Batman/Superman #3

Writer:  George Pak

Art:  Jae Lee, Yildiray Cinar, June Chung, Matt Yackey, John Kalisz, Rob Leigh

Get Caught Up…

Batman and Superman from Earth-1.  Batman and Superman from Earth-2.  Wonder Woman.  The Trickster.  We don’t know what’s going on.  They don’t know what’s going on.

What’s Good?

We’re finally getting some forward momentum with the story.  I still can’t say much about what’s going on, but I don’t feel as bad about it anymore.  Greg Pak’s starting to find his groove with the characters.  I enjoyed the banter between the characters for the first time in this series, and the Trickster is being fleshed out in an interesting manner.  I’m looking forward to the next issue for the first time.

This is a bizarre situation our heroes find themselves in.  A lot of people imagine what it would be like meeting your future self.  How would it go?  Would you be okay with what you’ve become or who you were?  Add superpowers to the mix, and you’ve got an interesting take on an old story.  Pak applies an old trope to this story - initial distrust, leading into conflict, leading into begrudging alliance, leading into acceptance.  It doesn’t always work, and when it does it doesn’t always work well.  Time will tell where Pak’s story falls on the chart.

The colors are really great here.  They give the atmosphere that that Lee doesn’t quite nail with his pencils.  The flashback scenes are nailed here.  They are beautiful to take in.  The juxtaposition between the bland present setting and the Smallville of the character’s youth strikes home.  I loved the interactions between Alfred and Pa Kent.  Alfred’s paternal feeling towards young Bruce really shine through here and endear the characters.

What’s Not So Good?

I’m still not a fan of Jae Lee.  A lot of people really enjoy his work, but I’m not sold.  It is stylistic mismatch between his abilities and my tastes.  I much prefer him as a cover artist, where his approach is effective.  The way he does interiors gets boring after a while.  The lack of backgrounds is really starting to get to me.  It gives scenes little setup and atmosphere.  

The Verdict…

I’ll finish out this storyline, but the resolution will determine whether or not this title remains on my pull list.

Oh, Yeah, And…

According to DC’s historically unreliable solicits, Jae Lee’s done with the book after this storyline.  Brett Booth (Teen Titans) picks up duties with issue 5, including the Villains Month Doomsday 3.1 issue.  Maybe I’ll stick around a little while longer.