Enemies and Allies by Kevin J. Anderson is an interesting alternate history look, not only for Batman and Superman’s first meeting but also a new look at the USA of the 1950s, complete with the Cold War and banging shoes at the UN by a certain Russian (nope, not Khrushchev!).

Anderson wrote Last Days of Krypton and then wrote E&A right afterwards, but E&A cannot really be considered a sequel. It stands on its own.

I was impressed how he portrayed Batman as a brooding man who is prepared for anything and makes no assumptions. The “Dark Knight” aspect of Batman was not introduced until the 1980s or so, so to see this in the 1950s was surprising. (Comics history note: the 1950s Batman was fighting alien invaders and wearing rainbow colors with his sidekick Robin. No Robin in this alternate!).

Superman has a few run-ins with Lois Lane as he tries to figure out the lovelorn column for the Daily Planet. Even with all his powers (he thinks), he cannot solve these troubling relationship problems. This part of the story is trying to humanize Clark Kent but it comes off as a page filler. Not a lot of character development here. Not even when we meet Ma Kent and Superman tells his mom his troubles – could have left this on the editing floor, Kevin!

The crux of the story centers around Lex Luthor, a corporate magnate who has Wayne Enterprises’ directors in his pocket and collects all sorts of stolen data for his defense contracts.

A kryptonite meteor is being mined by the Russians. It is interesting that this story shows Superman as new to Kryptonite and he weakens at the close proximity to the stuff. Will Batman use it as well?

Neither Batman nor Superman trust each other but they help each other anyway with a common enemy afoot. Tossing nuclear missiles is the least of Superman’s worries!

Bottom Line:

Unfair criticism of Anderson by some reviews as far as character development is concerned but heck, it reads as a comic book and isn’t that the point?

Mixing real corporate espionage with two iconic characters and then creating an alternate history with Luthor’s megalomania and secret Russian spies makes for some fun reading. It’s fast and fun, but probably only good enough to read once.