DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #52

Li'L Leaguers, Part 2 of 2

November 2008

Written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson

Pencils by Rafael Albuquerque

Inks by Rafael Albuquerque

Covers by Ryan Sook

Synopsis

In Metropolis, the Li’l villains storm LexCorp Tower.  When they kill the security guard, they realize that the rules are different in this world.  At the Hall of Justice, the Li’l Justice League are eating milk and cookies with the big versions when they receive news of the disturbance.  After a brief argument, the big leaguers leave the Li’l leaguers with Batman.   In Metropolis, the JLA finds the big Lex Luthor fighting the Li’l villains.  Lex tells the JLA that the Li’l villains are dangerous.  Li’l Luthor agrees.  They take down the heroes and then head to the Hall of Justice.  The two Batmen and Supermen track down the Li’l villains, who use a Father Box on Doomsday.  The heroes attack.  In the fight, Li’l Superman flies Doomsday into orbit, where Doomsday explodes.  Li’l Superman falls to Earth and dies.  The Li’l league is heartbroken.  Then Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite appear, declaring their bet (to see if new Earth is inherently good or evil) is over.  Superman asks if Mxyzptlk can bring Li’l Superman back to life, but he can’t.  However, Mxyzptlk sends all of the Li’l heroes home and then promises to find a way to bring Li’l Blue back.  Elsewhere, Li’l Joker breaks in to Arkham and finds the Joker to ask if he is happy to see him.  The two laugh maniacally.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

For all the reasons that I liked the first part of this story, I disliked the second part of the story.  Not only is the story dark in terms of the villains realizing they can do actual damage, but it turns downright depressing when Li’l Superman dies.  What happened to the light and frothy humorous story from the previous story?  Why did this issue have to get so dark?  Even before they got to the scene with Li’l Superman dying, I was annoyed with the tone.  It just didn’t feel right when the security guard died.  The tone was just all wrong, especially compared to the previous issue, or to the way the Li’l Leaguers behaved after the first issue.  Maybe I read this issue to close to the first one (about a week or so since I am behind in my reviews) so perhaps the shift in tone for me was more jarring than for someone who may have waited a month.  But it felt like a completely different story and I didn’t like it.  I think the story worked better as a fun romp rather than Green and Johnson seemingly trying to make a statement or theorize about good and evil.  

I also have big problems with Mxyzptlk being unable to bring Li’l Superman back to life.  If there is one character that, at the end of the day, can undo everything that has happened before and make me believe it, it is Mxyzptlk.  So to see him tell the others that there is nothing he can do for Li’l Superman did not feel right.  In fact, I think I might’ve enjoyed this issue a lot more if L’il Superman lived.

The art on the top panel of page 10 was taken directly from issue #9 of the DC Johnny title Tiny Titans, which is an excellent book, by the way. 

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