Batman/Superman #1 // Review
How does a new series justify its own existence to readers? Particularly the latest volume of a series with such a well-known title as Batman/Superman? The first issue of Batman/Superman, new this week, doesn’t offer any easy answers to that question.
After a brief flashback to the early days of the Batman Who Laughs in the Dark Multiverse, the issue primarily concerns itself with Batman recruiting Superman to help him with a case in Gotham City. A boy has been kidnapped, and all clues indicate the involvement of both the Batman Who Laughs and a similarly corrupted Superman. Batman and Superman quickly find the Batman Who Laughs’ own Batcave, where an unpleasant surprise has been left for them.
Writer Joshua Williamson does excellent work setting up the series’ concept. He recaps the events of the just-finished Batman Who Laughs miniseries, establishes the reason why Batman would want Superman close for this particular mission, then sets up the quest that will clearly fill subsequent issues--six heroes (or heroic figures) have been corrupted by the Batman Who Laughs, and the World’s Finest Team must save them and keep them from hurting anyone else. Williamson seems to have a handle on Clark and Bruce’s voices, though he does at least once go to the well of parallel caption monologues, something of a cliche in Batman/Superman comics in this day and age.
David Marquez makes a meal of his first work for DC. Marquez makes Superman look like a golden god and makes Batman look like a horrifying creature of the shadows, while still somehow making sense visually in the same world. His take on the Batman Who Laughs’ twisted Robins is appropriately horrifying. His page layouts are both dynamic and clear, and the action is kinetic. The color art by Alejandro Sanchez and lettering by John J. Hill are polished and effective.
Why, then, does the issue feel like it lacks something essential? It might be the dependence on story beats from the Batman Who Laughs mini (which itself was a continuation of the Dark Knights: Metal crossover), making this feel like yet another cynical extension of the never-ending-event cycle that can dominate Big Two comics. It might be that it covers ground we’ve seen before, analyzing once again the similarities and differences of the most dissected duo in superhero comics. Whatever the reason, while Batman/Superman may be essential reading for those following the metastory of the DC Universe, it has some work to do to justify its own existence.
