SUPERMAN/BATMAN Volume 3
DC Comics
Going back to the early days of my comics reading World’s Finest was always a favorite. I loved Batman and Superman teaming up and it was obviously popular because there is almost always a tile pairing these two at any given time. In 2003 DC started publishing SUPERMAN/BATMAN with some great stories. The collected versions collected story arcs but his led to a number of issues not being collected because this title did the wonderful old school thing of two issue story arcs. Recently DC is re-issues of collections that are collecting everything. In the latest, Volume 3 SUPERMAN/BATMAN 27-36 and Annual #1 are collected.
The first tale is among my favorites, it is an homage to one of the first Bat man and Superman team-ups I ever read in a reprint in World’s Finest. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are going on a cruise ship as part of a story they are working on. Bruce Wayne is also going on the cruise for reasons of his own. Due to over booking Bruce and Clark and up sharing a cabin. The two don’t know the other’s secret and they don’t get along. Something happens that calls for them to change to their alter egos and along the way they discover each other identities. The ending involves Superman and Batman working together to throw Lois of the scent of the Superman/Clark Kent secret. LOADS OF FUN.
There is also a story from Earth Two in which Batman’s mind is put into Huntress and Superman into Powergirl. As you might imagine it is also quite fun and the art by Kevin Maguire is great. Ultra-humanite is the man bad guy and he’s done wonderfully here. There is also a story in which all the aliens on Earth are brain washed into helping an alien race destroying the planet, Luthor plays a role and there are a lot of fun cameos. The collection wraps up with a reboot of the Metal Men which is kind of weird but really interesting.
The majority is written by Mark Verheiden and drawn by Ethan Van Sciver. Their love of these characters shows on every page and fans of Bats and the Big Blue Boy Scout should love this collection.
Jon
