Booknote: Batman/Superman, Vol. 1: Cross World

Greg Pak, et.al., Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Cross World. New York: DC Comics, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-4012-4509-2.

The book's description bills it as how Batman and Superman became friends. This is sort of correct. In reality, the heroes from our world find themselves meeting their Earth 2 counterparts, who are younger, less experienced, and not quite friends. The heroes from our world are already good friends and allies. In the story then, they all need to work together to prevent a threat to both their worlds.

For me, I know Greg Pak from his work with Planet Hulk (link to my review), a volume that I enjoyed very much. So I was interested to see how he did writing for DC Comics. Pak provides a pretty fast paced tale as the heroes learn how to work together in order to figure out what really needs to get done. This is the first volume of the series, and it appears as having the potential to get better.

I did have a bit of an issue with some of the art. Though you can distinguish the heroes and counterparts, it is not always consistent. There were a couple of times I was not able to tell which character I was looking at. While I admired the overall craft in the art, some of the shadowy style did not fully work for me. As for the story, it moved at a good pace, but it seemed to wrap up a bit too neatly at the end. However, it did leave opening for more in the series.

Overall, it was a quick and entertaining story but not too deep. I liked it, but not really liked it, so I am willing to give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

With the upcoming Batman/Superman film coming out soon, this title may be of interest for public libraries with graphic novel collections. For academic libraries that may have graphic novel collections or recreational reading collections, I would consider this an optional acquisition: get it if patrons request it, but skip it otherwise.

Disclosure: The mandatory stuff I have to type to tell you that I read this as an e-book review copy via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. You know, so The Man is satisfied everything is kosher.