Superboy #6 & Superman/Batman Annual #5

Okay, back to DC with parts four and five(or is it five and six?) of the Reign of Doomsday storyline. Onward!

Superman/Batman Annual #5:

Summary: This was a strange one, and a bit hard to review, but I'll try my best... In JLA #55, Doomsday attacked Alpha Lantern Boodikka because Cyborg Superman was hiding inside of her. Now it's important to note that Doomsday showed no interest in Supergirl... Anyway, this issue gets started with Cyborg Superman reforming and using his mastery over machinery to take control of the JLA Watchtower. Cyborg Supes and the Watchtower attack Doomsday, while Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue)and Supergirl run for cover since SG's powers were failing her. Bats figures that the magical defenses inside the Watchtower were affecting SG, and as such they head into the medical lab, which was programmed to serve as a panic room of sorts. Sure enough, once SG enters the med lab she immediately feels better. Bats realizes that he has to get to the other side of the Tower to shut down the magical defenses. Easier said than done, as Cyborg Supes and Doomsday are tearing the Tower apart. While Cyborg Supes has a death wish, he doesn't want to die to Doomsday(um, beggars can't be choosers...), since killing Doomsday would make him better than Superman in his deranged mind. While Bats is dodging traps and shrapnel, SG gets scanned in the med lab and discovers that she's dying... But wait! After getting a second opinion from a holographic version of Kent Nelson, SG learns that she wasn't REALLY dying, only that she blamed herself for the destruction of New Krypton and wanted to die. While SG is dealing with that revelation, Bats makes it to the control panel he was looking for, but is interrupted by Doomsday and Cyborg Supes, who nearly splatter Bats all over the wall. While Bats in collecting himself, Cyborg Superman blasts Doomsday to pieces... But wait! Doomsday reanimated himself and becomes Cyborg Doomsday, stealing Cyborg Supes powers in the process. With Cyborg Supes pretty much powerless, Cyborg Doomsday mops the floor with him. By now, Bats has deactivated the magic field and SG rushes into the room, battering Cyborg Doomsday into near submission. Cyborg Supes doesn't want to see SG steal his thunder and defeat Doomsday, so he tries to blast her from behind, but is interrupted by Bats. The blast misses SG, but distracts her long enough to be taken out by Doomsday. Doomsday then KO's Cyborg Supes and teleports away with both of them, leaving Bats behind trying to figure out what happened, ending this one.

Thoughts: Did you ever wonder why this series wasn't called Batman/Superman? I have. I mean, you'd think they'd have the title in alphabetical order... Or hell, I'd think that with 29 different monthly titles, Batman is the more popular hero, and thus he'd get top billing... Weird... Oh wait, I'm supposed to be talking about THIS issue, aren't I? I REALLY liked the parts of this story that dealt with the Cyborg Superman/Doomsday battle. At first I was a bit annoyed that Cyborg Supes didn't want Doomsday to kill him(wanting to die is Cyborg Supes whole shtick!), but James Robinson fixed that by stating that Cyborg Supes didn't care if he died or not fighting Doomsday, but that he wanted to prove that he was better than his arch-nemesis Superman by defeating the one creature to actually “kill” Supes, thus explaining why he didn't simply lay down for Doomsday. The scenes with Batman weren't bad, as he had to race through the possessed Watchtower, battling against all sorts of holographic JLA enemies, but the scenes with Supergirl REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this issue... A lot. The sub-story with SG wanting to die/craving forgiveness for what happened on New Krypton seemed like the sort of thing that should have been explored in the JLA comic(or Supergirl's own title for that matter). It added NOTHING to this story, and if anything, was a distraction from the main event, Cyborg Supes vs Doomsday. On top of that, Doomsday had NO interest in SG in JLA #55, but kidnapped her in this issue... She wasn't a part of the Reign of Superman storyline, so I have NO idea why she was here, or why she was kidnapped for that matter... Ignoring the SG stuff, this was an excellent comic. Unfortunately, I can't ignore it, so instead, this was simply a very good comic...

Score: 8 out of 10.How did he grow his cape from metal?


Superboy #6:

Summary: SB and his BFF/true love(come on, you KNOW it's true!), Red Robin have a heart to heart on the roof of Titans Tower where SB vents about Wonder Girl, Smallville and being on the Teen Titans. Red Robin hears SB out, and offers him some advice, but SB still feels that Smallville may not be the right place for him. With that he flies off and heads to Detroit, since the Motor City didn't seem to have it's own costumed protector. As SB is sightseeing, he's blindsided by Doomsday. Needless to say this shocks SB(I guess he wasn't reading the other Reign of Doomsday issues), who tries to take the fight away from populated areas. Unfortunately, for every strategy SB comes up with, Doomsday counters, eventually using SB's tactile telekinesis against him. From there, Doomsday basically beats the ever-loving hell out of SB for several pages until SB is finally rendered unconscious. With SB defeated, Doomsday slings SB over his shoulder and teleports to a mysterious spacecraft far away. Some stuff also happened with Simon Valentine: Boy Genius and The Atom Who SHOULD Have Died, Ray Palmer, but since I hate both characters, I choose to ignore all that!

Thoughts: Well why the hell couldn't SB #5 have been more like this?! This was a thousand times better then the travesty that last issue was. You got some character advancement when SB talked to Red Robin, you got some back story advancement with Simon Valentine: Boy Genius(although as I stated, I hate him...) and then you got a whole mess of pages featuring Doomsday murderizing Superboy! I really didn't have any complaints here at all. And after last issue, that's a REALLY good thing!

Score: 9 out of 10.Kiss him... Kiss him...