"The Death And Return Of Superman"

When I found out the news that Doomsday, one of my all-time favorite Superman villains, was the central antagonist for season 8 of "Smallville", I went into a frenzy of reminiscence. In Smallville, Doomsday is the alter-ego of Davis Bloome, a paramedic with an appetite for violence. His alter-ego, the Doomsday creature, looks a little different from the comics, but still, it is great that, for the first time ever, Doomsday has come to the silver screen.

As I said before, I was reminiscing. The main reason why is that Doomsday was originally introduced in a Superman story arc named "The Death Of Superman". Superman and Doomsday both die at the end of the graphic novel, and so it sets up events for the next two entries, "A World Without Superman" and "The Return Of Superman". These events were also recently adapted into an animated film, named "Superman: Doomsday".

Now, as many of my family and friends will know, I don't like the Superman character, but I don't despise him. Many of his stories don't appeal to me because he has no flaws- the only comic that had him in that I ever liked was "Superman: For Tomorrow"- one that I recommend to everybody. I do believe, however, that "The Death And Return" is Superman at his best. It was so successful as an arc that there was an audio drama, several animated adaptations (with lots of artistic liberty) as well as a video game.

The Return Of Eddie Brock In "Spider-Man: New Ways To Die"

For those of you that don't keep up to date with the comics world, stories featuring the Eddie Brock version of Venom have been pretty naff since the two original story lines that were illustrated by Todd McFarlane and written by David Michelinie. There was the whole "Maximum Carnage" thing, and whilst impressive, it focused more on Carnage rather than Eddie Brock.

In the 2000s, Eddie Brock has willingly shredded his symbiote, after finding out he had cancer. The suit ends up with a new host- none other than Mac Gargan, formally known as "The Scorpion"- and things have pretty much been that way since. Hoping to redeem himself, Eddie Brock started working at a F.E.A.S.T. Center in NYC- a local charity that has refuge centers for the homeless. However, the leader is also the evil Mr. Negative, and when he destroyed the cancer cells in Brock's body simply by touching him, Eddie feels like he has a new lease on life. But not for long.

As Norman Osborn, who is viewed as a hero after the "Secret Invasion" storyline, and his team of Thunderbolts (Radiation Man, Bullseye, Song Bird, and Venom) clean the streets of non-registered superheroes (see "Civil War"), he becomes obbsessed with Spider-Man once again. He doesn't know who he is (see "One More Day" and "Brand New Day"), and all he knows is that Parker takes photos of him. He sends the Thunderbolts out to look for Spidey- Venom goes AWOL, thinking he has found Spidey (he senses a host) but instead has found Eddie. Something happens, and suddenly Eddie Brock turns into Anti-Venom, a Negative Symbiote that repels the original. Using his powers, he's destined to become a hero!

"New Ways To Die" is the only Venom storyarc I've read since the "Venom Returns" storyarc that I feel has portrayed Eddie Brock- and Venom- in a really good light. 90's era Venom was always portrayed as this tortured, sobbing man, and he was so mushy you couldn't stand him. However, with "New Ways To Die", he's portrayed as the ultimate evil he once was.

I'd reccommend anybody and everybody this storyline. It's pretty cool!