, and crime is on the rise without The Man of Steel to keep it in check. Lois, who isn't one to sit idly by, gets involved in a hostage situation and in the middle of quietly freeing some school children, is discovered and sent falling off a skyscraper. To her amazement, she doesn't hit pavement, and is rescued midair by none other than our slain hero. But later that night when this Superman escorts Lois home, she feels something isn't quite right about him. Being dead for a time can change a person, but could it be that this isn't really Superman back from dead at all?
The Good: I'm a fan of animated comic book related movies, even the straight to DVD ones (re: Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Doctor Strange), so I was really looking forward to seeing this and was glad that I wasn't disappointed with it. When DC first put forth Batman: the Animated Series, it really raised my expectations for their animation, and Superman-Doomsday looks pretty darn good. The art is slightly modified from Bruce Tim's original animated Superman stuff and that's okay because this movie is supposed to viewed as separate anyway. The animation itself was very fluid and the depiction of the Doomsday vs. Superman fight was very well done. The shockwaves and dust clouds all looked amazing. Andrea Romano, DC's voice talent guru, does yet another lovely job with the celebrity voice talent. Anne Heche does a good Lois Lane and and James Marsters was a neat choice for Lex Luthor. Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly, for those keeping score at home) was an interesting pick for Superman, but after I got used it, fit pretty well. There were some moments in this which really stood out to me such as Lois and Jimmy watching the fight and suddenly we get a splash of Superman's blood, their rendering of Superman's cape on the pole post-Doomsday and when Lois goes to speak with Mrs. Kent after the battle.
The Bad: This was a big Superman animation project for DC, but unfortunately, it's no Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (which, in case you don't know,is awesome). I was hoping for a little bit more in the "Reign of the Supermen" (the comic book follow-up story to "Death of Superman" where various new heroes try to fill the Superman void) department than I got and I suppose that's okay, but meh. The way they drew Superman's face for this... he has these cheek accentuating creases for some reason. I think they're trying to make him look jolly and friendly ore something, but I didn't really care for that detail. Sometimes those face lines looked like they were in the wrong place. Some of the violence in this thing may actually catch you off guard!
All in all, I enjoyed this animated film very much. It was pretty cool considering it's DC's first animated property to score a PG-13 rating. A must see for the Superman enthusiast, animation appreciator, or comic book lover. It's less than 80 minutes wrong, so what you to lose from a rental?
B+
