DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #38

Torment, Part 2:  Crack-Up

September 2007

Written by Alan Burnett

Pencils by Dustin Nguyen

Inks by Derek Fridolfs

Cover by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs

Synopsis

Less than thirty second ago, Metropolis started to change into Kryptonite, but it turns out to be a horrible nightmare.  That day, Clark returns to work but has trouble focusing with thoughts of the nightmare consuming.  He runs from the Daily Planet building to find Lois.  In Gotham, Batman watches over Killer Croc, convinced that he was working with someone else when he stole from Lex Luthor.  Elsewhere, Desaad joins “John” in a makeshift laboratory to check on the status of the machine that is giving Luthor his nightmares.  He then returns to Apokolips to provide an update to Darkseid.  In the shadows, someone is watching them.  Meanwhile, Superman finds Lois, but he then runs away, thinking everything his wrong.  Out in the street, Clark accidentally destroys a tanker before flying away.  At Lex Luthor’s tower, Batman learns that the item stolen from Lex is an inter-dimensional transmitter.  In Metropolis, the Scarecrow tracks down Superman in a junkyard, cowering in fear.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a weird issue in that I went from moments that I disliked to moments that I really liked back to moments I disliked and then back to like.  You know, kinda like being on a see-saw.  Overall, however, I am enjoying this story and I am intrigued to see where this goes (or if it is connected to Countdown in some way given the Darkseid connection). 

I was disappointed the city turning to Kryptonite was a nightmare, but I have to admit that as Superman’s paranoia and confusion increased, I thought it was an effective.  Annoying as part of a cliffhanger to the reader, but as part of the larger story, it works well.  I also really liked the Desaad sections on the train.  It was an effective, scary moment to see him randomly pick someone to torture like that.  Well within his character, but more importantly adds the general creepiness of the story so far.  Then the scene with Darkseid where he trips down the stairs.  I hope this is going somewhere because not only did it not make sense in the context of the plot, but it also really felt out of place in terms of the tone. 

Yet another issue in which the cover completely and utterly destroys the ending.  It might’ve been a cool cliffhanger and might’ve even made me re-think of the beginning with Killer Croc.  But, the cover places Scarecrow in the mix, so it was obvious that Croc was afraid and that the fear he felt came from the Scarecrow.  See, beyond spilling the ending, it also manages to cloud how I read the issue.  Of course, maybe it was just me picking up the wrong cover.