Lois Lane Loves ... Batman? Batman / Superman volume 3 - Second Chance

 

Review:

This collection begins with a couple of fairly forgettable standalone tales, before diving into the truly bold and fascinating four-parter that lends its title to the whole collection.

"Second Chance" gives us Superman with all his powers, and Batman with all his skills and wealth. But both are missing something crucial: their memories. It is a loss that, in Greg Pak's narrative hands, also costs them the formation that made them the personalities, men and heroes of their established, Boy-Scout and Broodingly-intense selves. Superman is all-powerful but naïve, and when he comes under the influence of Catwoman, what will he become? Batman loves the Bruce Wayne money and the Bat tech, plus the strong and skilled physical body he inhabits. But when he falls for Lois Lane, she must decide if she wants him like this or like the Dark Knight Batman she remembers. It is a touching, gripping, well-imagined and well-told tale.  The memory-recovery sequence at the climax is especially powerful.

Less gripping is the art, which has a dozen different contributors and wanders inconsistently from page to page. Most striking are the Jae Lee covers and sections, with their stark, neo-gothic horror feel. Shame he only handles one of the four parts, but it was enough to give him top billing on the whole collection. The others do fine work, but the constant turnover is visually frustrating.

For one strong story and some weaker add-ons rounding out an artistically ever-shifting collection, we give it 2.5/5

Description:

Batman and Superman: the two greatest heroes the world has ever known. Surely, together, there’s no menace they can’t face.

A microscopic planet so small it can float in a person’s veins. A Doomsday-infected Superman. A time-traveling chaos demon. The onslaught of threats is putting the pressure on the world’s finest. But when a rescue mission goes wrong, both heroes awake as blank slates, all memory erased.

Now Gotham City is faced with a Superman without his moral compass and a Batman without his vendetta. Without the two super heroes to rely on, who remains to remind them who they truly are?

In BATMAN/SUPERMAN: SECOND CHANCE, acclaimed writer Greg Pak (ACTION COMICS) and a bevy of comics’ best artists including Jae Lee, Karl Kerschl, Marc Deering and Diogenes Neves set Batman and Superman on a collision course...but will either hero emerge unscathed? 

Collects: issues #10-15

Authors: Greg Pak
Artists: Jae Lee
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Dec 22 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401257545
Pages: 160 pages

Over Under Sideways Down - Batman / Superman volume 2 - Game Over

  

Review:

This book is constantly disorienting. Greg Pak's stories and the creative vision of Brett Booth and Jae Lee keep the reader on our toes, working to keep up and make sense of it all.

The first sequence is a three-parter laid out 100% in Landscape instead of Portrait page orientation. That's the first disorienting factor - the reader needs to hold the book sideways to read it. Booth uses the wider layout to brilliant effect, spreading out and enlarging the graphics with boldness and creativity. Pak's plot is also a superb twist on the mind-controlled hero, with Toy Master creating an IRL game and inviting some of his eSport hacker friends to operate it. Their in-game banter and trash-talk is hilarious, a clever offset to the carnage being caused by their actions, and a fun social commentary on gaming, violence and the disconnect from real-life actions.

Next up is the Batman / Superman Annual #1. It follows directly after the defeat of Lord Mongul in the previous story, as Jochi son of Mongul invites Batman and Superman to form teams and enter the battle tournament for control of WarWorld. "Invite" is not quite correct - more compels. With their teams of Superman, Supergirl and a wolf-ified Krypto the Dog on one team, Batman, Red Hood and Jochi  himself forming another, and Steel and Batgirl helping in the shadows, it makes for a truly spectacular tournament.

As often happens in annuals, the art team changes for each new section, with wild stylistic swings, from the ghostly backgrounds and striking poses of Jae Lee to the grotesque battle sequences and color saturations of Kenneth Rocafort & Philip Tan in subsequent ones, the differences in visuals are stark yet beautiful.

The third and final arc centers on Huntress and Power Girl from Earth 2 and their struggle to return home. The four-parter blends the Batman / Superman series with World's Finest, and all parts are smartly included in the series. Each keeps their own creative team, with Greg Pak and Jae Lee handling the Batman / Superman chapters, Paul Levitz & RB Silva on the World's Finest ones. Lee's art is particularly striking, stylized and unique, bordering on the haunting and eerie. The plot has a handful of overdone elements (e.g. Batman yet again digs out his little hidden Kryptonite) but shows our heroes struggling with some of their personal temptations.

For solid stories and creative, disorienting and sometimes stare-inducing art, 4 capes out of 5.

Description:

The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel uncover a plot by the Toymaster to use a secret, potentially deadly element in his new video game, the characters created by players manifest in real life.  The ultimate fighting game results--and a world-wide network of players must team up to create the most powerful, skilled Super Heroes imaginable with one goal: To kill Batman.

When Batman and Superman are corned by the Toymaster and Mongul, they are pitted against on another in a battle to the death, with their only hope being the The Worlds' Finest.

Collects: Batman/Superman #5-9, Batman/Superman Annual #1, Worlds' Finest #20-21

Authors: Greg Pak
Artists: Brett Booth, Jae Lee
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: May 12 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 9781401254230
Pages: 224 pages