Review: Superman/Batman #55

Superman/Batman is not a title that I usually buy. But I heard through the grapevine that I might like last month's issue and so I picked it up on a whim.

There were 2 reasons I was told I might like it. The first reason was that the interior art was done by Rags Morales whose work I have always enjoyed.

The second was that the issue contained (I believe) the second appearance of Linda Lang.

The issue was interesting enough to warrant a quick review. But bear with me, this was part 3 of a 4 part arc. I have little idea of much of what preceded this.

The issue starts with a depowered Clark Kent being rushed to the hospital with a chest wound. I have no idea how he suffered the injury.

But later in the issue, I learned that for some reason Superman would be in danger by the threat of the Silver Banshee if he kept his powers. To maintain some sort of status quo, Superman has himself depowered magically with his abilities being transferred to Batman.

Linda Lang shows up at the hospital while Clark is being tended to. From a secret identity point of view, Linda has little reason to be so upset. But she is allowed in when Lois vouches for her saying 'she is family'. Again, not exactly the right way to keep alter egos unknown but in this instance Clark looks like he might be dying. I can understand why emotions would be running so high.

I like that Linda Lang is becoming part of the status quo, showing up in other titles then Supergirl.

I also love Morales' take on Linda/Kara.

Realizing that better medical care is only 23,ooo miles away, Clark is transferred to the JLA satellite where advanced science techniques and some magic help him mend more quickly. I like the little quip by Zatanna about how she was able to get Clark 'transferred' without any fuss. Interjecting real life sensibility into fantastic stories like these helps ground them just a bit.

Again, here is a nice shot of Morales' take on Kara now as Supergirl.

One thing that we are shown is that the old quip 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' is true even in the case of Batman. Earlier we see him thrashing criminals all over the world. He becomes obsessed with being everywhere at all times. He will operate in the night around the clock across the globe stopping evil where he sees it.

He tells the JLA to not try to stop him. Look at their faces. I don't think they like that edict. Sounds almost threatening. Someone with Superman's powers would be hard enough to stop. Add Batman's abilities to that and you have someone very dangerous.

I sort of like how Kara is looking at Clark in the last panel, trying to figure out what he is thinking maybe as a way to figure out what she should do. I wonder if she would have gone after Batman right then and there if she was given the okay.

But they let Batman go and he continues to go on a mini-rampage. First he dispatches Catwoman rather roughly.

Nightwing approaches him and tries to get him to stop. The two actually fight and Nightwing gets a few good shots in before being overwhelmed by the super-strong Dark Knight. Nightwing states he thought he might had a shot to win because Batman has been hiding in the dark the whole time, never getting any of the all-important yellow sun rays.

Batman finishes off Nightwing resulting in him landing in a hospital bed near death.

Realizing that Bruce is pwer-mad and out of control, Clark decides it is time to act. He finds Robin and Zatanna. Alfred then gives him a package that Bruce had left for Clark - an amalgam Batman/Superman suit.

What can I say? I jumped into a story half done. I don't know if I will bother finding the earlier chapters but I might get the next and concluding issue.

The story seems pretty standard for comics with the good guy turning bad. We have seen bith Superman and Batman try to become all-controlling Big Brothers in the past. Still, I think that it was a bit quick for Batman to become so wild that he nearly kills Nightwing. So nothing special.

That said, I like the Morales art a lot. He does a very nice rendition of Kara.

And it was very nice to see Linda Lang again.

Overall grade: C+