Superman/Batman Vol. 1: Public Enemies

Since the mid 80s, Lex Luthor had been redesigned as a rich megalomaniac who would rather manipulate things through use of business savvy and politics than by putting on a ridiculous green suit of armor and punching his way to satisfaction. In the early 2000s, DC Comics even had him elected president of the United States, and the comparisons between Luthor and another dubiously elected president were unmistakable. I MEAN GEORGE W. BUSH GET IT? Anyway, in case you aren't somebody who thinks W. is analogous to a supercriminal, then you're in luck, because archconservative Jeph Loeb undid all of that in six issues and had Luthor back in his idiotic green armor and deposed as president. I guess he seriously broke the modern characterization of Luthor as a more subtle criminal and everything, but it is actually a pretty fun story if you like liking things.

RATING: 66%

Batman: Hush

I always wondered where it was exactly that Jeph Loeb went from pretty decent comic book writer to big old piece of doodie. Turns out it was somewhere around part 8 of this year long storyline from 2002-2003. The plot is a long-forgotten childhood friend of Bruce Wayne comes back into his life at the same time a mysterious new figure starts stalking Batman. I WONDER WHO IT COULD BE. The worst part is when we hear the guy's motivation - because Bruce Wayne's father saved the kid's mother from death after his parents were in a car accident he caused. Then he had to wait until he was 18 to get his parents' wealth how awful. At least Jim Lee's art is pretty.

RATING: 62%

Comic Three-In-One

Daredevil Vol. 2: Parts of a Hole

Daredevil is blind, and he meets this woman, Echo, who wants to kill him but she's deaf, get it? It's actually pretty good, in no small part thanks to David Mack's writing/layouts (no part of me can give Joe Quesada praise, sorry).

RATING: 79%





Fantastic Four: Into The Breach

Roll call: Human Torch! Namorita! Scott Lang Ant-Man! She-Hulk! My vomit everywhere!

RATING: 22%





The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2: Boiling Point

Ugh, I bought this for 30 issues, Jesus.

RATING: 19%

Comic Three-In-One

Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 9: Ultimate Six

Hey, here's a great idea for a story where the Ultimates and Spider-man team up to fight a bunch of bad guys: make it seven issues long and don't have any fighting until issue six!

RATING: 31%




Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4

Continuing the story of Gotham being totally fucked, this one isn't too interesting apart from a classic confrontation between Jim Gordon and Batman.

RATING: 59%




Fantastic Four: Flesh & Stone

Turns out Jeph Loeb actually did jump the shark before Ultimates 3, who knew?

RATING: 45%

Catwoman: When In Rome

I thought that since I've never reviewed a book by the team of Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale, now was as good a time as any ha ha jk lol idkfa. Anyway, this could have been pretty standard fare, a throwaway taking place in the middle of Batman: Dark Victory, but instead Loeb writes an extremely entertaining and often hilarious Catwoman. She's a strong and interesting character, and the humor in her narration really helps keep this book from being as brooding and dire as everything else this team tends to do. One problem I have with this, and it goes for every Tim Sale book, is that every time there's a splash page or very large panel in the middle of the book he has to sign his fucking signature to it, which really takes me out of the story. Look, buddy, your name is huge on the front of the book so I know you didn't just give up half way through, ok? Who are you, JG Jones?

RATING: 83%

COMIC BOOK JOKE THAT NOBODY WILL GET RATING: 41%

Hulk: Gray

This is another one of those Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale books in which they write about the early days of some superhero. This one is actually not as good as Daredevil: Yellow, and especially not as good as their Batman team ups. Banner basically spends the whole book complaining to Doc Samson and recounting his origin. Nothing gets smashed especially good except Iron Man, but if you like moping and amazing art by Tim Sale then this is alright I guess. I like one of those things.

RATING: 53%

Ultimate Power

(Warning: This review won't make any sense to any non comic nerd, so you might just want to skip to the next review, whatever that ends up being.)

This is a nine issue series in which the Supreme Power Universe's Squadron Supreme comes into the Ultimate Universe in order to get revenge on the Fantastic Four. So they kidnap Reed Richards, and then the Ultimates, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-man and SHIELD all have to go through dimensions to the Supreme Power Universe in what turns out to be a seven issue fight also during which the original Squadron Supreme Universe's Squadron Supreme come through. Make sense? Of course not. This could have been done in like three issues, but Greg Land's traces apparently need a splash page every other panel. This Ultimate Sucked.

RATING: 36%

Superman: For All Seasons

(Sorry for not drawing this one, but Tim Sale's art is just so great I couldn't take away from it).

I don't give a fuck about Superman. He's a boring character, and no writer ever really knows what to do with him. But I have to say that Superman: For All Seasons written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by the incomparable Tim Sale is one of the best comic stories I've ever read, Superman or otherwise. It tells the tale of Superman's coming of age, from Clark Kent moving from Smallville to Metropolis, to his first dealings with Lex Luthor. It's touching, beautifully drawn, and a great story about a man who is more alone than anyone else on the planet.

PS - I've done a three other reviews of books by this team. My only hope is that they can team up again and Jeph Loeb can stop writing the worst comic ever, Ultimates 3.

RATING: 93%

Daredevil: Yellow

Sorry to review all these Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale books. But for the most part they're pretty excellent. This one doesn't hold up to the same sort of scrutiny that their Batman collaborations do, largely because it doesn't really have a overarching storyline like those. Basically it's just 6 tales from the early days of Daredevil, when he wore the lame yellow costume pictured to my left, loosely connected by the theme of Matt Murdock's love for Karen Page, his former secretary, who is dead in present continuity. Oops, spoilers.

RATING: 79%

Batman: Haunted Knight

Not anywhere near as good as Dark Victory or Long Halloween, but Loeb (old Loeb) and Sale are still pretty great. This trade is three unlinked stories that each happen on or around Halloween. I like the Scarecrow and Mad Hatter stories the best, because you never really see those two get their own storyline. Usually they're just somebody's crazy henchman. Even in Batman Begins.

RATING: 69%

Batman: Dark Victory

This is a really great Batman story, especially when you consider the fact that Jeph Loeb, the writer, is now for some reason one of the worst writers in comics right now. Whoops for him. Anyway, I like to read Batman: Year One, The Long Halloween, and then this to get my Batman early years fix. It's a great murder mystery, and it's got pretty much every Batman villain because that's what every Batman story does these days.

RATING: 81%