I really do want my animated Kingdom Come DVD.

Watchmen was the comic that elevated comics to the literary recognition all fanboys and fangirls know they deserve.

The Death of Superman was no Watchmen.

Hell, the Death of Superman doesn't even come close to holding the "literary" jock strap to All-Star Superman.

Now, having said that, I understand that different people have different tastes and some comic books, no matter how good or bad, may hold a special place in the reader's heart.

But for me, the comic book version of Death of Superman wasn't it.

Sure, Doomsday beat the Justice League with one hand tied behind his back. But we are basically talking about Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice and Guy Gardner. I think the only heavy hitter involved was J'onn and he was pretending to be a magical black guy.

Morrison's Batman can beat that League with one hand tied behind his back. (In fact, if you count JLA 1-6 and JLA Classified 1-6; I think he already has.)

Sooo... like it or not, the JLA was expendable; and I'm 100% sure they would've been expendable on Kevin Smith's Superman Movie. It's just the reality of the business. A producer is not going to pay through the roof, for the rights to use the Justice League, only to turn them into 20 seconds of cannon fodder.

As for the emotional rollercoaster presented in World Without Superman. Well, again this is my opinion, but I thought it dragged-on in the comic books. It got to a point where we were being told how the Milkman felt about Superman's Death. I thought the movie covered this very effectively by focussing on Lois and Martha Kent (and showing that the rest of the World moved on, which is what really happens in "real life").

As far as Superman's return, this is were the movie and comics diverge considerably. However, I feel that this is the story that Bruce Timm really wanted to tell. And I feel that it was better than the story told in the comics. Superman's return in the comic books was just a vehicle to introduce four new characters. And his actual return was just standard superhero fare.

Nothing different, nothing new.

Also, his "resurrection" in the comic books(with Pa' having a heart attack and his soul meeting with Superman's and the Phantom Stranger bringing them back "but just this once") was a little gag inducing. The new explanation I thought was pretty good without being overly sophisticated.

I did miss the use of Superboy and the Cyborg Superman, but overall I thought it was a nice Epilogue to Superman the Animated Series.

Okay, now for a couple of things that won me over.

1- Besides Superman dying, there are 3 additional "deaths" at the hands of Superman. This Superman is not afraid of killing; and I don't think you are ever going to see that again. Not in JLU and not in any Movie or animated series.

2- Lex Luthor is solid. This Luthor doesn't make stupid mistakes. He is the closest thing you are going to see Morrison's Luthor. Hell, if Morrison were a cartoon; he would be this Lex Luthor.

3- There were no cop-outs. And by that I mean that there were no clonning defects. No "bizarre" mistakes. No spinning around the world or gold kryptonite "trump cards". Instead you got a Kryptonian vs. Kryptonian slobberknocker. And that's what I've always wanted to see (and what I've always been denied, going all the way back to Superman II).

I guess that's it. If you judge it based on it being an adaptation; it may or may not fail.

But judged on its own merits, it exceeded my expectations. Personally, I like to be surprised. The way I see it, comics are about "the journey" and movies are all about "the climax".

New Frontier falls into that same mold. The comic books were all about the journey and how America was changing. The climax was basically just a bunch of heroes fighting a floating alien that had been masquerading as an alien.

Nothing to write home about. So basically, I'm hoping that the New Frontier DVD stays true to the comic's "journey", but provides me with an improved (more dramatic) climax. 'Cause the floating evil island/alien thing, well... been there, seen it already, didn't necessarily bring me to the edge of my seat.

Basically, I think that you can't tell an epic like DOS effectively without a series. It might make a good 13-episode hour long series, like a season of Smallville. But, to condense it down to one sitting really hurts the concept.

The whole thing felt rushed because it was rushed. And the portions that were excised for time were the parts that made the story great in the first place, IMHO. The emotion of the supporting cast and the extras dealing with a world without Superman was far more important to the story than the cliche of irresistable force meeting immovable object.

Theno

Let me take this one. The original DoS was epic. It was a months-long build up showing how unstoppable Doomsday was involving every major hero in the DC universe and a bunch of B and C listers. Superman was there the whole way, not just fighting Doomsday, but also saving people from his rampage. The stakes were well established before Doomsday and Superman came to their final blows in Metropolis.

The follow up was an event of equal magnitude. Funeral for a Friend and Reign of the Superman explored many facets of what Superman meant to the DC Universe and at some points elevated comics to the literary recognition all fanboys and fangirls know they deserve. Superman's return was handled well with the consequences built up to a level only he could deal with.

The movie showed how dangerous Doomsday was by him killing what? A couple animals and a family? I'm not saying it wasn't sick, but it does nothing to demonstrate his power like the comic did. The final fight was standard TAS fare. Not bad, but not new. There was little reflection on a world without Superman. And yeah, we all knew he was going to return in the end, but there was no reason for him to return other than that he had to.

I agree that the extras are fantastic. Compare what went into the original series to the movie and you'll see what I was expecting.

I've been a fan of Timm's vision of an animated DC universe since Batman and Superman first came out. Maybe he had his hands tied on what he could do with this, but start to finish, it did not live up to the work he already did.

I hope New Frontier is as good as it looks, and I would love to see him animate Kingdom Come as long as he is able to live up to the material better than he did with this.

Mmm... You're going to have to explain that one to me. I thought Superman/Doomsday was a very solid movie. Heads & shoulders above the last two Superman DVDs, i.e. Superman Returns and SAS: Brainiac Attacks.

And the extras were awesome. The whole background story of Superman's Comic Book Death (with actual footage of the meetings) was priceless.

Seing their product and their behind the scenes work, got them my vote of confidence on the Last Frontier project. Plus, it made me wish their next project after that, wasn't the Judas Contract, but an adaptation of Golden Age or Kingdom Come, instead.

Positive comment: It looks pretty damn good.

I was introduced to Cooke's work through his work on the DCAU shows/films, so I think it's wonderful that his career has come back full circle. It must be an honor to have your work animated by the best superhero animation team out there, especially those people who are colleagues/friends.

But I do know that Darwyn Cooke was pretty heavily involved in the movie. He even does an audio commentary on the DVD, if the released specs are to be believed.

It better be good, then.

"AH! JESUS CHRIST! What are they doing to my movie!"

Stan Berkowitz's IMDb entry is here:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0075487/

He's worked on nearly ever DC Animated show since the original Batman: The Animated Series, as well as one of the thousands of Spider-Man animated shows and a bunch of other stuff instead. I find his writing hit or miss, personally, but when he hits he hits big.

But I do know that Darwyn Cooke was pretty heavily involved in the movie. He even does an audio commentary on the DVD, if the released specs are to be believed.