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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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My Two Dads - Super / Batman volume 2

Cover of Superman / Batman TPB volume 2



Review:

The issues collected in this volume were originally published in and around 2005. That places them after the taboo had been broken around the death of a core hero. Comics had long imperiled and even apparently killed a hero, but when they were really-really going to die it became a significant marketing event. Think of the Batman; Death in the Family story arc around the death of Robin (1989), or the cultural awareness of the Death of Superman storyline from 1993.

In this volume, however, one or the other of Superman and Batman is killed off almost. every. single. issue. It mocks the seriousness of those earlier tragic tales - no time to mourn, he will return and we'll kill off the other hero next month!

The collection includes two longer multi-part tales followed by standalone interstitials, for a total of 4 complete stories, only three of which land successfully.

First comes the 5-part "Absolute Power" story. Superman and Batman rule the Earth, as benevolent dictators. They are literally Brothers-in-Arms, orphans who have been stitched into a family with one mother and two fathers - a fun nod to modern life's emerging alternatives to the nuclear family. In this case, Mom and the two Dads are renegades from the Legion of Super Heroes.

But all is not well in their domain, and Wonder Woman joins with the Freedom Fighters to rebel. They manage to kill Batman, but an explosion leads to an unstable time bubble that causes Batman and Superman to jump around into and out of diverse sectors of the DC multiverse. Then when one or the other of the two dies, it triggers the next jump.

While some advance knowledge of these multiverse realms is helpful, author Jeph Loeb gives enough clues for the casual reader to keep up. He also packs some emotional depth into the characters as they face repeated loss, trauma and grief.

Carlos Pacheco's art packs some serious wallop, with strong designs and vivid colors, poses and expressions. His layouts help to drive the breakneck pace of this story.

Next up is a standalone chapter with a teenaged Supergirl testing her limits. She tires of being supervised, each in their own way, by Superman and Batman. She clearly gets the hero thing, saving lives and seeing through a clever Clayface ruse. It is a fun tale, and Ian Churchill's art is dark, gritty, angry. The story leaves us begging for more, a solid A+

The third section is the "With a Vengeance" multi-parter, without question the weakest of the four in this collection. It again spans multiple DC Earths; at one point as many as five Supergirls are on a single page, in consecutive panels. But while the five heroines team to free Superman from Darkseid's clutches, the mighty Darkseid is not the villain in this story. No, these events are being masterminded by the Joker and Mr Mxyzptlk.

These chapters are filled with beautiful, striking visuals with clever angles and page-filling, boundary-breaking arrangements. But overall the story is meh. The plot is not especially interesting, and unfolds in a confusing way that could benefit from tighter editing or some narrative help. This leaves the casual reader baffled on multiple occasions.

The fourth and final story brings us, instead of Superman and Batman, their youthful proteges Superboy and Robin. It's another masterpiece of one-shot storytelling, an emotional roller-coaster. By times hilarious and deeply moving, it explores a memorable mis-adventure of Robin and Superboy. The pages are filled with clever dialog and perfect shifts in artistic style, as mind-bending themselves as the plot twists they parallel. When the story ends with the realization that it is all a eulogy beside a statue of SB, in the aftermath of his death in the Infinite Crisis crossover, the reader is left stunned and speechless. Kudos to "Sam Loeb and the 26" for an amazing chapter.

For an overall entertaining collection, with a few stunning highlights, we give it 3.5 capes.

Description:

The Earth has a new world order in which Batman and Superman rule with an iron fist. Humankind has a choice: obey or die! But a resistance is formed against these dictators! Will these unlikely freedom fighters save the world or destroy it? Also, the World's Finest heroes take on a squad of revenge-seeking heroes on the hunt for the murderer of one of their teammates - and their top suspects are Batman and Superman.

Collects: SUPERMAN/BATMAN issues #14-26

Authors: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Carlos Pacheco, Ed McGuiness
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Dec 23 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401250799
Pages: 336 pages


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