Batman/ Superman, Volume 2: Game Over (New 52!)

 

   A new video game pits Batman and Superman in a real life battle for the Earth when Mongul returns. After vanquishing the enemy, the duo are challenged by Mongul's son for retribution, with planet earth once again in the crosshairs. Teaming with members of the Superman and Batman families, the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel are entered in a deadly tournament of champions. The winner becomes the leader of Mongul's Warworld. The loser has their home planet vaporized into atoms.

    Then it's a collision of World's Finests when Earth-2's Huntress and Powergirl infiltrate the Batcave and run amok. When the nano virus afflicting Powergirl  infects Superman, the heroes must form a quartet or both Powergirl and the alternate earth version of her cousin will ignite as Kryptonian bombs.  Echoes of Bruce and Clark's cross-earth capers from volume one bleed into this new reality with a central foe behind the alternate earth drama- Darkseid!

    This volume was heavy on action and I'm enjoying the uneasy dynamic between Batman and Superman. Their relationship seems very well established by having the two meet when they were youngsters and I'm okay with this as it plays on a Superman/Batman: Secret Files story that I just thought was aces. What I felt wasn't very clear was some of the histories of the New 52! in general.

   It's mentioned that Mongul has returned to conquer earth. But I'm not sure when he did that. For New 52! books, I've read just about everything Batman published, along with the opening chapters of Action Comics and this series (up through here.) So far, Mongul's name hasn't come up once and what little research I've done into Justice League doesn't mention the character either. So when did this happen? The classic use of tiny boxes on the bottom of pages to denote when past events occurred by the editorial staff was sorely missed by this avid comic collector.

   For a reboot, there have been some really awesome changes. I enjoyed the introduction of Powergirl and Huntress to the New 52! I felt that Powergirl was sorely missed during this reboot and it appears with her starring in a new miniseries with Harley Quinn that the editors hope to correct this oversight.

   I also enjoyed that Batman and Superman 'forgot' that they had travelled to Earth-2. In the classic DC Universe, everytime characters from earth-1 and 2 got together, it was more and more like a reunion that had to deal with a rowdy guest than any sort of earth shattering crossover that the covers would hype. That's gone here and having the two pairs of World's Finest learn to work together made for a better story. But never would Batman fist bump the Huntress- ever.

   Another change that I enjoyed was the new version of the Toyman. Instead of a dweebish nerd who uses toys to cause mischief, he's rebooted into a hip video game creator who isn't so much a bad guy as much as an entrepreneur who got mixed up with the wrong crowd. I like that he's later used as a tech expert for Superman trying to make amends for almost destroying the earth in a Mongul backed trap.

    Along with the story and character reboots, the art was very good. Jae Lee continues to thrill with his whimsically scary style. I love the watercolor effect of the coloring too. It adds to the haunting appeal of Lee's work.

   The artist is joined by Brett Booth who pencils the first act of this volume. His art is drawn in a 'widescreen' style, meaning you have to read the book sideways and the art is less contained. I liked it, but there were times when you almost needed the giant key to Superman's Fortress of Solitude acting as a directional arrow to guide the reader to which panel to view next. (PS- they had these in the olden days of comics too, kids!)

  A very good chapter in the New 52! adventures of Batman and Superman that just could've used a few tricks from the days of the classic DCU!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

 
 
 
   

Batman/Superman, Volume 1: Cross World (New 52!)

The first volume of the New 52's 'first' teaming of the World's Finest is a trippy adventure that spans both the DC timeline and the multiverse.

  When the living embodiment of chaos decides to have a little fun by bringing the younger and less experienced Earth-1 Man of Steel and Caped Crusader to Earth-2 where a more matured Man of Tomorrow and Dark Knight have turned their world into a virtual paradise, all hell breaks loose. Separated by age and ego, the two groups of heroes eventually make nice once they discover that they are from different universes. But when the two teams also discover that combined militaries of Earth-2 have created a Superman killing device using Wayne Techology the heroes must decide- Save Superman or Save the world from the oncoming storm known as Darkseid.

    This story took a little while to build up steam. That's mostly because the New God sprite Kaiyo has all four heroes switching places from world to world before having all four wind up in the Smallville of Earth-2. But once the players were finally set on the board, the story ramped up to a Nth degree of action, adventure, and pure wicked fun.

   The art is by the terrific Jae Lee. Lee has such a whimsical but haunted style. It works well for these four heroes who're haunted by their own pasts. With terrific finishes by Ben Oliver that give these pages an almost painted quality, both he and Lee take the reader to the farthest reaches of the DC Universe all under the masterful pen of Greg Pak.

   This collection also includes an 'Unleased' Forever Evil tie-in from Justice League #23.1. It features an origin story of Darkseid and the New Gods. I've read some of Kirby's original New Gods stuff that explained the early days of Apokolips and New Genesis but I've never read a definitive story as to how the old gods died to make way for the newer deities of Darkseid, Highfather, and the rest. Until now! Say what you might about the New 52 but this single issue story was fan-tastic and perhaps the single best New 52 story I've ever read.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.