Goodness me, this is a busy issue, beginning with Superwoman Lois’s confrontation with the Time Trapper – a far future, evolved version of Doomsday. He wants Lois to do what Superman wouldn’t – kill him, so he can evolve to a higher form and rule eternity. He offers to give Superman a better future than the awful one he claims is coming. Her reaction?
The furious demigod tosses Lois out of his stasis field, back to the moment a blast from the Radiant – powerful foe of the current-day Doomsday, who has been running amok in Metropolis – was about to hit Jimmy Olsen.
Supeman, already enraged by the demands of the Radiant, spots the watching Time Trapper.
The Time Trapper looks set to get exactly what he wants… unless someone can calm things down.
That’s a very big gun Lex Luthor has…
As I say, there’s a lot going on – a mega battle involving not just Superman and Superwoman but Supergirl, Steel, Superwoman Lana, probably a dozen Superboys; Lex saving the day with a trick borrowed from a rival; an uncharacteristically trepidations Lois; and a very angry Silver Banshee, who blames Superwoman for Jimmy getting badly hurt in the battle while trying to get a photo of Metropolis’s latest Superperson.
Sorry girl, I think Time Trapper Doomsday got there first.
Now, here’s what I don’t get. Silver Banshee, Siobhan Smythe, knows Lois Lane – so why doesn’t she recognise her in her maskless Superwoman outfit? Were Lois doing the old Jay Garrick trick of vibrating her face at super-speed someone would have mentioned it. Then there’s her voice, Siobhan should know that too.
What bothers me more, though, is writer Joshua Williamson’s insistence at how angry Superman can get – he has artist Dan Mora draw him as not just with the cliched red eyes, but utterly crazed.
Yes, Superman gets angry. And Jimmy being badly hurt would hit him. But he’s fighting a battle to stop millions of his neighbours being killed – this is not how he would comport himself.
The Time Trapper business doesn’t conclude this issue, but it does bring a sighting of what look to be future Legionnaires (aren’t they all?).
But are they heroes or villains? Saturn Girl or Saturn Queen? Lightning Lad or Lightning Lord? Is that Colossal Boy too? I don’t think we’ve ever had a Colossal Person in the Legion of Super-Villains. The Time Trapper did mention, a few issues ago, ‘the Legion of Infinite Worlds’ killing him, so… goodies?
Dan Mora’s artwork continues to blaze with energy – how he manages to draw so many characters in such a detailed world month after month is beyond me. The storytelling is as clear as a bottled city, the characters distinctive and characterful. Doomsday is an ugly son of a gun in either incarnation.
Alejandro Sánchez colours the heck out of this comic, excelling in partnership with Mora when it comes to energy blasts and sundry power effects. A favourite colour moment this issue comes as Lex first his weapon.
Similarly, lettering stalwart Ariana Maher has an awful lot of fun every time someone yells.
Mora’s cover is lovely, even if I can’t get used to skinny Doomsday.
Superman #23 is another exciting episode in the Neverending Battle, teasing us with even more fun shenanigans to come for the Super Family. Excellent!
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Pretty sure the three at the end are Darkseid’s Omega Legion from the Absolute Universe. They made their first appearance at the end of the All In special flip book. That’s Imra, Rokk, and Garth. And Imra comes across as damn scary, especially with the whole ‘this…Superman’ line, considering the main Legion’s inspiration. But then…these were inspired by Darkseid..
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Oh well done, I’d forgotten that bit completely. Hope that thread is picked up soon.
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They’re definitely the Omega Legion. (at least based on the omega symbol on their uniforms). So at the very least, that story point from the All In flip book is being addressed.
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I didn’t even recognise the Omega symbol, it reminded me of the British Heart Foundation logo.
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Oh dear! Darkseid runs the British Heart Foundation??
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It makes me smile that every time DC shut off the multiverse, within a few months they’ve found a way to replicate its effects! It was one of the things I rolled my eyes about when I read the write ups of Absolute Power.
Personally I like a multiverse as long as it doesn’t drive every story, in the same way I don’t mind other colours of lantern as long as it doesn’t drive every story. It’s a nice tool that works better the more sparingly it’s used so I don’t think there’s a need for the continuous “no one can access the multiverse/the multiverse has been destroyed/there are only a limited number of universes” plots that come around every couple of years and the inevitable “the multiverse is back” plots that follow on fairly quickly after.
I’m enjoying someone picking up the Doomsday stuff and doing something with it, as I’d been wavering over whether this series was worth buying as it comes out because it’s so expensive now. It’s made me pick out the Superman/Doomsday series from my long boxes for a reread, which then lead to me rereading Superman/Aliens as well. I was a post-crisis DC kid (my first American DC comic was Blue Devil 18) so this is playing well into my nostalgia!
Stu
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I’m with you Stu, have the Multiverse around to be used once in a while, but don’t cut it off, and don’t kill it off ‘forever’.
I’m still surprised DC didn’t use the Kara from the Superman vs Aliens, she had potential as a more traditional Supergirl than Matrix… I can’t see that her copyright would be shared with Dark Horse or 20th Century Fox.
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