Greg Pak is asking a lot of us. I don’t mean that to sound negative, but it’s true. When you release something like Batman/Superman, you don’t usually go right for the intellectual jugular. Most of the time, the first adventure is big, noisy, and colorful. Pak has taken a different road, much like the one taken by Jonathan Hickman with Avengers and New Avengers. He’s decided to write a brain buster of first story arc.
What’s interesting is that the brain bust comes from how vague and oddly detached Pak’s writing is. The plot itself is simple. A demon, a trickster god with a bad attitude, is looking to screw with the world’s most dangerous men. The entity has decided on Superman and Batman. To ensure their confusion, this trickster is shuffling the two heroes between universes. Sounds simple. It isn’t.
Pak pens this story in a vague manner, relying on implication as opposed to exposition. One of the Supermen caught in the time paradox is the New 52 Action Comics Superman, sporting long pants and work boots. When he sees Batman, he hasn’t actually met the Dark Knight yet, so he attacks. Remember, this Superman is in the infancy of heroes on Earth. Batman is just a dark villain to him. None of that is outwardly explained, you just have to pick it up.
Batman’s time jump puts him into a world where he’s older, where Gotham has been saved, and he’s married to Catwoman. When New 52 Superman jumps, he’s in a world with a fully matured Superman, one where Ma and Pa Kent didn’t die. Are these aspects of the original DC Universe? Could be, except Batman’s time jump landed him someplace outside any universe we’ve seen. Once again, none of this is explained, you have to piece it together.
Batman/Superman #2 is another wonderful chapter in this bizarre story. This is not an easy one to follow, Pak’s writing is much more surreal than most comic books. He also sets the reader up to be as confused as the heroes. He wants us discovering things along with the characters, as opposed to just getting everything handed to us. It’s an exciting way to present a book, though it will be frustrating for some.
If you don’t want to follow the plot, just buy Batman/Superman for the art. Jae Lee is ridiculous. His work is stunning. Elements of Frank Quitely are there, but Lee takes it a step further but adding in this dark, noir, modern art approach to the panels. Shadowing, negative space – Lee uses every stroke of the pen and brush to maximize impact. It’s absolutely staggering work that is without equal.
Smart, exciting, gorgeous. Batman/Superman is something very special, presented by two talents at the absolute peak of their game.
