SUPERMAN & BATMAN: GENERATIONS II #1
"1942: Battlefields" & "1953: Absent Friends"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics/Elseworlds imprint
Writer/Artist/Letters: John Byrne
Colors: Trish Mulvihill
Editor: Mike Carlin
Price: $5.95 US/$9.95 CAN |
In recent years, John Byrne's work has been rather hit or miss for me. Fortunately, projects like Batman/Captain America and Generations definitely found their marks. Byrne seems to thrive when dealing with super-hero nostalgia that's free of the confines of continuity. Generations II is shaping up to be almost as much fun as the first series, mixing the innocent super-heroics of yesteryear with a more refined, modern storytelling approach.
In 1942 war-torn Europe, Superman and his allies in the Justice Society and Blackhawks manage to put an end to a Nazi engine of destruction, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, back in America, Batman and Robin foil another one of Luthor's arms-dealing schemes, not to mention saving the life of one Lois Lane. Eleven years later, Lois prepares to give birth to her second child while her husband is trapped in deep space without the benefit of his powers. Bruce Wayne is reunited with an old ally, who warns of the coming of a terrible threat: the Demon's Head organization.
One of the reasons Generations was so much fun was that there were no rules. In the Elseworlds setting, Byrne could do as he wished with these characters. That's not true this time around, as Byrne has to work within the confines of the continuity he established in the first series. Still, I'm so far removed from that story now that I've forgotten much of that structure, making it as though Byrne almost has a carte blanche again, at least with this particular reader.
Byrne's art also seems stronger on these sorts of projects. It's crisper, more focused somehow. Usually, he's at his best when inked by someone else, but this material strikes a chord with him in some way, it would seem. His affection for the comics of the past shines through. His war scenes have a greater and more appropriate level of grit to them, but he also manages to capture the wonder and energy of Superman's space-operatic adventures.
While I enjoyed this first issue, though, I'm not sure I got 10 bucks' (Cdn) worth of enjoyment out of it. It's a shame this story wasn't presented in a more affordable format. I don't think a lower grade of paper would have really hurt it all that much.
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