DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #36

Computer Crash

August 2007

Written by Mark Verheiden and Marc Guggenheim

Pencils by Pat Lee

Inks by Craig Yeung

Cover by Pat Lee and Craig Yeung

Synopsis

Brainiac has taken control of the initial prototype of the OMAC project created by Batman.  In turn, Brainiac has taken control of the Metal Men.  Using a tracking system in the Metal Men, Dr. Magnus has followed them to a satellite array just outside Keystone City.  In Gotham City, Bruce Wayne is in the hospital, recovering from injuries suffered when Batman and Superman were attempting to learn who had taken control of the Metal Men.  Batman gives Superman a tracking device to find the OMAC, which leads him to Keystone City, Dr. Magnus, and the Metal Men.  Meanwhile, Brainiac’s plan is to turn all humans to OMACs in order to take over the world, but first he needs a test subject.  He picks Helen.  Just then Superman arrives and attacks the Metal Men, but they are waiting for him:  Tin produces a piece of Kryptonite that incapacitates the man of steel.  Brainiac then orders Superman dead; the newly created OMAC Helen is given the opportunity to do it.  In the meantime, Batman has made his way to Keystone City and encounters Dr. Magnus, giving him the OMAC specs to help Helen before he goes to help Superman.  Batman then convinces the Metal Men they have the power to shake off Braniac’s control, which they do.  Magnus then arrives and shoots OMAC-Helen with a medicated dart, giving her the clarity to fight Brainiac and defeat him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Overall, a lackluster ending to a lackluster story.  The story didn’t really gel and featured way too much in the plot to come together in just three issues.  The Metal Men and Magnus were not given enough time to develop as characters and Batman and Superman were relegated as side characters in their own book. 

The ending came down to the Metal Men making a conscious decision to reject Brainiac’s control.  As a concept, it’s fine and would have been interesting in a Metal Man mini-series, especially in a story examining their nature and who they are.  But in a story featuring Batman and Superman it would have been nice for the world’s finest to factor into the ending (other than Batman telling the Metal Men what they could do).  Ultimately, it was Magnus who figure out how to override the OMAC control on Helen, allowing her and the Metal Men to defeat Brainiac.  Superman and Batman just watched. 

How quickly could Batman get out of the hospital, get to the batcave, get his suit on, and make it to Keystone City to help.  And when did Dr. Magnus make his way outside the building.  I would assume during Superman’s attack, but it is not really shown.  Later, Magnus arrives with a tranquilizer gun which begs several questions:  where did the gun come from and where did he find the right chemicals in order to make Helen think clearly as an OMAC unit and how did he determine all of that just from the specs he was given?

The dialogue at the beginning between Helen and Magnus and then at the end between Clark and Bruce read very similarly; the cadence and the rhythm were exactly the same.  And both of them annoyed the crap out of me.  It did not feel natural.  It felt more like scripted dialogue, the kind you hear on tv, which is not surprising given that both Guggenheim and Verheiden script tv shows.  However, because it is write and not spoke (or acted, if you will) it does not come across as well since were missing the actors putting their own style on top of the writer’s style.  So instead we get the writer’s style, a staccato, rapid-fire, off-kilter tone that falls flat. 

I did like the ending with Bruce admitting to Clark that he had other plans just in case some other metahuman would happen to go rogue.