This month, a review of the direct-to-DVD release, Superman: Doomsday. WARNING!: This review does contain SPOILERS! Parts of the story that vary from the comic book version WILL be revealed. DO NOT read any further IF you plan to watch this and want to be surprised. First, the good news: DC finally offers up a DVD that I found more interesting than the recent past few Marvel direct-to-DVD offerings. The bad news? Crotchety comics purist fan like me didn't entirely care for this effort. There was a lot here that troubled me, to wit ... I was struck by the added lines to the characters' facial features, which make Superman look a bit more scruffy and scraggy. Why was this done? I thought it was really distracting to Superman's normal heroic clean look. The title of this DVD is misleading. Only about a third of the story is Superman vs. Doomsday. Another third of the story is Superman vs. Lex Luthor, and the remaining third is Superman vs. an evil Superman clone. That's a LOT of &guot;vs.&guot;'s. Yes, there are fight scenes galore. Tons of shockwaves when Supes dukes it out with Doomsday. When you think the battle has &guot;died&guot; down, it starts up again. There is implied sex and intimacy between Superman and Lois (and okay, I don't have a problem with that). Lois appears that she's very familiar with the Fortress of Solitude as if she's been there before and seemingly for one thing only. The problem is, after who knows how many times they've done it, Superman has yet to tell Lois his secret identity. Naturally, this leads to a fight and ... well, you can guess what Superman will do before the story is over. Oddly, NONE of the Justice League is present at Superman's funeral. I don't know the reason for this; nothing is explained. I don't think their presence would've detracted from the story. If anything, it would've enhanced it. I don't know if they didn't have the budget for added voices, but couldn't the animators have drawn them in? No Jonathan Kent, either. He apparently is dead; no explanation on when or how. The relationship between Superman and the most important women in life - Lois and his mother - seems estranged at times. Lois and Ma Kent are seemingly uncomfy when they finally meet after Superman dies. Instead of consoling each other, there is just uncomfortable tension. Ma Kent has to find out her son is alive onTV, just like everyone else. If I pulled a &guot;Lazarus,&guot; I think I'd tell the one who likely would've done the most grieving for me, and who raised me. The villainy does go a bit overboard. While I can see Luthor working on cures for diseases and cancer only for financial gain and profit, I did not expect him to commit cold-blooded murder. Think of it. When did you see Luthor ever kill anyone ... in comics or in movies? He was too BIG for that. Worse, his victim was his loyal sidekick, Mercy (leaving no one living who can possibly implicate any of his misdeeds). Toyman appears in this as well. Inexplicably, his appearance is changed for the worse. The mirth and insanity is gone replaced by some darker looking chap wearing black looking like some bloated, unkept computer geek/nerd who looks sullen and doesn't crack a smile. He's not around too long. It's revealed a young girl was murdered by him, and then Superman's evil clone promptly kills him by dropping Toyman to the ground from beyond a skyscraper height. Yes, the DVD is rated PG-13 and does earn the rating. This is definitely NOT for children and I hope no parent makes an impulse buy for their kids thinking it's just another Superman cartoon movie. There is no real foul language; &guot;ass&guot; is said twice as in &guot;Go kick some ...&guot; context. Most of the voicework is good. I had no problem with Adam Baldwin as Superman, or James Marsters as Lex Luthor. I didn't quite enjoy Anne Heche's voice as Lois Lane; it seemed a bit forced in some places, tentative and uncertain in others. I miss Dana Delaney's blend of sultry and sassy when she voiced Lois in the most recent Superman animated series. Kevin Smith does provide a cameo voice of a skeptical Metropolis denizen that would be more appropriate in Gotham City. There are some nice deserved nods to past Superman artists Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger; their last names are used as characters in the story. Most of the extras show various comics professionals who worked on the &guot;Death of Superman&guot;/&guot;Funeral for a Friend&guot; storyline. Another featurette discusses the next DC to DVD release based on Darwyn Cooke's &guot;Final Frontier;&guot; but while I wanted a pure trailer, all there was were still images and more talking heads.

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