DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #48

K, Chapter 5:  All-American

July 2008

Written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson

Pencils by Shane Davis

Inks by Matt "Batt" Banning

Cover by Shane Davis and Matt "Batt" Banning

Synopsis

Batman and Superman have literally stumbled into the Last Line, a project spearheaded by Amanda Waller to take down Superman, if needed.  Now, Waller has unleashed the “All-American Boy,” a soldier modified with Doomsday DNA and kryptonite to battle against Superman.  Meanwhile, Waller threatens to unmask Batman, who is freed when the battle spirals out of control and into the streets of Smallville.  The Last Line attacks Batman, but he is able to convince them to help him stop All-American Boy.  Batman goes to Smallville and joins the fight against the All-American Boy, slowing it down long enough to allow the military to bring the All-American Boy’s parents to him.  The parents are able to calm the All-American Boy and the fight stops.  Waller then tries to arrest Batman and Superman, but the Last Line refuses.  Batman then produces evidence the All-American Boy was altered without his permission and Waller backs off her orders.  Before she leaves, she hands Superman one of the Kryptonite guns, emblazoned with the LexCorp logo. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Been there.  Done that.  Really.  There is not much in this issue that hasn’t been done before in some form or another.  I suppose credit can be given to Green and Johnson for mashing various different plot points and story ideas into one story, but the sum of the parts does not make a unique whole.  There seems to be an effort to make it work cohesively, but it fails to connect, either within the story or to me as the reader.  Green and Johnson are trying, but it feels like they are trying too hard, using lessons from Creative Writing 101 to put together a character arc for the All-American Boy, but in the process failing to make us care about that arc.  Doomsday, and by extension the All-American Boy is supposed to be a monster.  It is hard to generate sympathy for someone like the All-American Boy, not because the back story is dull, but because it has been rushed.  And then the ending is rushed.  And it comes from the point of view of Batman and Superman, so we are being asked to invest in a character development moment without knowing more about the character.  As a result, it comes across as a cliché (there is a human beneath the monster!).  The same is also true of the Waller/Batman sections in which we get the often-used discussion of how some people view vigilantes compared to how some people view the government.  Given what Waller is supposed to be doing, it makes some sense in the context of the story, but within the framework of the big battle scene and flashbacks to All-American boy’s past, it comes across the page very clunky.  Essentially there are two fights in this issue, but one physical and the other verbal, and somehow it just doesn’t meld very well together.   

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