Review: Superman/Batman: The Search for Kryptonite collected hardcover (DC Comics)

Just when I'd about given up, Michael Green and Michael Johnson return Superman/Batman to greatness with Superman/Batman: The Search for Kryptonite.

I remember how excited I was when Superman/Batman premiered with Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness in 2003; anyone who's followed the book since then knows its gone steeply downhill. Mark Verheiden's Enemies Among Us was a fun a-continuity celebration of Silver Age comics, but after Alan Burnett's Torment--which had equally shaky continuity and no real relevance, without the tribute factor of Enemies--I began to think Superman/Batman might be relegated to the filler stories bin with Superman Confidential. But Superman/Batman: The Search for Kryptonite changes all that.

Green and Johnson write a Superman/Batman tour de force, one that stretches from Arkham Asylum to the Fortress of Solitude, and from deep under the ocean to Dinosaur Island. He starts with a simple enough premise--Superman wants to get rid of all the kryptonite on Earth--but quickly, quickly complicates it. Batman's on board to help, but the two heroes find that nearly no one--from other heroes to the US government to some of Superman's closest friends--thinks it's a good idea. What follows is a riveting morally ambiguous story where everyone has a point and no one's quite right, and Green even manages to meaningfully tie the story to events in the Superman titles and Final Crisis.

What Green and Johnson accomplish here is a cogent deconstruction of the concept of kryptonite. It's an item much lampooned--consider, the most powerful man in the world, and he can be taken out by a little rock that near everyone has a piece of--and yet the writers offers a compelling reason why kryptonite is necessary, even essential, to Superman and the Superman legend. The writers also gets points for going over and above in his exploration of kryptonite--its prevalence; its many colors; how Smallville and other media use kryptonite; how kryptonite stands as a metaphor both for Superman's birth--Krypton--and his death; and more. Whether kryptonite will really be less prevalent after this story remains to be seen, but this could very well be the definitive Superman/kryptonite story.

I don't say this often, but I imagine The Search for Kryptonite is a story that might've read almost as well in single issues as it does in a collection. The secret is that Green and Johnson make almost every issue feel self-contained even under the rubric of Superman and Batman's kryptonite hunt; while these days sometimes writers make one-shot issues feel artificially wrapped, I felt like I was getting a full story in every chapter of this book. Consider the third chapter, for instance, in which Green and Johnson write a Batman/Zatanna team-up so lovingly you'd think you were reading Paul Dini's Detective Comics, and still it all comes together as a Superman/Batman story. There's great, great stuff in here.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Shane Davis's art in this volume. Davis offers clear, movie blockbuster-style art here that is a departure from some of the more cartoon-y styles we've seen in Superman/Batman, but works wonders nonetheless. His Rags Morales (or is that Brad Meltzer)-esque closeups on speak volumes, and his take on Doomsday late in the book is especially powerful. I've never really been one to buy comic book art, but there's a splash page of Superman and Batman taking no guff in a diner that I'd be proud to have on my wall. It doesn't surprise me a bit that we may see Davis again in some of DC Comics's high-profile Green Lantern crossovers coming soon.

[Contains full covers]

Truly, I believed Superman/Batman was done for, and I've never been so happy to be wrong. More reviews on the way; check back here soon!