Thursday, June 27, 2013

Batman Superman #1

It's a natural for DC to create a team-up book for its two most popular characters - certainly the two carried the original World's Finest comic for decades.

But now Batman and Superman are starring in a brand new team-up title, and it features two creators who (to the best of my memory) have rarely if ever worked on those heroes.

Writing the book is Greg Pak, a clever and inventive writer who guided the Hulk through years of excellent stories (including the ground-breaking Planet Hulk).

The art is by Jae Lee, whose distinctive style is organic - truly unique and dynamic.

Their styles mesh well together, although the end product is distinctly different from all the other comics starring these heroes.

Lee's Gotham City is even more gothic and stylized than usual (and that's saying something). He uses some amazing layouts, although a few panels are almost too much to take in. But overall, the effect is tremendous.

Pak's story is a bit of a trick to sort out - he sets up some mysterious attacks on Wayne's employees in Metropolis, a surprising source of the attacks, and throws in some time twists and a mysterious bad guy.

The issue is entertaining, but it leaves a lot of story points up in the air - just as it gets going, we run into the "to be continued" roadblock.

Still, it's a promising start to a time-honored concept.

Grade: B+

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And why couldn't Jae Lee finish the book? The art change was jarring!
Pete

Chuck said...

Pete, an excellent point, and one I forgot to mention - why the change in artists? It was annoying.