Written by Steve Lyons
Illustrated by Ed BenesIn this issue – the start of “Reign of Doomsday” — Doomsday has returned to Metropolis, and Steel is the only hero who can keep him from destroying the city! But how can Steel, a normal human, possibly hope to stop the monster who killed Superman?
While I’m not too excited for DC’s upcoming “Reign of Doomsday” crossover, I figured I would give this one-shot a chance at convincing me. Follow the cut to see if it succeeded.
Now, I’m supposed to be reviewing this as a stand alone issue. But when it comes to crossovers, I like to look at the whole thing. And, in this case, I don’t like what I’m seeing. Doomsday, the monster that killed Superman (in case you didn’t know), is back. And I care… why? I can count the times that Doomsday was used well on one finger: when he appeared, killed Superman and died. He never, ever should have been brought back after that. As a fan of the New Krypton arc, the only thing I didn’t like about it was when Doomsday came back to job to the Kryptonians, as this just brought him back to public attention. Now, we have this crossover. This is obviously just my opinion, but I have a feeling that I’m the only one who thinks this.
That being said, I obviously came into this issue with a lot of prejudice. My sincerest apologies to Mr. Lyons, as I’m going to have to end up reviewing his comics debut concerning a story that — assumedly — is editorial’s, not his. From a technical perspective, this comic wasn’t bad. There was a good, steady pace, flashbacks that were used in an effective manner (that is, in a way that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the story, which is a common rookie mistake), and some pretty solid dialogue. My one big gripe, though, was Steel’s internal monologue. We hear of the rule “show, don’t tell” often, and a lot of Steel’s narration could have been shown to us, rather than told. It particularly sucked the life out of the battle between Steel and Doomsday, killing any semblance of energy the action-packed scene should have had. Beyond that, though, I don’t have any complaints about the technical aspect of Lyons’ writing.
The art, brought to us by the fairly well-known Ed Benes, gave the issue a bit of help. Even though I pooh-pooh his relatively frequent over-sexualization of female characters, there is no denying that he is a good artist. He’s no J.H. Williams III or Cameron Stewart, but he draws and he draws well. Benes may be far from ground-breaking, but nearly everything he draws is aesthetically pleasing, and this issue was no exception.
Eventually, though, we have to face the story itself. There’s really not much more I can say besides “meh.” Villain that hasn’t been a major focus for a while shows up, throws down with and beats a C-Lister to kick off an event? Can’t say I’m too interested. It’s unfair to fully judge Lyons as a writer for an issue like this, so I’ll keep an eye out for whatever he releases next to make my judgments on him as a writer. I will not, however, be on the look out for the next installment of this crossover.
Final Verdict: 4.5 – Browse
