If This Be Doomsday...

So, as you may remember, I got into comics through, of all things, the death of Superman. It happens.

Anyway, I always thought it would make a pretty cool movie. Not the death itself, of course, which is just a brawl against a mindless monster and pretty predictable when the title is (spoiler alert) "The Death of Superman". But the "Return of Superman" was a lot of fun, with enough over-the-top action (the destruction of a city, four supermen against an army of aliens, Superman shattering the Cyborg) that it could translate to a cool roller coaster movie.

Well, it looks like someone agreed with me, um... sort of:

This cartoon actually seems kind of... odd to me. If it takes place in the DC Animated Universe, well, they've already done the "World Without a Superman" bit in a Justice League episode called "Hereafter," and Steel, at least, was introduced in Superman: the Animated Series. They've even already had Superman fight Doomsday. Twice.

Which means this movie is just going to repeat a lot of what's already been done, cut out the stuff that actually makes the story interesting, and make me pay $20 to buy it (or $4 to rent it, or I could NetFlix it, but you get the idea).

Now, I'm probably just being grumpy with not much to go on. The film is co-written by Bruce Timm and features the acting talents of some Joss Whedon alums, and the trailer does show a fully Fabio-ed Superman in the Black Costume, so maybe this thing is better than it seems...

But it isn't helped by the narration. I just get a creepy vibe by the leering way he says "See, Superman in love. See, Superman be dark and dangerous. See, Superman get the shit kicked out of him by a walking plot point!" Or the time spent lavinshing praise on the 70 minutes of EXTRA FEATURES (Note to future publicity people: "Extra Features" are enticing if and only the film they come from was any good to begin with). Or maybe it's just the portentousness of the narration feels more like the trailer to Comedian than like something I should take seriously.

Then again, Jerry Seinfeld would like it either way, I guess.