According to rumours, Batman/Superman is folding soon, along with Superman/Wonder Woman, to be replaced by a team-up series featuring all three. If that's true, I'd be happy to see Tom Taylor given the scripting assignment. His two issues of this series to date have been a delight, showcasing a strong, wry Superman and a Batman quietly thrilled to have found someone with whom he can let his deadly serious guard down. The well-worked plot has twists, it has turns, it has Lobo... oh well, you can't get everything right.
Penciller Robson Rocha and inker Júlio Ferreira's art is smooth, but not without character. The storytelling is crystal clear, and when they have a big moment, they grab it with bo.. all four hands.
The rich colours come from Blond, the sharp letters from Rob Leigh.
Yanick Paquette's cover, coloured by Nathan Fairbairn, isn't my favourite, all that grey on the mask, hand and blade made it tough to parse, visually. I like the idea better than the execution. (Paquette and Fairbairn fill in on this week's Batman #49 and it's simply gorgeous.)
While the drab rollercoaster ride that is the Truth storyline rumbles on in the other Superman books, Batman/Superman has become a haven of delightful superheroic sanity.
Yep, I'm in full agreement. It reads like a World's Finest tale from the Bronze Age or Jeph Loeb's excellent run on Superman/Batman. No animosity, no adversarial one upsmanship, just the World's Greatest Superhero and the World's Greatest Detective togther for what adventures may come. That is comes from Tom Taylor is even finer, as he showed with the introduction of Val-Zod, that he loves and understands Superman's character. Along with Superman: Lois and Clark, Batman/Superman is a welcome read in the darkest days of the DC Universe. . .until Rebirth, then it may be darker.
ReplyDelete"it has Lobo... oh well, you can't get everything right." Just out of curiosity, why is that to the comic's detriment? You make it sound like it is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Li, I was rereading some of the last issues of World's Finest recently, and smiled all the way through.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I just don't like the current Lobo, he's humourless. Ta for asking!
"Anonymous, I just don't like the current Lobo, he's humourless." I don't mind the fact he's not played for laughs - after all, he's Lobo, deadliest assassin in the cosmos, not Bozo the space clown.
ReplyDeleteIn a 2006 interview, Keith Giffen said, "I have no idea why Lobo took off... I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine hero prototype, and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure."
Deletehttp://web.archive.org/web/20060525000607/http://www.newsarama.com/images/interviews/2006/giffen/GiffenBio.htm
Yeah, I know about that, but there was a time when Lobo was a scary force to be reckoned with and not a moron like he was in the 90s comics. A lot of fans seem to have forgotten about that.
DeleteHi Anon, was he a scary assassin for long, though? As I recall, pretty soon after his Omega Men debut, Alan Grant and Keith Giffen turned him amusing. That's the Lobo who became a hit.
DeleteHe had amusing moments, but he was pretty scary. Hell, his appearance within L.E.G.I.O.N. was what had boosted the series' popularity among other things. Plus, it was that version of Lobo who had nearly killed Supes in "Blood Brawl" and gained him recognition among fans.
DeleteAlso, he had taken on Red Rocket and martian Manhunter in JLI.
Delete"Hi Anon, was he a scary assassin for long, though?" For a good while he was played straight with the occasional humorous moment. When he had gotten his solo mini, though, the character ended up becoming a Loony Tune.
DeleteYou're making me remember how much I miss LEGION! Which isn't a bad thing.
DeleteYeah, good series. It's kind of a shame that nothing interesting was done with Lobo - I think he would have made for a phenomenal horror character.
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