Superman/Batman, Volume 6

Superman/Batman (7 Volumes Edition)

by Joe Casey, Paul Levitz, Scott Rolins

A time-lost Kryptonian ship, its crew murdered. A missing escape pod. A mysterious attack by a powerful assassin on an insignificant reporter named Clark Kent. These are the clues in a mystery that will take all of Batman’s detective skills and Superman’s incredible strength to solve.

A war from Krypton’s long-ago history has come to Earth, with a warrior determined to wipe out every remaining Kryptonian. The battle is to the death, and if the adopted world of the Last Son of Krypton should die in the process, so much the better.

Now Superman must finish a war that his ancestors began, but he has an advantage that ancient Krypton and its enemies could never have imagined. And its name is Batman.

Experience this epic battle along with other classic stories in SUPERMAN/BATMAN VOL. 6. This volume features comics by superstar creators including Joe Casey (ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN), Paul Levitz (BATMAN) and Scott Kolins (THE FLASH). Collects SUPERMAN/BATMAN #64-75 and SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #4.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superman, Dc Comics, Batman

328 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2017

About the author

Librarian note: there is more than one author with this name

Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Casey

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 6 of the Superman/Batman team up was actually good. The Night of the Cure which takes place during the Blackest Night event was actually decent. I rather enjoyed watching Bizarro trying to help out. The Big Noise story about the alien trying to take over Earth was not only decent but the artwork was also good.

The Batman Beyond story was also entertaining. It is from the time in the future where Superman is "gone"..or is he?

Perhaps of all the stories it is the last one that is subpar. It is a Legion of Superheroes tale and it just did nothing for me. Still the vast majority of this book is entertaining. The artwork, for the most part, is of good quality. The stories entertain and are fairly well written. So what else do you need out of a Superman/Batman volume?

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series seems to be limping along at this point. There's a Halloween story and a terrible Blackest Night tie-in with Bizarro, Solomon Grundy and Man-Bat filling in for Superman and Batman. Then Joe Casey phones in a story about a Durlan who comes to earth to wipe out the last Kryptonian. Next, Paul Levitz takes over for a mediocre Batman Beyond / Superman team-up. Then Levitz and Jerry Ordway tell a tale featuring Lex Luthor and, of course, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the characters Levitz is most known for.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars because I really loved it and I enjoyed really reading it

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting ending to this series. While I could tell they were running out of ideas, the comics were still fun, especially the one-or-two-page stories at the end.

[John]

This initial series was Loeb having big dumb fun. But, interestingly it started to evolved into non-canon comics (similar to "Legend of the Dark Knight" and Batman Chronicles. And this is where I think the book excels the most, once it leaves the confines of "World's Finest Comics". The series ran for 12-volumes. And then for two additional series (one featuring Greg Pak and another with Joshua Willamson and later Gene Luen Yang)

This became a nice rotating collection of writers and artists--and as such, it's very disappointing that Joe Casey (whose attitude I adore) was fired from this series, just as he was ramping up. According to DC editorial, "The Big Noise" was intended to relaunch the book as a flashback series dealing with the aftermath of various DC crossovers. However, Casey's original scripts were devoid of references to the crossovers, scrapping the plan for future stories in the intended vein.
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[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superman/Batman Vol. 6 picks up where the previous trade paperback left off and collects the next twelve issues (Superman/Batman #64–75) of the 2003 on-going series with Superman/Batman Annual #4 and covers seven stories with a dozen short stories in the anniversary issue Superman/Batman #75.

"The Big Noise" is a four-issue storyline (Superman/Batman #68–71) with a prelude "Prelude to the Big Noise" (Superman/Batman #64) has Batman discovering information on Superman's Kryptonian origins that place the two in danger unless Superman is willing to sacrifice himself. "Night of the Curse" is a two-issue storyline (Superman/Batman #66–67), which is a special Blackest Night tie-in issue starring Bizarro and Man-Bat – counterparts of Superman and Batman respectively.

"Worship", "Sacrifice", "Ascension", and "Resurrection" are interconnecting one-issue storylines (Superman/Batman #72–75 respectively) that has Superman and Batman taking on Lex Luthor and a Superman cult with help from the Legion of Superheroes.

"Happy Halloween" is a one-issue storyline (Superman/Batman #65) is a special Halloween issue showing what scares Superman and Batman, and also exposing the inner fears of Joker and Lex Luthor. "A Time Beyond Hope" is a one-issue storyline (Superman/Batman Annual #4) is set in the Batman Beyond universe where Superman, Bruce Wayne, and Terry McGinnis as Batman take on Lex Luthor, Metallo, and the Jokerz.

Superman/Batman #75 is a super-sized issue with a dozen short stories within, leading with "Resurrection" the conclusion to the already started storyline of interconnecting one-issue storylines accompanied by eleven other shorts that won't be expanded here.

Joe Casey (Superman/Batman #64, 68–71), Paul Levitz (Superman/Batman #72–75, Annual #4), Scott Kolins (Superman/Batman #66–67), Matt Cherniss, Peter Johnson (Superman/Batman #65), and Steven T. Seagle, Billy Tucci, Adam Hughes, J.T. Krul, Jill Thompson, Mike Green, Mike Johnson, Duncan Rouleau, Brian Azzarello, David Finch, and Peter Tomasi (Superman/Batman #75) penned the trade paperback. For the most part, it is written somewhat well. Most of the stories are rather mediocre in nature and rather forgettable – it didn't help that there were two event tie-ins that jarred the flow of the narrative.

Jerry Ordway (Superman/Batman #72–75), Scott Kolins (Superman/Batman #64, 66–67), Ardian Syaf (Superman/Batman #68–70), Jay Fabok (Superman/Batman #70–71), Federico Dallocchio (Superman/Batman #65), Renato Guedes (Superman/Batman Annual #4), Teddy Kristiansen, Billy Tucci, Adam Hughes, Francis Manapul, Jill Thompson, Shane Davis, Rafael Albuquerque, Duncan Rouleau, Lee Bermejo, David Finch, and Gene Ha (Superman/Batman #75) penciled the trade paperback. For the most part, the penciling style meshes rather well with each other, but rather distinctive, which gives an uneven artistic flow throughout the trade paperback. The outlier is Superman/Batman #75 where the penciling styles are all over the place and rather jarring.

All in all, Superman/Batman, Vol. 6 is a mediocre continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first two stories in Superman/Batman, Vol. 9: Night and Day (which I really liked as a vol.).

Issue #65 Sweet Dreams by Peter Johnson and Matt Cherniss was also super upsetting (in a powerful way), but I found the art to be incredibly distracting. It was FUGLY and inconsistent (there were a listed 5 artists who worked on it...), but I liked the idea of the story and the fears.

Issues #66 & #67 Night of the Cure was another good one, this time by Scott Kolins. I really like both Bizarro and Solomon Grundy as characters so it was a good story for me (even though I have to think really hard to read "in opposites").

Big Noise by Joe Casey was OK as a Superman/Batman team-up but felt it read more like an action story than a detective story. (Though there was a little detecting on Bruce's part -his hunch that Anderson was out of character at the gala so he took a DNA sample. (ᗒ ᗨᗕ) Oh, Bats. You're so cray-cray, but also so right.). Which is totally fine. An action story is always fun, but I just thought the way the writing was set up here that Casey was trying to make it a blended Superman/Batman story. And while Superman and Batman were both in this, it was just an OK team-up.

The story was good, like a solid 3. Enjoyable, but nothing more or less.

My favorite story of the volume (besides for the first two) was A Time Beyond Hope by Paul Levitz. I grew up on Batman Beyond (I <3 Terry McGinnis) so this was a well-written throwback for me. Of course, there's the sad inclusion of old, alone, and depressed Superman. :(
I did like that old Luthor was the villain here & the K-drugs was a cool story!
(Really interesting sub-plot about Superman being the Ghost & sending criminals off into the Phantom Zone. So cray that Mon-El is in there. I know him from the Supergirl TV show on CW! What's he doing in the Phantom Zone?!)
Also, sweet to discover that Bruce is the one paying for Lois's flowers.


Worship, Sacrifice, Assention, and Ressurection by Paul Levits were the weakest links in this book.
It starts off in Worship with Superman destroying a hurtling asteroid in space. One rock that he tries to smash up surprisingly has kryptonite in it and knocks Superman out and he and the rock crash onto this planet, destroying a building or two. Superman gets up and tries to put things "back together", sorta, and then without a word of hello or goodbye (or miming an explanation), he's off.
I dunno what Superman usually does in these scenarios, but not saying anything and flying off, feels...well, off.
The people of this planet with the two destroyed buildings look pissed.
Lex is, of course, spying on Superman with a super satellite in space, and wants to use this planet of angry people to turn them against Superman (for what purpose, I'm not sure). He invests Trillions of dollars in sending this planet goods and technology along with some "prophesy" that one day Superman will return (and he's evil and destructive, so prepare etc. & that they should harvest the kryptonite from the asteroid that fell so one day in the future they will get their chance to destroy Superman... *eyeroll* and that's it).

Anyway, while this is happening, Lois gets kidnapped by a Superman worshiping cult (also secretly controlled by Lex. Why? I dunno.) They want to burn Lois alive because she rebuffed Superman's romantic attentions and married Clark Kent instead. The Incel logic is hilariously ironic.
Luckily, Batman heard Lois's signal while Superman was off-world & goes to save her from the fire.
What I liked about this plotline: Luthor has a protocol called "Code Black" to enact whenever Batman is in Metropolis. Lex/Lexcorp cancels all criminal activities for 24 hours so Batman doesn't take an interest in him. <3
Also, he apparently trained Lois in martial arts?! <3 <3

What I hated about this plotline: Besides for the Incel sacrifice of Lois? -She's topless for the whole thing.
When Lois was kidnapped she was wearing a white blouse and a suit (skirt and matching jacket). When she's tied up at the stake, her shirt is missing but she is still wearing her suit jacket (now over a bra). Who takes off a woman's jacket, removes her blouse, and then puts the jacket back on to burn someone alive??! ...Someone who wanted to draw Lois tied up at the stake in her bra, is who.

Anyway, Batman is looking for the cult and where they meet. He drops by an old synagogue first and I recognize the building from a tour I did of NYC's Lower East Side. The building is the former Adath Jeshurun of Jassy Synagogue on Rivington Street near Eldridge in Manhattan. The building is now apartments or lofts or whatever, and it's a little weird Levits (or Ordway?) includes this building in his story about a weird murderous crazy religious cult. Anyway.

Lex's whole thing is that he wants to be a god, where Superman is a false god.
He goes through a lot of trouble prepping this world (with the two destroyed buildings) to hate Superman for what ends up being a two-second follow-up interaction where Superman goes back to the planet to check on the people he saved and they want him gone quick (armed with kryptonite spears etc.). That's it. That's all that happens. They drive him off, and that's when he discovers one of Lex's rockets in space delivering this word technological advancements beyond their time.
Superman threatens Lex. Lex threatens Superman (that one day he'll get him, even if it takes a thousand years!), and in Ressurection we have a time-traveling kryptonite Lex clone from the future that goes back in time to kill Superman. The Legion of Super-Heroes time jump back and they fight the Lex/kryptonite monster and save an even younger Clark (Superboy) and Smallville from destruction. The end.

Eh. Two stars for the whole Worship, Sacrifice, Assention, and Ressurection thing.

After Ressurection, the volume ends with a bunch of two-page one-offs to celebrate the 75th issue of Superman/Batman.

I loved the art and colors by Francis Manapul in Friendly Advice (It's the story of an awkward drama between Tim and Conner after Tim kissed Cassie when Conner was apparently dead?)

I surprisingly liked Night and Day by Michael Green & Mike Johnson. We get a one page follow up on our Li'l Leagures after their sad ending in Superman/Batman, Volume 5, which is now a HEA! Batman brought lil Superman home after he died in "the real word", but he was just sleeping! He didn't die! Yay!

I also liked Eternal by David Finch. We see Conner (now Superman) and Damian (now, Batman) meet at a Superman & Batman memorial in the future as old men. There's strife there, but they put a pause on it to pay their respects.

But my favorite one was Joker and Lex by Azzarello and Bermejo, drawn like a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Joker is perfectly crazy and it's perfect.


Overall volume rating: 3.5 stars.

[Yuiko · Rating 2 out of 5]

This vol sucked so bad hated alot of the art