I like Jae Lee's work. There's something about his art style that conveys darkness and at the same time the lines he uses are always fine. When he draws 'dark' characters like Batman, you can also see that he's trying his hardest to show everything humanly possible for the panel/page while sticking to his guns. You can even say that he tries to show off some 'inner light' from his characters. That's art. And that's also the reason why I picked Batman/Superman # 1.
Greg Pak also writes a pretty mean story here. I mean, yeah, it's a given that this is the first ever team up between the Caped Crusader and the big blue boyscout but it's the time away from their respective costumes that shines the most. There's one scene in the book where the core virtues of each character appears. In the scene, a very drunken looking Bruce Wayne looks on as a little Muslim boy gets bullied by some Gotham city punks for the sole reason of being a follower of the Islam religion. The boy is getting ready to fight back but before anything happens, Clark Kent shows up and breaks it off.
Wayne is irritated and states that the bullying will never stop; in fact tomorrow, the beating the boy gets just might be twice as harsh as what he's supposed to receive today. Clark Kent doesn't believe in that however. We never get to see how this ends as trouble stirs (although I'm keen to think that by the time the arc is done, we'll have a look at this situation once again).
There's a mysterious villain working behind the scenes which is a nice touch to the first ever formal team up between the twp iconic series. That's also a pretty excuse to have Catwoman make an appearance in the book. That appearance is short and sweet and before we even get a deeper understanding of that one, the two heroes are teleported to Earth 2.
I think this could've worked without the inclusion of the Earth 2 elements. It's nice to make the two see what good they could accomplish together without having to go "deus ex machina" on them. Pak could've stuck to the formulaic team-up these two did back in the silver age. Plus it's less hokey.
Yes, here's a better look at that Earth 2 crossover...
While this might feel like the most epic fight, I can assure you it's not. Just get the book and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Verdict: 8/10
Get your copies of Batman-Superman # 1 from Comicx Hub or from Castle Geek.
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