(Collected Editions is a listing of the various trade paperbacks, hardcovers, omnibuses, etc. that are in my Superman collection. The goal is to not only inventory my collection of trades, hardcovers, etc. but also to display said collection and produce something resembling a resource for other Superman readers, collectors and fans.)
Nuts and Bolts
- Released on August 8, 1995
- Original Price $14.95
- 160 Pages
- Cover by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding
Contents
- Introduction by Dan Jurgens
- Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey Book One – No Title
- Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey Book Two – No Title
- Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey Book Three – No Title
Notes
- This trade has a pretty no frills cover. That’s not a negative criticism, just an observation. Doomsday seems pretty confident that he’s won whatever conflict he’s just taken part in while Superman seems to be flying up behind him to prove that he’s wrong. I can’t say that I love this cover but I don’t hate it either.
- The introduction by Dan Jurgens details the history of Doomsday’s creation. It’s a pretty interesting read. There are also some sketches from Doomsday’s development that have since been reprinted elsewhere but for many readers at the time the book came out it was the first time they saw them.
- I have said it before and I will say it again; introductions should be mandatory for collected editions.
- This story was huge when it first came out as three prestige format books in the spring of 1994. The Superman books were seeing a good deal of success coming out of the Death and Return saga and we hadn’t gotten to the saturation point just yet.
- Not only did this story feature the re-match between Superman and Doomsday but we finally learn Doomsday’s origin.
- For the record I liked the origin then and I still do today. It was well crafted and linked Superman and Doomsday in a way that some might think obvious or silly but I thought was brilliant.
- This story also features the return of Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg. Jurgens redesigned the character into a look I was never really hot on but like the cover to this collection I didn’t hate it.
- Part of me thinks that this story should have been the end to both Doomsday and the Cyborg as they were created and evolved (respectively) for a specific purpose and once they served that purpose there wasn’t much for them to do.
- It’s not that the later stories told with these characters were bad. I just think we got diminishing returns with both characters.
- I was surprised that it took a year for this trade to come out. Considering how quickly the Doomsday, Funeral For a Friend and Reign of the Supermen trades came out it seemed like this one would be fast tracked as well. Then again it was a different era for collected editions so it might not be that surprising at all.