John Byrne's had a rough time finding an audience in recent years. His recent Lab Rats series met with a quick cancellation, and some of his work for Marvel -- such as Spider-Man: Chapter One and Marvel: The Lost Generation -- wasn't well received. Byrne has seem to hit on something with Generations, though. It sold well enough for a sequel, and apparently, that sold well enough for another followup. I'm pleased to find it's being presented in a less expensive format this time around, making it accessible to more readers.
Like the previous two series, Generations III is shaping up to be a good bit of fun for longtime DC super-hero fans, but Byrne's out-of-continuity story is surprisingly dependent on the reader's familiarity with DC's history.
It's 1925 in Smallville, and a battered Saturn Girl turns up, desperately looking for Superboy to help with a coming crisis. At the same time, a squadron of alien soldiers turns up nearby, and unable to return home, they decide to establish a foothold and wipe out as human humans as possible. The incursion attracts the attention of wide variety of folks, from army commander Sam Lane, to Superboy, to an angry teenager from Gotham City by the name of Bruce Wayne.
One of my qualms with Byrne's artwork in recent years is that it just doesn't look as strong it used to. His clean work on Fantastic Four and gritty intensity on Danger Unlimited seemed to be a thing of the past. I'm pleased to discover that this debut issue boasts some of Byrne's better efforts. He manages to capture the historical setting nicely while still incorporating the sense of wonder that accompanies Superboy and alien baddies. Sinclair's colors are particularly crisp as well.
The storytelling here harkens back to a more innocent age in comics, and the lighter tone is a welcome, entertaining one. Byrne also does a good job of piquing the readers' interest as to the nature of the "Crosstime Crisis." My problem with the plot of this first issue, though, is how Byrne shoehorns Bruce Wayne into it. I know, I know... the series is called Superman & Batman: Generations III, but Bruce's role here is far from necessary and stretches credibility.
On the other hand, I did enjoy Byrne's take on an angry young man who still hadn't found a way to deal with his pain. Seeing him lash out at Alfred was something that was rather new, and it was one of the high points of the book -- not to mention the only one focused on characterization.
With an essay in the back of the book, Byrne offers up an accessible read for those unfamiliar with the Generations concept -- that the stories flow from the notion that Superman first appeared in 1938 and Batman in 1939, and from there, they aged normally. But there is still an inaccessible quality that comes along with the core concept. One really needs to be familiar with DC history and characters to appreciate the homages that are at the heart of the book's appeal. I follow it just fine, but I grew up reading stories about Earth-1 and Earth-2, Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes reprint digests and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
