Batman/Superman: Game Over (comics)

Writers: Greg Pak, Paul Levtiz
Artists: Jae Lee, Brett Booth, RB Silva, Kenneth Rocafort, Phillip Tan
Collects: Batman/Superman #5-9, Batman/Superman Annual #1, Worlds Finest #20-21

After I read and enjoyed volume one of the New 52 Batman/Superman title, I'd hoped that would extend to the second. Unfortunately, Game Over is not quite as strong as Cross World for a variety of reasons. Part of that is down to some uneven stories. The rest is art clash.

Plotwise, there are three arcs over the course of this volume and they range from okay to good, without anything really standing out. The first is the one the volume takes its name after. Toymaster has a new augmented reality video game which can, without his knowledge, take control of actual people and heroes, thanks to meddling by Mongul. Since it's just a video game, the players decide to fight heroes. Sadly true to life, as plenty of people get their rocks off playing evil pricks in video games, when given the option. The second takes place over the entire annual and is something of a sequel, involving Battleworld, Monguls son and a tournament for right of succession. The last is a crossover with Worlds Finest, where the titular duo finally meet the multiverse lost castaways from Earth 2. Can family get much more extended than "from an alternate universe"?

The first is just okay. There's an interesting plot to be made with the idea of an alien like Mongul using the bloodthirsty nature of "gamers" to his advantage and attempting to turn them into something he can use. "Gamers" are assholes, or at least a good portion of them are. Twenty plus years playing them and exposing myself to online communities did a lot to clue me in to that. But it's undermined a bit by feeling too much like a generic action story in the visual terms. There are no HUDs, no indicators that might resemble anything you see or link to a game. The only out of place thing is chibi versions of the players hovering around like they're goddamned Mr. Mxyplkt; not exactly a common sight. At best, it's like some weird AR game.

The voices feel off, too, which is probably why it's a bad idea to try too hard to imitate the voice of any particular group. Maybe it would have felt more authentic if the players were incredibly toxic and blindingly racist. Five minutes playing any multiplayer game with randos would tell you that's how "gamers" really sound.

I might like the annual the best. It's a done-in-one, using the oversized special for one story involving Battleworld, making it a bit of a follow-up to the first arc. It may just be that it has the first whiff of Jae Lee art in the volume. I'm not sure. But it was fun enough watching the two families battle in a gladiator tournament, helping Monguls son keep his throne.

Rounding out the volume is a crossover with Worlds Finest, where Huntress (Helena Wayne) and Power Girl - castoffs from Earth 2, dumped into the main universe in that comics first issue - meet the main universe counterparts of their father and cousin, respectively. It was an inevitable encounter, one Pak and Levitz mine for all the awkward comparisons and strained bonding you would expect. I feel like I might have pulled more from it, were I familiar with what Paul Levitz had been doing in Worlds Finest - I assume the antagonist and area the group ends up in was set up in previous issues of that book - but it holds together well just on the emotional weight of the meeting and their continued sadness over being cut off from home. It ends on an interesting look at what I assume are at-the-time recent developments in the Earth 2 comic proper; I'd always meant to read more of that, but to date have not managed to pick up the second volume.

So, all well and good on the story end, but nothing too spectacular. It might have been elevated with top shelf art, but unfortunately that's not exactly a given with this book. You saw the number under "artists", right? Five of them, not including Scott McDaniel, who did breakdowns for an issue late in the volume. I like the work of most of them.

One problem. They're not Jae Lee. Or, more accurately, some of them don't really gel with Jae Lee.

Maybe I just got the wrong idea, but I kind of assumed this book, at the start, was going to be more of a Jae Lee project, with him doing the bulk of the art. If you're using that guy, you'd want to have him doing as much as possible, right? Even if it leaves the book just kind of doing it's own thing. I mean, its nothing new. Remember the pre-Flashpoint Superman/Batman title? A good book, half the time, and mostly divorced from whatever else is going on in the universe. So there's precedent. But instead we kind of end up with fill-in guest arcs and while at least one story was tailored for that - I can't really picture Game Over being done by Jae Lee, even if there wasn't much done artistically with it as is - it's not really what I wanted.

But you know, that's fine too, because that's an artist for an arc. There's a clear breaking point. It's iffier when you're alternating artists with Jae Lee in one story or arc. Jae Lees work is distinct. No one else looks like him. I liked the annual a lot, but when art duties switched to Kenneth Rocafort - an artist I like a lot - for part two, it stood out. It's even worse when Batman/Superman alternates chapters with Worlds Finest, because RB Silvas artwork - which is also pretty good on its own - may be the furthest removed from Lees style, leaving zero visual consistency between issues. It leaves the First Contact arc feeling like patchwork, artistically. I feel like Lee should have either done the entire annual or the entire crossover, but not both.

The end result is a volume that feels uneven. Nothing inside is what I'd consider outright bad, but the Game Over arc is forgettable and the art feels like it whips all over the place. The book hasn't gone back to the events of the first volume yet either, aside from the title characters having an occasional inkling that they'd forgotten something during First Contact, so if that's what you're looking for, you're not going to find it here. I'd go so far as to say you can probably give this volume a pass if you want. Next volume seems like it might be more substantial anyway.

My Opinion: Skip It

Superman: Krypton Returns (comics)

Writers: Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco, Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Justin Jordan, Michael Alan Nelson
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort, Mahmud Asrar, Ed Benes, Dan Jurgans, Rob Lean, Ray McCarthy, R.B. Silva, Paulo Siquera
Collects: Superboy #0, 25, Supergirl #0, 25, Superman #0, 23.3, 25, Action Comics Annual #2

Ladies and Gentlemen, Superman: Krypton Returns, brought to you by a crew of hundreds.

This is a bizzare crossover than sort of ran through the Superman family for a month and ate up a bunch of specials. Pretty much the entirety of their Zero Month inventory was dedicated to setting up this story, as well as a villains month issue. You get a chance to put out clean origins for your characters and you use it to set up a crossover? I don't know, I'm not a businessman; clearly it made sense to someone.

It's a weird read, too. The high concept isn't a bad one. Basically, H'el - a recent addition to the rogues gallery - has used some time travel shenanigans to his advantage, managing to save Krypton from its destruction. Couple problems with that. For one, his actions have basically screwed with the timeline to the point it's causing devastating cosmic storms. For two, after learning his origins, he cracks and just takes over Krypton outright, ushering in a rule that is devastating to the planet.

None of the story from there plays out like you might expect. The three heroes basically split up into different points in Kryptons past, with the job of ensuring the planet dies for the good of the universe. Again, intriguing chance for drama here. But it also feels kind of flat. There's not a lot about the story that's all that exciting and their given tasks are, for the most part, completed without a lot of trouble. Supergirl has to stop a clone war that damages Krypton - why is never explained, despite Kara herself bringing up that doing so seems at a cross purpose to their ultimate goal - and just kind of warps in where the clones are hanging out and wrecks them. Superboy has to ensure past Kara is saved. He warps in where she is and saves her from some dude that's trying to kill her. Superman himself has to stop H'el from saving Krypton. He warps in where he needs to be with a brief stop to meet his younger parents.

Why? How do the three tasks correlate? It's not explained that well. They're given by an "Oracle" - who I don't think we've ever seen before - who speaks first through Kon and later through Faora*. It feels more like they needed something for everyone to do, including a chance for a heroic sacrifice, rather than an organic plan.

Speaking of which, it's shown within the story that portals to the present will show up once a task is complete, allowing the character to get back. This doesn't happen when it comes time for the heroic sacrifice. Before you ask, I don't know why either. It just doesn't. Like I said, there's not a lot here that's well explained.

That said, Krypton Returns is written fairly well from a character standpoint. A problem I had with Lobdells earlier volume was that every character he touched seemed to act like a dick. Here, everyone fares better. Superman feels like himself - right down to refusing to accept that Krypton is destined to die and trying a hail mary pass at the last moment, even if, again, this is not well explained - and Supergirl feels like she has it together more than she did during H'el on Earth. I want to be smarmy and suggest this might be because there were a ton of other writers involved, but even Lobdells chapters seem to have a better handle on things.

Plotwise, it's a vague mess, but at least everyone is acting more like themselves than the last time I checked in.

Unfortunately, I may have to play bad cop a bit on the art front. There are some storytelling issues to be found here and sadly, they are mostly confined to Kenneth Rocaforts chapters. I like his art a lot - and enjoy the fact that he doesn't just do static layouts - but there are instances of confusing storytelling. Some of his layouts leave you a bit confused as to where to look next. Not all of this is his fault - some of the blame is on a lot of oddly placed word balloons and interchangable dialogue - but it has to be said. Most of the other art flows fine, but you run into the usual problem of stylistic clash; no one else attempts the kind of interesting layouts Rocafort does and no one even attempts to ape his style, so it's painfully obvious when he is and isn't on art duties even without looking at the credits.

All told, Krypton Returns isn't bad. It isn't good. It just is.

My Opinion: Skip It

* Yes. That Faora. From Man of Steel. Her appearance here doesn't amount to much, as she's there to drop some exposition and exit stage right after about five pages. It's clear she's here because the movie was out around that time. It's pointless.

Superman: Fury at Worlds End (comics)

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
Collects: Superman #0, 13-17

This volume is entirely pointless and its existence annoys the crap out of me. Fury At Worlds End is one of those volumes that collects a particular books issues of a crossover and nothing else. In this case, the Superman issues of H'el on Earth.

It's one of the most annoying practices comic companies pull and DC was especially guilty of it around the period this trade came out; see JL: The Grid and JLA: Worlds Most Dangerous, which had chapters of Trinity War. Sure, technically, you can fill in the blanks enough through basic logic to read this on its own, but most of the reasoning behind several plot points is stripped. Why is Supergirl so wrapped up in this guys bull? How did H'el get his hands on Superboy? How did H'el and Supergirl get control of the Fortress of Solitude? I don't know. You don't know. All of that happened in the Superboy and Supergirl issues of the crossover.

If you're interested in the story, basically someone names H'el shows up claiming to be a lost kryptonian and he's ready to wipe Earth off the map to bring Krypton back. He's convinced Supergirl to join him, I assume because she's got some serious PTSD over Kryptons destruction, so bringing it back appeals to her. Superman has to stop them. That's the long and the short of it. Most of the details are lost in the absence of the other two comics.

The writing is another throwback. The same problem previous volumes had. Reads like it belongs in another era, so on and so forth. This is clearly going to be an issue with Lobdells Superman going forward, so if that bugs you, it's probably safe to write off the New 52 Superman book for now, because Lobdells around for a while. I guess it doesn't bother me all that much - not like the characterization does, at any rate - but it can be tiresome.

Speaking of characterization, everyone in this book is an asshole. Superman is short with Superboy and barely seems to tolerate him at times. Kara's easily led by the nose and quick to distrust her cousin. Clark is a prick to Lois because she's moving in with her boyfriend and I guess she needs to run that by him first or something. No one is particularly likable. I really hope it's just a hiccup, because if this is the way everyone is going to be written going forward I'm not sure I'll continue with the book for long.

But hey, there are good things to be said! The artist is Kenneth Rocafort, an artist I'm rather fond of. I like his linework and style and the color is perfect. I assume he works with the same colorists every time? I checked and he's paired with Sunny Gho and Blond. I haven't checked before, so I'm not sure if they're the same colorists he always works with, but if so, he should definitely stick with them. The only problem here? I wish Rocafort were on a book I cared more about; so far, Superman has not been kind to me and I'm not super interested in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

The art is the only thing really worth praising, though. If you're going to read this, you should be reading the big, all encompassing volume titled, wait for it, "H'el on Earth"! It has every issue this one does, save #0. This is not a problem, because issue #0 has nothing to do with anything else in the Superman comic up through H'el on Earth. You don't have any other exclusive material like the Justice League books, so seriously, don't even bother with this.

For my part, I may read the trade collection that has the entire story at some point, but I'm beginning to lose patience with the New 52 Superman book. This is the third volume that has landed with a thud. Between the constant creative changeovers and the dated feel of the writing, this has been the weirdest comic launch I've seen and also the least interesting. I may give Lobdell another volume - Justice League pissed me off worse and my opinion on it took a major turn, so I feel like I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't give him another chance - but if that doesn't grab me I'm out until Gene Luen Yang takes over.

But seriously DC. Slapping the issues of a crossover together in a standalone volume? That's incredibly sleazy. Cut that shit out. Just title the next standalone story "volume three" if you have to.

My Opinion: Skip It