Opinions on Superman/Batman

[Scrubz]

A year ago a friend of mine got me hooked on the DC Universe starting mainly with Batman Hush and Superman/Batman Vol.1&2, all written by Jeph Loeb. Since then I have become pretty well versed in the DCU and its history from Crisis On Infinite Earths through 52. So I was suprised to find out that many avid comic fans don't care for or even despise Loeb's work on the Superman and Batman mythos. I find his stories enjoyable and they generally have a decent payoff. His stuff doesn't get as unique/complex as a Morrsions or as history rich as say Waid or Johns. But its still cool to me, so why the dislike? Thoughts please.

[Dr. Drake Ramoray]

No dislike here, I love Jeph's stuff, and in my opinion, Superman/Batman has gone downhill since he left DC.

[drupgyu]

No dislike here, I love Jeph's stuff, and in my opinion, Superman/Batman has gone downhill since he left DC.

I totally agree. What happened to that book?

[Skagop]

Interestingly enough, I still buy this book every month. However, I haven't read it since like issue #31. The writing has significantly dropped off, I wish they would get Loeb back on this ASAP.

[jadrax]

I like it as a title, it tends to be fun.

Sometimes it makes no g-d damn sense at all, and seems to have some weird one way continuity where everything that happens in it effects the rest of DC but not the other way round, but its still fun!

[dancj]

Jeph Loeb's work varies. I found his work on Superman and Hush to be crap. Superman/Batman is so silly that it's quite fun though.

Long Halloween and Dark Victory are okay as far as the writing goes, but Tim Sale's art deludes people into thinking they're better than they are. Maybe the people who like Hush are the ones who like Jim Lee's art (which I don't).

[stamen]

S/B isn't the first book a read every month, but it's far from being the last. I've not been overly disappointed with the new creative team, in fact, I kind of liked the change. Even so, it needs something right now if its going to work its way up my list of reads.

[brundlefly]

My dislike stems from the first arc ("Public Enemies") in which the awesome and long-brewing Superman/Batman versus President Lex feud that I had been enjoying comes to an absurdly anticlimactic and illogical conclusion courtesy of the team of McGuinness and Loeb. I was hyped about the S/B series when it was first announced, since the first arc was promised to be the climax to the Supes/Bats/Lex storyline that had been building in both the Superman and Batman books for a long time (see Lex's roles in No Man's Land, Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Our Worlds At War, etc.). Then we received the goofy "Public Enemies," with kids' cartoon-y artwork from McGuinness that detracted from what should have been a dramatic showdown between these characters and Loeb's story full of nonsense like kryptonite meteors, giant Superman/Batman composite robots, and Lex shooting up Venom and liquid kryptonite into his veins and then getting into a fistfight with Superman while loudly announcing all his crimes to witnesses. :eek: Loeb's other S/B stories varied from similiar goofiness (that Batzarro and the Maximums business) to being pretty good (I rather enjoyed "Absolute Power"), but I was still put off from the way he tanked the Lex vs Supes/Bats finale right out of the gate. A lot of people describe his S/B run as "good out-of-continuity fun." Well, if that was actually the case and that story was out of continuity, then my dislike of it would certainly be less. It's the fact that Public Enemies was supposed to be 'canon' and the official conclusion to the Prez Lex vs. Superman/Batman feud that was so infuriating to me. Make that story out-of-continuity, let someone like Johns or Rucka or Dini write the real conclusion to that storyarc and then I'd have no real complaints about Loeb's S/B run.

I picked up Mark Verheiden's first two arcs on S/B, but like with Loeb I can't tell if they're meant to be in continuity or not. They're not bad, but not great either. Passable fare. I really liked Van Sciver's art in the first arc, though.

[SuperSince92]

It was the first book I read when Loeb was on it. Since then the writing has become so bad (and illogical) I dropped it from my pull-list. I liked it b/c it tied to continuity and wrapped up old arc's, while also creating new ones. (President Luthor arc, sequel to Emperor Joker, created Supergirl, 'what-if?' future arc where the Legion villians raised Supes & Bats). Just good stories.

I blame DC editorial for letting the title lag. They probably figured the title could stand up on its own b/c "Hey, it's Superman AND Batman!" Unfortunately, bad writing coupled with little to no research on characters involved, plus a seeming no connection to current stories makes this a title I can now skip on.

I'm going to give it another chance with Alan Burnett's run. Hopefully it returns to greatness and begins to tie back into the DCU.

[niall mc cann]

I actually liked the opening "Public Enemies" storyline, though it was a bit all over the place. I was really psyched about his supergirl story, but very disappointed with the execution. I hated absolute power. I just felt it was a mess, as a story.

Overall, i just thought the writing wasn't tight or focused enough at any point. The book started with that being a minor factor, then went mental. Great ideas, messy, convoluted exectution.

[Rocket13]

Hi,
Just finished reading #36 and was less than impressed. The story was so-so and the art, in my opinion was really poor. As a reader of the Metal Men series in the past and somewhat of a fan I couldn't believe how poorly they were drawn. Anyone else have a problem with the art? Seeing as how the title features two of their top characters I wish they would put a top art team on the book. I really want to like the series, but am finding it so hard to like that I am considering dropping it from those that I read.

[Jade_GL]

My BF has this on his pull list and I read it until maybe issue 20ish. Liked the first arc, hated the reintroduction of Supergirl, liked the storyline after that one, and then I just stopped reading it. I have been rethinking going back and catching up.

However, the art on the last few issues has been absolutely horrible. I can't get past it. Usually I can tolerate art that maybe I don't like for personal reasons of taste, but the last few issues have really been bad. I can't even put up a good front.