TRANS-SCRIBE: Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1

Doomsday is one of those characters that has struggles every time he's appeared in comics. His first appearance was beating the Justice League with one hand tied behind his back, then murdering Superman. Once you've done that what else can you do with the character? Doomsday peaked early, and it takes a lot of creativity to make him interesting now. Luckily, Dan Watters has a new twist in this monstrous villains tail for readers.

Supergirl and Martian Manhunter take centre stage in this new special, as Kara experiences a nightmare about Doomsday. It turns out that it was a psychic message sent to her by J'onn, one that he needed a Kryptonian to help decipher, but didn't want to involve the man Doomsday beat to death lest it cause some trauma. After having dealt with a psychic ghost of Doomsday in the recent Lazarus Planet, J'onn is worried that the monster might be trying to com back yet again. The two of them decide to try and get to the bottom of things, and when they join their minds in a psychic link the two of them are teleported away from Earth into the very pits of hell itself.

The afterlife has always been a thing in DC, with character appearing as ghosts, and people coming back from the dead on a somewhat regular basis. The Spectre, one of the oldest heroes, is quite literally God's vengeance, and there's been an angel on the JLA at one point. Despite that, Kara is somewhat surprised that a christian hell exists. We're given an explanation for this, one that actually becomes super important to the plot of this story; humans belief in an afterlife, and in hell, make it real. And the reason they've been brought to hell by the literal devil? Doomsday is there, and he's causing trouble.

The unstoppable beast has been tearing through the demons of hell, and the doomed souls, and hell have started to believe that he's able to do anything. Thanks to the souls of hell believing in the power of Doomsday he's becoming stronger and stronger, and will soon have enough power to break apart hell's doorway, allowing him to return to Earth. Kara and J'onn know that Doomsday can't be allowed to return to the world of the living, and so agree to take the fight to him there. Supergirl engages the monster in combat, wearing the devil's own armour, whilst J'onn tries to shape the hearts and minds of the damned.

Superman has always been connected to science fiction, he's an alien after all. Even the most fantastical parts of his mythology, like the reality bending powers of Mr Mxyzptlk aren't explained as magic, but advanced science from another dimension. As such, seeing Doomsday in the literal biblical hell is a shocking and jarring decision; but it's one that works really, really well. Doomsday has never looked more threatening than he does here, marching over a sea of fire and the skeletal terrain of hell. It helps to hammer home the danger of this thing, the kind of threat that he brings to the table. And when the devil is afraid of the thing you know it's bad.

I can't also help but feel that this comic is in some ways a counter to stories such as the Supergirl arc in Superman/Batman, where an army of Doomsday clones swarm Themyscira and are all quickly killed. There haven't been many Doomsday stories, but those we have have started to make the monster into less and less of a threat. This issue is going out of its way to do the exact opposite. It's all hype. And when you reach the end and realise that this has been laying the groundwork for a Doomsday story that's going to be taking place across both Superman and Action Comics that makes a lot of sense.

The art works really well for this story too, featuring the work of Eddie Barrows, Eber Ferriera, and Adriano Lucas. The art is dark, and it helps in creating the atmosphere that the book needs to work as well as it does. The opening page alone, showing Doomsday in hell, is both gorgeous and terrifying, and sets the stage for the rest of the book wonderfully. There are times when the art looks grim, dirty, and disturbing, and for a story set in hell fighting the worst monster DC has at its disposal it's a perfect fit.

This Doomsday story isn't the only thing on offer in this issue, as we also pick up on a plot thread already mentioned, the Doomsday story in Lazarus Planet. During that event Doomsday almost returned through psychic energy, and it was only via the efforts of Martian Manhunter, and the sacrifice of the new character Raphael Arce. The backup feature reveals that Raphael went to hell when he died, and that his spirit now finds itself in one of the lower levels of the pit, where he's accosted by the demons that call it home.

But Raphael isn't defenceless in hell, as he took some powers from Martian Manhunter when they were connected, and transforms himself into the hero Bloodwynd in order to fight the demons of hell and free the damned souls. Bloodwynd, having previously been an alter-ego for J'onn at the time when Doomsday first appeared, it's kind of cool to see the character return as his own hero, separate from J'onn and doing his own thing. This back-up is written really interestingly, and there are some twists and surprises in the tail that not only make it an interesting read, but something that you want to see more of.

With the promise of more thins to come from the character in the future, Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special feels like it's setting up something big and exciting. Doomsday has returned a number of times over the years, but this is one of the few times where it actually feels like that return is something to look forward to.