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This story starts out superb. The constant juxtaposition of the two protagonists is of course terribly on the nose, but it's undeniably impactful and gripping. It sets a mood, it makes me instantly remember why these two characters are so iconic and why they're interesting together, and I'm sucked in, wanting to see what happens. I literally get chills from some of the inner monologues, they're so powerful.

There's humour, too, which feels true to the characters and the context, and initially, as a result of all this, I'm seized by the story and excited for the ride.

Sadly, then it gets muddled in flashy spectacle with little substance. A future Superman shows up (and he might as well not have, for all the plot relevance he'll end up having) and attacks them (which makes next to no sense when we later get some context), which derails the story and drowns the character voices out. The rest of the story quickly becomes a cameo parade as Lex Luthor sics the Justice League on them and an asteroid of solid kryptonite is about to destroy the Earth.

I make it sound worse than it is. The action is decent, the protagonist's outer and inner voices remain exciting and on point (if less prominent as the noisy "plot" gets in the way), and while Luthor goes from a scary villain in the early issues to a laughable one in the last, they at least make an in-story explanation for why he's so unhinged. But I can't help but feel what started out as powerful and memorable became a shallow spectacle, wasting a terrific potential. It says a lot about how much I liked the first chapter when I still rate this as highly as I do. ( )

See my short note on it here:
[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-5.html] ( )

This book mesh these two characters together in a way that clearly showed their friendship, their differences, and why there is a need for both of them in the DC Universe. I decided to read this series primarily because I haven't enjoyed much coming out of the NEW 52 relaunch and as a result I had stepped away from comics entirely. I wanted to test the waters to see if it was just the new stuff I wasn't enjoying or if it was comics in general that had taken on a lackluster quality. I discovered while not my favorite comic book story that it is indeed just the new stuff. This gives me hope!

I finished this pretty much in one sitting because it was interesting to see the back and forth between the big two of the DC Universe. They were written in a delightful manner by Jeph Loeb because he understands that while they are different there are still ideas and concepts that squarely make them similar. The situations with their parents, their desire for justice. These elements are the same with just their own individual twist. These were explored and made whole by Loeb's writing style.

I loved a line as well from the book which was "Why don't the "Good" villains ever die", which was asked by Superman. While we know about why from a reader perspective it is something you question if you think of this as a world. Why doesn't Joker ever get killed? and I mean REALLY KILLED!!! not that comic of the week crap where it looks like he blew up. The good guys are defined by their bad guys.

The book is delightful because it explores what happens when one of their villains becomes a prominent member of American society. Superheroes have to align with him that wouldn't have. Superheroes have to try to follow his orders. The joys of a well-written story and to top it all off you can tell this was the beginning of Villains United for the classic and great Infinite Crisis that was released from DC. ( )

I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other. ( )