Superman / Batman : Sorcerer Kings TPB single Issues 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 Review

Rating 4 out of 5

You get 4 full stories in one TPB but they range from great to meh and I'm not sure if any will make it into continuity, especially the streamline continuity we have now in the DC universe {rolleyes}.

The stories are as follows:
 
1. "Who Would Win?"- Only 15 pages long in issue 78, but full of fun. Batman and Superman face off. Rating 4.5 out of 5
Writers: Joe & Jack Kelly, Artist: Ed Benes, Colorist: Pete Pantazis, Letterer: Swands, Associate Editor: Rex Ogle, Editor: Eddi Berganz

2. A World of Their Own - Only 8 pages long in issue 78. Has Huntress and Power Girl version of the S/B pair, It was kinda of a downer and felt unresolved. Rating 2.5 of 5.
Writer: Amanda McMurray, Art: Brett Booth, colors: Andrew Dalhouse, Letters: Swands

3.Worlds' Finest - Two issues long, Issues 79-80. Batman, Robin, and Superman from year One Million chase a time traveling criminal who runs to the past only to meet up with Batman (Bruce), Robin(Dick), and Superman (Clark). Rating 3.3 out of 5
Writer:  Chris Roberson, Artist: Jesus Merino, Colorist: Blond, Letterer: Swands

4. SORCERER KINGS - Four issues, Issues 81-84, This story is great! Rating 4.5 out of 5. Medieval Batman from the future recruits Superman from current day to help him correct what will be a pivotal point in time, while Batman of current day searches for Superman with the help of The Shadowpact. A good deal of Magic is involved.
Writer: Cullen Bunn, Penciller: Chriscross, Inker: Marc Deering, Colorist: Brad Anderson, Letterer: John J Hill

Hold on to your hat for the spot on Cameos in Sorcerer Kings:

Phantom Stranger
Blue Devil
Ragman
Warlocks Daughter
Detective Chimp
Doctor Occult
Felix Faust
Blackbriar Thorn
Brother Blood
Morgaine Le Fey
Klarion The Witch Boy (current)

Creeper (Alternate future version)

Klarion The Warlock(future)
Teekl (Klarion's cat)
Traci 13
Jason Blood/Etrigan
Arthur Curry
Stanley Dover and his Monster
Firestorm (alternate future version)
            AND

Batwing as a dragon.




SPOILERS for Sorcerer Kings:

The first time I read the story it was the Monthly issues and I had a long enough gap between issues it was hard from me to get into what was going on by the next issue and the action scenes I had trouble following, BUT when I read them all together it was a different story and I enjoyed it very much and with the action scenes when I followed the Sword of Superman they went a lot better.
Some of the things I didn't like is the future characterization of the Creeper as a bad guy, I just don't believe he would turn, but I got over it pretty fast.
Future Batman had a new partner called Nina, that was a change of pace from the brightly colored Robins, but I liked her from the beginning, even when she transforms into a ghoul.

With all that you get out of this trade, I think it's more then worth the price. Amazon currently has it for $13.94 new.

BATMAN: Legends of the Dark Knight BLINK 156 157 158 Action Comics 847 DC Comics presents TPB

RATING 3.3 out of 5

It wasn't bad but wasn't great either. The DC Presents BATMAN: Blink TPB actually has two complete stories. Both written by Dwayne McDuffie. One is actually a Superman story with no Batman in it. 

1. BLINK: Legends of the Dark Knight 156-158 Rating 3.4 out of 5
Penciller: Val Semeiks, Inker: Dan Green, Colorist: James Sinclair, Letterer: Kurt Hathaway, Seperations by Digital Chameleon, Editor: Andy Helfer

BLINK was well written but the story itself was unmemorable. I would say it wasn't very memorable at all, because I had read it once before and completely forgot about it.  The plot has Batman teaming up with a blind grifter who's an eye witness to a serial murder. The blind grifter has a special talent of being able to see through the eyes of someone else after he has touched them.


2. INTERMEZZO: Action Comics 847 Rating 3 out of 5
Art and Color: Renato Guedes, Letterer: Travis Lanham, Ass Editor: Nachie Caskra, Editor: Matt Welson.

INTERMEZZO was very bland. Ma and Pa Kent are worried about Clark because he has been missing, and Pa Kent remembers a adventure he had with Clark that they kept secret from Ma Kent.

I liked the art in the Blink better, I think its because of the colors of James Sinclair, also the story had some suspense and the idea of a blind grifter that could see through others eyes was intriguing, but this would not be a story I would recommend as a "must have".  If the DC Presents series was to showcase McDuffie's writing I wouldn't have suggested it for that either.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: TORMENT! issues 37 38 39 40 41 42 TPB Review

RATING 3.4 out of 5

Dustin Nguyen's art is as great as ever in Torment. The story is not bad, but...just ah...how can I say this... some people's Torment is other people's pleasure. Superman seems to be in 'torment' while Batman is  mostly getting "action".  Wink wink nudge nudge.
The writer, Alan Burnett, does hand out a bit of mystery, and the dialogue is decent, so it's a decent story. While the storyline is wrapped up in this trade, it does leave a teaser for the storyline that followed when the original issues came out, called, Death of the New Gods.


Spoilers 

I'm sure most of you have heard of Bruce falling through time by being shot by Darkseid's omega sanction (Return of Bruce Wayne), that was Grant Morrsion's version of torment.

WELL.. here is Alan Burnett's version  of putting Bruce through Torment: The goddess of Desire from Apokolips, Bekka, has to save Bruce by... stripping him naked and putting him in bed. 

While... Superman has a mental breakdown handed to him by Scarecrow.  

Hmmm ....something doesn't seem fair in the handing out of Torment. 

But Sups does... get to face off with Bruce in a fight.. why wouldn't he want to, wouldn't you.. if you got such a bum deal.
 
Whose behind all this Torment? 

If you haven't guessed from the covers, I'm not telling ya...

Anyway...later in the story, Bruce does get to return Bekka the favor of saving his life... by saving her life, which includes...stripping her down naked ....and bed..ding her. 
Poor poor Bruce and Bekka...such such torment.

By the way...Bekka is Orion's wife, so why wasn't Bruce put in the line-up of suspects when Orion was found dead in Final Crisis...(throws hands up) just saying. 


Have I ever mentioned that not only am I closet comic book reader,  but... I also... love a good ROMANCE novel.  Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodwiss was my first...ROMANCE novel.  I got it when I was 13, from a yard sale.  To this day, I regard it as the best romance novel... ever.   I'm sure you'll keep that close to the chest and not tell anyone. Riiiighht.


Superman / Batman : Torment 
Writer: Alan Burnett
Penciller: Dustin Nguyen
Inker: Derek Fridolfs
Colorist: Randy Mayor
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Ass. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Issue 37 : Nguyen, Fridolfs and Rod Reis/ Claudio Castellini & Noemi Vicens
Cover Issue 38 -42: Nguyen and Fridolfs
Alternate Cover Issue 38 - Claudio Castellini and Paul Mounts.
Publisher: DC comics
Issues dates Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec 2007, Jan 2008
TPB date: Feb 2011

SUPERMAN & BATMAN vs VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 TPB

REVIEW:
Rating: 4 out of 5

 A good indication of a great mini is when you can't put it down.  I got all six issues Friday night, had them read by Saturday afternoon.  This is definitely one of the better Batman Vampire stories.

FULL Review :Some Spoilers

Be WARNED, there is a third party narration throughout the series.  We've become use... to the personal captions coming from the character's point of view, so at first,  this can be a little off-putting.  What you need to do, is think of the old horror movie narration, or WWF commentary (wink), both would work. None of the narration is coming from the personal thoughts of the characters.



What really really sells this story.... is the art.  It has an old 1960's  Horror movie feel to it, without being pretentiously artistic, or artsy fartsy.  

The way this story is told, they should have placed "Batman" in the title first.  He is the main character searching for answers through out the issues,  doing the detective work.  Superman doesn't show up til the LAST page of the second issue, and barely gets out of just being a CAMEO character in the story.  Superman is concerned with a boy that he had save, who ended up being turned into a Vampire anyway. He is looking for a cure for what transformed the boy before it is too late.

   

 The bad guy... is Dr Combs (Yes, yet another ... Dr..., in Gotham, that is criminally insane, Ba Wa Ha ha).  He wants to turn the world into the Undead.  In flashbacks, before  Dr Combs  came to Gotham,  his first test subjects were Marius Dimeter and Janko. He turned Dimeter into a Vampire and Janko into a Werewolf,  when they were in Russia. 

    Dimeter and Janko, track Dr Combs to Gotham, in hope of being turned back into normal Human beings.  In the mean time, Dr Combs is using Dimeter's and Janko's blood, in a serum, and injects it into others, turning these new subjects into Vampires and Werewolves, filling the streets of Gotham with the UNDEAD. Chaos and havoc fill the streets of Gotham.

     
CAMEOS;
Wonder Woman
Nightwing
Green Arrow
The Demon: Etrigan/Jason Blood
Dr Langstrom/ Man-Bat

Which eyes goes to which character?
Aw ...come on...guess.

SUPERMAN & BATMAN vs VAMPIRES & WERE WOLVES
Issue 1: Seize the Night!
Issue 2: A Nightwing and a Prayer!
Issue 3: An Unspeakable HORROR!
Issue 4: Give Blood Save Lives
Issue 5: Dead of Night!
Issue 6:Fear the Night!

Writer: Kevin VanHook
Art & Cover : Tom Mandrake
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC Comics
2008-2009


EYES: Superman, Entrigan, Langstrom, Dimeter, Batman, Dr Combs, Jason Blood

Superman / Batman #64 #68 #69 #70 #71 BIG NOISE

RATING: 2.7 out of 5 points:
Title: The Big Noise: Written by Joe Casey

This story started out with quite a bit of promise. It had mystery. It had an off world appeal, especially with an ancient alien spacecraft.  There were several great fight scenes in that first issue.   So..... WHAT went wrong? I'll tell you. The writer’s indifference to the story reflected in the pages of the comic.  HE lost interest in telling the story and his heart wasn't in it.



FULL REVIEW: ******SPOILERS of the Story included:

Before I came to that conclusion, I couldn't put my finger on... what was making this story blah... What kept me from saying, "Wow", when I read this story?
I tried dissecting it, from dialog to art, from characterization to plot, but all seemed to be smooth, or... the problems I could find were just too nit picky, that they shouldn't matter to the story.  The art ... at least to me... was great.  Reviewers with more knowledge of art were able to tell that the skill in the ink and coloring wasn't up to par... but I couldn't tell, so I don't think that was what was wrong.

It wasn't until I read the interview Joe Casey had with Comic Book Resources, that I finally hit my Ah..Ha.. moment.  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24684

Joe Casey said in the interview:

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I had other 'Superman/Batman' stories that I wanted to do, stories that I felt would really fulfill the promise of the book having to be ‘outside’ current continuity but would still get readers pumped, so the most exciting thing about this story was getting to the end of it, so I could possibly move on to writing the next ones."

Casey became disinterested and impatient with his own story. I would say that feeling... of wanting to get on to another project..., carried into the book.  Just like smiling when talking on the telephone, the person receiving the call can hear the smile in your voice.  The same when your writing a story, your feelings get translated into the pages.

Look at some of the art. The art itself should have carried the story, I enjoyed the art portion for the most part.
The ending of the second issue had a great fire fight between Superman and the antagonist, NRG-X, an alien hired assassin that was hired to kill Clark Kent.  I mean come... on...why wasn't I excited about this. Well ... I was... till I got the next issue.

There was so much promise of a good story, but as it unfolded, it seemed humdrum, like... business as usual, another day in the DC universe.  Oh... there goes Superman and Batman... fighting another pending planetary disaster, ho hum ...

The most exciting thing to me was how Batman's spacesuit was drawn.
I got almost giddy, Te he he he. Oh... Ah...can you tell I'm a Batman Beyond fan?

I sure hope I"m not a lone.

 To the right is a cover to the Batman Beyond 2010 Mini Series, Hush Beyond.


If Casey had just mentioned more about the suit, maybe...maybe I would have WOKE up.

The ending was a 'dump' ending, as in "lets end this real quick and dump the story".  Superman ripped the NRG-X apart, then froze the guy behind hiring him into an icicle. Wham Baam we're done. I am being a little harsh, because it did really take a whole issue to finish the story, but it was... a lack luster meh.. ending, to what could have been a great story.






The credits of the books also show how they lost interest and dumped the book unto others.

Superman/Batman : The Big Noise:
Issue #64: Prelude to Big Noise  Writer: Joe Casey > Pencils: Ardian Syaf > Inks: Scott Kolins > color: Michael Atiyeh
Issue #68 :Rumble Face  > Writer: Joe Casey > Pencils: Ardian Syaf > Inks: Vicente Cifuentes  and David Enebral > color: Ulises Arreola
Issue #69:Benediction Redox > Writer: Joe Casey > Pencils: Ardian Syaf > Inks: Vicente Cifuentes > Color: Ulises Arreola
Issue #70: Righteous Destroyer > Writer: Joe Casey > Pencils: Ardian Syaf  & Jay Fabok > Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, NOrm Rapmund and Marlo Alquiza >Color: Ulises Arreola
Issue #71: The Final Solution > Writer: Joe Casey & Joshua Williamson > Pencils: Jason Fabok >  Inks: Pretis rollins, Rebecca Buchman, Derek Fridolfs, and Walden Wong > Colors : Pete Pantazis