One of the first graphic novels I read and reviewed was The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, which had some epic scenes between the two superheroes, who are so vastly different in nature.

Yet loyal friends. At least, for awhile.

I was getting my stereo moved into my Jeep on Saturday night, so we stopped in a Barnes & Noble to wait it out. I of course made a beeline for the graphic novel section and saw quite a few featured ones that looked cool.

Somehow, I grabbed Superman/Batman Volume 1: Public Enemies without realizing it was the first volume in a series. I think “Public Enemies” rang a bell, one of you guys might have mentioned it before, so that could have been it.

But either way, I’m glad I chose the first one to read, because now I can continue reading the series all the way through without having to backtrack.

I don’t know what it is about superheroes joining up to work together that is so fascinating for me, but it just is. Just like in Civil War, the concept of all these characters we’ve known in comics suddenly coming together for a common cause is highly appealing.

In Public Enemies (written by Jeph Loeb, the first writer in the series), the book quickly revisits the origins of the two characters and introduces a sort of dual-narrator technique, which has two different colors of thought-boxes to represent Batman and Superman.

This facet of the novel was brilliant. At any given time, during any given action sequence or plot device, the thoughts of both superheroes helps pace the story and give insights into each moment.

The main plot of Public Enemies deals with President Lex Luthor and an asteroid chunk from the planet Krypton that is hurtling towards Earth, the size of Brazil.

Unless it can be stopped, it will pretty much wipe out mankind. Luthor blames Superman for the asteroid, saying he drew it towards them, and offers a $1 billion bounty for his capture.

This sends good and bad superheroes after him. Except Batman, who of course puts aside his own search for the murderer of his parents, and helps Superman try to get to Lex.

The story starts off with a great confrontation of Superman/Batman versus Metallo, and that started it off on the right foot for me. I was hooked.

This was a great first volume I thought, with a ton of action, lots of insights, and of course, a battle between Superman and Lex Luthor. Awesome.

Looking forward to the next one.

Mike’s Rating: 8 out of 10