Superman/Batman Omnibus Vol. 1

Superman/Batman Omnibus

by Jeph Loeb, Alan Burnett, Geoff Johns

The most iconic superheroes in the galaxy unite for an unbelievable adventure when Superman's greatest foe, Lex Luthor, becomes president of the United States and starts an all-out super-powered hunt for the Man of Tomorrow. Nearby in Gotham, Batman finds that Superman is not the last Kryptonian as he discovers another living survivor...Kal-El's cousin, Supergirl! However, behind this immense discovery may be the gravest threat of all: Darkseid! Together, Superman and Batman square off against the deadliest villains the world has ever known, in an unforgettable series of team-up adventures!

Superman/Batman Omnibus Vol. 1 collects these and other classic tales featuring the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight. Written and drawn by a host of comics superstars including JEPH LOEB (Batman: The Long Halloween, Superman for All Seasons), ED McGUINNESS (Superman), MARK VERHEIDEN (The Phantom), and ETHAN VAN SCIVER (Green Lantern), this volume collects stories from Superman/ Batman #1-43, Superman/Batman Annual #1-2, and Superman/Batman: Secret Files and Origins 2003 #1.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Superman

1208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2020

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[Bryson Grenfell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a mammoth of a book! This Omnibus is chunky as all heck and jam-packed with content.
The vast majority is outstanding, but there is a slight dip in quality (story-wise) after Jeph Loeb’s work on the title ends and Allan Burnett’s (of Batman: the animated series fame) work begins.

The art is pretty universally consistently great (with the exception of the Metal Men arc) but, that is really a matter of personal taste.

[Andrew Seaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out so strong, then ends with a thud as soon as Loeb leaves. Shame, really.

[S.E. Martens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed-bag. At 1,200 pages, this huge omnibus contains issues No.1-43 of the monthly Superman/Batman comic and is comprised of 6 main story arcs, previously collected in TPBs. The majority of this volume is written by Jeph Loeb, with various pencillers that change between arcs.

Public Enemies is my favorite from this collection - a very fun story set during the period when Lex Luthor was president. A comet made of kryptonite is heading on a collision course with the Earth. Can Lex spin this to make it Superman's fault? You know he's going to try . . . The art by Ed McGuinness fits the dynamic and fun tone of the story.

Unfortunately, for me, none of the other stories quite reached this level of enjoyability.

Notably, we have the return of Kara Zor-El to DC comics canon in the Supergirl arc. While I absolutely love that Kara gets to return as Supergirl, I was overall underwhelmed by this particular story. The sudden appearance of a long lost relative of Clark's brings out the worst in both Superman and Batman. Superman is overly protective to the point of being completely out-of-character (he's going to snap an Amazon's neck in one scene!) and Bruce is equally grating in his constant skepticism.

Wonder Woman is in this, but Superman has a giant snit with her because she wants to train Kara and for some reason that's a bad thing. And then he blames Diana because Darkseid attacks them on Paradise Island and kidnaps Kara . . . but what was the alternative? Was Lois going to do a better job fighting off the Doomsday clones? Superman's anger over this makes zero sense.

I love Kara and she deserves better.

Absolute Power has an AU-type fanfiction premise, but the execution is supremely flawed.

What if the Legion of Superheroes was evil? Evil adult versions of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lighting Lad travel back in time to rewrite history by murdering the Kents and taking baby Clark, and adopting Bruce after his parents are killed. They raise the boys to become authoritarian versions of Superman and Batman who are basically the kings of the Earth.

I don't like stories that assume that without nice parents Clark would just grow up to be a monster . . . it doesn't speak very highly of his character, does it? There's some grim stuff here, like a full-page illustration of Superman brutally murdering Wonder Woman. yeah, that's gross, no thank you.

This is followed by Vengeance, an interesting multiverse story that unfortunately gets a little too over-complicated and finally descends into pure silliness. Superman and Batman show up in a clearly Marvel-inspired parallel universe claiming that a hero there murdered Lois Lane. Superman kills him and the not-Marvel heroes swear revenge. Later, they track down Superman and Batman, who have no idea who these people are (Lois isn't dead, either) and a big multi-universe fight ensues.

The Enemies Among Us written by Mark Verheiden is a nice change of pace, giving us a solid alien invasion story with parasites who are able to telepathically influence the alien heroes currently living on Earth, including Superman.

Things end on a rather 'meh' note (for me anyway) as things start to feel repetitive with Torment - it's another Darkseid story, another Superman-is-brainwashed story . . . I simply was not engaged by this one at all.

[Gerry Sacco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is at its best when it's Loeb and McGuinness. Seriously, McGuinness art is just so phenomenal. All of their combined stuff is 5 stars. Most of Loeb's stuff total is like 4 stars, but Absolute Power was horrible. And past Loeb, was a very mixed bag for writers. And the art seemed to really drop off by the end.

Seriously though, read the Loab/McGuinness section, pick that up specifically if you can, because it's so good.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Omnibus is always a bit tough to rate because they're huge. Meaning sometimes there's goldmines and sometimes there's just duds. BUT it's even harder when the entire omnibus has multiple creators in on it, making it jarring in quality from one to another.

This Omnibus is no different. A good portion of it, more than half, is written by Jeph Loeb. And while I appeciate some of Loeb's stories out there (Nova/Hush) This ranged from decent, sometimes good, to downright HORRIBLE. The last story he pens (outside of his tribute to his son which was wonderful) is really just awful, confusing, and terribly written. If the Omnibus ended there, I don't know if I'd ever buy a volume 2.

Luckily it doesn't, and the remaining stories are far better.

This is mostly starring Bruce and Clark working together to take out baddies. Stories as simple as Bruce and Clark verse Lex and his insane plans. To Superman being brainwashed along with all the aliens on earth fighting against humanity and Batman has to stop his best friend. To Superman and Batman working together to help Kara as she comes to earth for the first time. We have a few different storylines here that range from decent, to pretty damn good, and that really sums up the entire Omnibus.

I don't think it's great. It has moments of greatness. I think it mostly borderlines on good. A 3 out of 5 is my final score. Without the terrible Loeb story it might have been higher but that one, a 6 parter, is just almost unreadable and a 0 out of 5. So it does drag down the quality. However, if you're a fan of both the characters here, this isn't a fun Saturday morning cartoon like collection worth checking out.

[JessisWhelmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had A LOT of fun with this. 10/10 would always recommend, though I think Loeb had the magic touch for this title. That said, I still enjoyed the book after his departure and I'm really looking forward to reading the next omnibus.

[Terminus · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5
Sehr viel sehr schönes dabei aber auch ein paar stories die mir nicht gefallen haben

[Sean Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fusion of poppy, silly buddy comedy stories and heady and hard to follow multiverse japes. I obviously preferred the former and the mixture of artists was a pleasure. Some fo the stories are excellent, others were a slog. It's mixed bag, but what a bag. Too much of a good thing. Christmas dinner. I felt stuffed afterwards. The Sam Loeb story brought me to tears, the first few collated TPB are the best of the whole collection and it ended strong. With some Supes and Bats Jr storylines in for good measure that I also enjoyed very much.

[Minki Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

+ Some fun arcs (Supergirl)

- Jarring shift of tone and jumping around of story between arcs