Status
Available
Call number
Publication
DC Comics (2005), Edition: 01, 160 pages
Pages
160
Description
Written by Jeph Loeb Art and cover by Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines and Tim Sale Cover by Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines DC Comics is pleased to offer a special new edition of the classic trade paperback collecting SUPERMAN/BATMAN #1-6 to coincide with the Fall 2009 WHV direct-to-DVD DC Universe Animated Original movie, featuring the same logo as the movie packaging. Advance-solicited; on sale October 28 - 176 pg, FC, $14.99 US
Series
Collection
Language
Original publication date
2003-10 - 2004-03
Physical description
160 p.; 10.18 inches
ISBN
1401202209 / 9781401202200
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User reviews
LibraryThing member EvilJohn
This is a very enteraining, over-the-top high action superhero comic. Superman and Batman versus half the DC universe and Lex Luthor? Hell yeah!
LibraryThing member incunabulum
This isn't officially part of my collection, but while my 5-year-old son has a fair collection of books started, he can't type enough to enter stuff on his G4 Cube. And, since I'm the official "reader" of this genre of book, I'll review it. We haven't read all the way through...but the darkness of
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this text demands caution - i.e., in-line editing - in reading to youngsters. Death and destruction is clearly understood in Star Wars and Indiana Jones...but you don't have graphically depicted scenes of Han Solo picking Kryptonite bullets out of Luke's chest. Well, alright, the smoking skeletal remains of Luke's aunt and uncle is pretty horrific...but judicious fast-forwarding can sometimes counteract that, just as judicious reading can edit this text on the fly. Other than the adult situations (or what we hope remain adult, rather than post-toddler), the artwork is all that a young super hero obsessed youngster could hope for: Bam! Pow! super heroes flying everywhere, punching everyone/thing, etc., etc. :-) Show Less
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
Jeph Loeb penned both one of the best Superman stories I have ever read (Superman For All Seasons) and a very good Batman story (Batman: The Long Halloween), so it makes sense that a storyline uniting the two characters would also be his work. After all, he has to have a good grasp of them.
And he
Mostly I think I just quickly got aggravated by the alternating narration boxes, though; outside of these, his characterization is fine, and usually it's very good. I particularly liked the fact that Clark Kent got to show off his investigative journalism skills. Also excellent is the sequence where Superman has been shot by a kryptonite bullet, and Batman much take him back to safety (fortunately for them, the cave they are in connects to the Batcave). It showcases the strength of both men well: Batman's fantastic ability to think of his feet, where he blows a hole in a wall, shielding himself from the blast by standing on the other side of an ailing Superman, as well as Superman's sheer determination, as he continues to do what has to be done even though he's minutes from death.
Unfortunately, the characterization for the rest of the characters is not so great. Indeed, the characterization for other versions of the same characters is not so great; a future Superman comes back in time to stop a disaster from transpiring. Mostly this is an artificial attempt to heighten the jeopardy our characters are in, as it contributes very little to the story, but it's made worse by the fact that future-Superman is an idiot. For some reason, he thinks the best solution is to murder his previous self as well as Batman as soon as he shows up, which seems like it would cause more problems than it would solve, given the role they play in resolving the situation. Why not sit the two of them down and say, "You need to do x, but not y, as that will result in the destruction of the Earth"? It's a clumsy way to shoehorn a Superman/Superman fight and a Superman/Batman fight into the narrative. Also, why in a postapocalyptic future did Superman take the time to change his outfit to the Kingdom Come version? Nothing better to do after seeing the human race wiped out? Loeb's characterizations of the other supporting heroes is similarly clumsy; to make Superman and Batman look better, they're all written as clumsy brutes. Captain Atom is a particular offender in this regard; he feels nothing like the character I remember from Justice League Europe.
The biggest offender is this regard is Lex Luthor, which is surprising, as Loeb wrote an absolutely fantastic Luthor in Superman For All Seasons. This Luthor, however, is nothing more than a ranting maniac whose plan makes very little sense. He tells the world that Superman is responsible for the kryptonite asteroid heading towards the Earth, but never tells anyone why they should believe this. Fortunately for him, everyone just goes along with it. When he can't find Superman and Batman anywhere, he announces that they've been captured, causing a cadre of heroes to break into the White House to liberate them (because of course that's where you'd imprison two of the most dangerous men on the entire planet), so that when they show up, Luthor can ask them where Superman and Batman are. Um, hello? If Nightwing knew where Superman and Batman were, he wouldn't have fallen for your trick, would he? In the end of the story, Luthor abandons all signs of intelligence or reason, puts on a battlesuit, and starts beating up on people left, right, and center. Why? Who knows? The problem here is that Luthor keeps on doing things seemingly just because he's a villain. Why would he want an kryptonite asteroid to destroy the Earth? It doesn't help him in any conceivable way (he lives on the Earth after all); it's just something EVIL for him to do. I've always liked the idea of Lex Luthor as President of the United States (the election arc in Justice League Unlimited was fabulous), but I've never actually read any of the "President Lex" tales before. If this is the kind of terrible use that was made of that idea, I'm glad I haven't.
The other big logic problem here is in the resolution of the story-- it absolutely comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden Batman and Superman are talking about having to get to "the boy". He turns out to be the Toyman's son (the Toyboy? the Boytoy?), who has built a charmingly bizarre rocket that looks like Superman melded with Batman, which can blow up the asteroid by punching it real hard. When did they set this up while being chased by various supervillains and then Captain Atom's forces? And why does Power Girl need to distract the boy, aside from providing an opportunity for a joke about her prominent boobs? How did Superman and Batman escape from the custody of Captain Atom and Hawkman and steal their outfits when they were unconscious? It's a great moment when the two of them turn up in disguise, but as soon as you think about it, it makes no sense. (The narration box implies that Hawkman and Captain Marvel were distracted by the news that Luthor has captured Superman and Batman, which is really really dumb.) What the heck is even going on here?
Loeb's cartoony, exaggerated writing is perfectly complemented by Ed McGuinness's cartoony, exaggerated artwork. Except that McGuinness's artwork is cartoony and exaggerated in a good way. Superman and Batman look fantastic, and his rendition of all the other characters is spot-on as well. It's a clean look, and McGuinness rarely fails with even the most complex and crowded of battle scenes; we always know exactly what is happening. Looking at the pictures is probably the best part of this thing.
Apparently, Public Enemies has been chosen as the source material for one of the upcoming direct-to-DVD DC cartoons. I can see why-- it looks great here, and I imagine it'll look great in motion, too. But hopefully the vocal performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, and especially Clancy Brown can give the story a credibility and logic it utterly lacked in its original form. I've got two more Superman Batman trades by Loeb to read; they'd better be better than this.
And he
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does. His Superman is an optimistic, stand-up guy while his Batman is a brooding pessimist. The problem he runs into, though, is the need to continually set them up as perfect opposites of one another, especially via cute narration boxes where they're always thinking parallel but different thoughts. This results in both characters being somewhat uncharacteristically exaggerated-- his Superman is a little too much of a brute-force guy sometimes, and his Batman is pretty joyless.Mostly I think I just quickly got aggravated by the alternating narration boxes, though; outside of these, his characterization is fine, and usually it's very good. I particularly liked the fact that Clark Kent got to show off his investigative journalism skills. Also excellent is the sequence where Superman has been shot by a kryptonite bullet, and Batman much take him back to safety (fortunately for them, the cave they are in connects to the Batcave). It showcases the strength of both men well: Batman's fantastic ability to think of his feet, where he blows a hole in a wall, shielding himself from the blast by standing on the other side of an ailing Superman, as well as Superman's sheer determination, as he continues to do what has to be done even though he's minutes from death.
Unfortunately, the characterization for the rest of the characters is not so great. Indeed, the characterization for other versions of the same characters is not so great; a future Superman comes back in time to stop a disaster from transpiring. Mostly this is an artificial attempt to heighten the jeopardy our characters are in, as it contributes very little to the story, but it's made worse by the fact that future-Superman is an idiot. For some reason, he thinks the best solution is to murder his previous self as well as Batman as soon as he shows up, which seems like it would cause more problems than it would solve, given the role they play in resolving the situation. Why not sit the two of them down and say, "You need to do x, but not y, as that will result in the destruction of the Earth"? It's a clumsy way to shoehorn a Superman/Superman fight and a Superman/Batman fight into the narrative. Also, why in a postapocalyptic future did Superman take the time to change his outfit to the Kingdom Come version? Nothing better to do after seeing the human race wiped out? Loeb's characterizations of the other supporting heroes is similarly clumsy; to make Superman and Batman look better, they're all written as clumsy brutes. Captain Atom is a particular offender in this regard; he feels nothing like the character I remember from Justice League Europe.
The biggest offender is this regard is Lex Luthor, which is surprising, as Loeb wrote an absolutely fantastic Luthor in Superman For All Seasons. This Luthor, however, is nothing more than a ranting maniac whose plan makes very little sense. He tells the world that Superman is responsible for the kryptonite asteroid heading towards the Earth, but never tells anyone why they should believe this. Fortunately for him, everyone just goes along with it. When he can't find Superman and Batman anywhere, he announces that they've been captured, causing a cadre of heroes to break into the White House to liberate them (because of course that's where you'd imprison two of the most dangerous men on the entire planet), so that when they show up, Luthor can ask them where Superman and Batman are. Um, hello? If Nightwing knew where Superman and Batman were, he wouldn't have fallen for your trick, would he? In the end of the story, Luthor abandons all signs of intelligence or reason, puts on a battlesuit, and starts beating up on people left, right, and center. Why? Who knows? The problem here is that Luthor keeps on doing things seemingly just because he's a villain. Why would he want an kryptonite asteroid to destroy the Earth? It doesn't help him in any conceivable way (he lives on the Earth after all); it's just something EVIL for him to do. I've always liked the idea of Lex Luthor as President of the United States (the election arc in Justice League Unlimited was fabulous), but I've never actually read any of the "President Lex" tales before. If this is the kind of terrible use that was made of that idea, I'm glad I haven't.
The other big logic problem here is in the resolution of the story-- it absolutely comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden Batman and Superman are talking about having to get to "the boy". He turns out to be the Toyman's son (the Toyboy? the Boytoy?), who has built a charmingly bizarre rocket that looks like Superman melded with Batman, which can blow up the asteroid by punching it real hard. When did they set this up while being chased by various supervillains and then Captain Atom's forces? And why does Power Girl need to distract the boy, aside from providing an opportunity for a joke about her prominent boobs? How did Superman and Batman escape from the custody of Captain Atom and Hawkman and steal their outfits when they were unconscious? It's a great moment when the two of them turn up in disguise, but as soon as you think about it, it makes no sense. (The narration box implies that Hawkman and Captain Marvel were distracted by the news that Luthor has captured Superman and Batman, which is really really dumb.) What the heck is even going on here?
Loeb's cartoony, exaggerated writing is perfectly complemented by Ed McGuinness's cartoony, exaggerated artwork. Except that McGuinness's artwork is cartoony and exaggerated in a good way. Superman and Batman look fantastic, and his rendition of all the other characters is spot-on as well. It's a clean look, and McGuinness rarely fails with even the most complex and crowded of battle scenes; we always know exactly what is happening. Looking at the pictures is probably the best part of this thing.
Apparently, Public Enemies has been chosen as the source material for one of the upcoming direct-to-DVD DC cartoons. I can see why-- it looks great here, and I imagine it'll look great in motion, too. But hopefully the vocal performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, and especially Clancy Brown can give the story a credibility and logic it utterly lacked in its original form. I've got two more Superman Batman trades by Loeb to read; they'd better be better than this.
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LibraryThing member Kurt.Rocourt
The Superman/Batman team up that actually worked. This and the other Jeph Loeb stories after it are great. Beyond volume 4 that's when things get silly.
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it
Show More
with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it
Show More
with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it
Show More
with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it
Show More
with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other. Show Less
LibraryThing member SoulFlower1981
This book mesh these two characters together in a way that clearly showed their friendship, their differences, and why there is a need for both of them in the DC Universe. I decided to read this series primarily because I haven't enjoyed much coming out of the NEW 52 relaunch and as a result I had
I finished this pretty much in one sitting because it was interesting to see the back and forth between the big two of the DC Universe. They were written in a delightful manner by Jeph Loeb because he understands that while they are different there are still ideas and concepts that squarely make them similar. The situations with their parents, their desire for justice. These elements are the same with just their own individual twist. These were explored and made whole by Loeb's writing style.
I loved a line as well from the book which was "Why don't the "Good" villains ever die", which was asked by Superman. While we know about why from a reader perspective it is something you question if you think of this as a world. Why doesn't Joker ever get killed? and I mean REALLY KILLED!!! not that comic of the week crap where it looks like he blew up. The good guys are defined by their bad guys.
The book is delightful because it explores what happens when one of their villains becomes a prominent member of American society. Superheroes have to align with him that wouldn't have. Superheroes have to try to follow his orders. The joys of a well-written story and to top it all off you can tell this was the beginning of Villains United for the classic and great Infinite Crisis that was released from DC.
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stepped away from comics entirely. I wanted to test the waters to see if it was just the new stuff I wasn't enjoying or if it was comics in general that had taken on a lackluster quality. I discovered while not my favorite comic book story that it is indeed just the new stuff. This gives me hope!I finished this pretty much in one sitting because it was interesting to see the back and forth between the big two of the DC Universe. They were written in a delightful manner by Jeph Loeb because he understands that while they are different there are still ideas and concepts that squarely make them similar. The situations with their parents, their desire for justice. These elements are the same with just their own individual twist. These were explored and made whole by Loeb's writing style.
I loved a line as well from the book which was "Why don't the "Good" villains ever die", which was asked by Superman. While we know about why from a reader perspective it is something you question if you think of this as a world. Why doesn't Joker ever get killed? and I mean REALLY KILLED!!! not that comic of the week crap where it looks like he blew up. The good guys are defined by their bad guys.
The book is delightful because it explores what happens when one of their villains becomes a prominent member of American society. Superheroes have to align with him that wouldn't have. Superheroes have to try to follow his orders. The joys of a well-written story and to top it all off you can tell this was the beginning of Villains United for the classic and great Infinite Crisis that was released from DC.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lucky-Loki
This story starts out superb. The constant juxtaposition of the two protagonists is of course terribly on the nose, but it's undeniably impactful and gripping. It sets a mood, it makes me instantly remember why these two characters are so iconic and why they're interesting together, and I'm sucked
There's humour, too, which feels true to the characters and the context, and initially, as a result of all this, I'm seized by the story and excited for the ride.
Sadly, then it gets muddled in flashy spectacle with little substance. A future Superman shows up (and he might as well not have, for all the plot relevance he'll end up having) and attacks them (which makes next to no sense when we later get some context), which derails the story and drowns the character voices out. The rest of the story quickly becomes a cameo parade as Lex Luthor sics the Justice League on them and an asteroid of solid kryptonite is about to destroy the Earth.
I make it sound worse than it is. The action is decent, the protagonist's outer and inner voices remain exciting and on point (if less prominent as the noisy "plot" gets in the way), and while Luthor goes from a scary villain in the early issues to a laughable one in the last, they at least make an in-story explanation for why he's so unhinged. But I can't help but feel what started out as powerful and memorable became a shallow spectacle, wasting a terrific potential. It says a lot about how much I liked the first chapter when I still rate this as highly as I do.
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in, wanting to see what happens. I literally get chills from some of the inner monologues, they're so powerful.There's humour, too, which feels true to the characters and the context, and initially, as a result of all this, I'm seized by the story and excited for the ride.
Sadly, then it gets muddled in flashy spectacle with little substance. A future Superman shows up (and he might as well not have, for all the plot relevance he'll end up having) and attacks them (which makes next to no sense when we later get some context), which derails the story and drowns the character voices out. The rest of the story quickly becomes a cameo parade as Lex Luthor sics the Justice League on them and an asteroid of solid kryptonite is about to destroy the Earth.
I make it sound worse than it is. The action is decent, the protagonist's outer and inner voices remain exciting and on point (if less prominent as the noisy "plot" gets in the way), and while Luthor goes from a scary villain in the early issues to a laughable one in the last, they at least make an in-story explanation for why he's so unhinged. But I can't help but feel what started out as powerful and memorable became a shallow spectacle, wasting a terrific potential. It says a lot about how much I liked the first chapter when I still rate this as highly as I do.
Show Less
Awards
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (Selection — 2006)
Call number
IBF