Inside your head.
The team has switched and while we’re treated to a story
that’s already been told to death, it’s highly enjoyable – something I couldn’t
associate with Batman/Superman until now.
My grouse against Jae Lee stands, but the Hepburn-Kerschl
combo doesn’t work too well and the figures are inconsistent from page to page.
Jeff Lemire in on this issue, and I’m not sure whether Greg
is off the book or taking a break (again, it seems mainly because of Lee’s
notorious problems with deadlines on this book).
The problem though is the predictability of this one-shot
and despite some enjoyable quips and a welcome return to DC proper for one
hero, the issue fails to rise above lukewarm.
SPOILERS FOLLOW……………….
I’m not that familiar with S.H.A.D.E (Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive) in
the New 52, except that they were featured in a short-lived Frankenstein and
the Creature Commandos series.
Apparently, their
head command (including a small girl curiously named Father Time) is monitoring
different incidents across the globe (including a Red Lantern Kara aka
Supergirl and Green Arrow) in a three-inch mobile sphere that serves as their
headquarters.
They get a visitor
in Superman, who needs to speak with Dr. Ray Palmer, one of their scientists
(including a hint at one of the Superman phrases – it’s a bird, it’s a
plane….).
Apparently, Batman
is lying comatose in the Fortress of Solitude (Superman’s base) after a rescue
of a Chinese Space Station. And Ray Palmer is the man to save him – as Ray
himself finds out when he spots a microscopic costumed figure floating dead in
Batman’s blood stream.
And here was where
we went the predictable route – a microscopic city has nestled in a blood
vessel of Batman’s brain.
Using Palmer’s
technology, he shrinks himself and Superman and they arrive at the city, which
they discover is a mobile spacecraft. They meet up with a pair of ‘natives’ and
learn that a pair of prisoners have escaped, killed their hero and captured the
ship.
We finally glimpse
the miscreants – one who looks like O.M.A.C and the other is a Red Lantern. One
of them (the O.M.A.C one) takes Superman’s matter reduction kit and is able to
grow himself and exit Batman.
He attempts to kill
the unconscious Batman while Superman stops the other. Ray relocates the ship
into an empty mobile sphere and they prepare to exit Batman’s brain.
In the Fortress,
Batman wakes up and though still weak, is able to defeat the muscular attacker.
The minimization of the ship is completed with some problems, due to Batman’s
exertions outside.
As it ends, Palmer
makes a joke that Superman will be trapped without his kit, and the latter
doesn’t take it too kindly.
Outside, they find
that Batman has managed to knock out the attacker and Ray Palmer takes leave,
with his final words that he is thinking of becoming a costumed hero named ‘the
Atom’ (which Batman doesn’t take too well given what happened in Trinity War).
At S.H.A.D.E
headquarters, Father Time and her assistant reveal that they have placed
microscopic sensors that will monitor Batman and Superman from now on.
SPOILERS END………………
It felt like Lemire
was make to do this at the last minute, and it resulted in a rushed by-the-note
story with no depth.
Yes, the guest star
was welcome but it felt more like filler than an actual story by itself. The
artwork didn’t do it any favors, with its inconsistency.
Still, it was far more enjoyable than most of this series
has been for a while.
So, I give it 6.5 out of 10.
+Some enjoyable banter
+Welcome guest star
-Rushed story
-Predictable
-Artwork was inconsistent
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