Superman/Batman Volume 3: Absolute Power

By Jeph Loeb (W), Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino (A)

Originally printed as Superman/Batman 14-18. Published by DC Comics. Cover price $12.99.

The Plot: Superman and Batman fight an evil Legion of Superheroes across a multitude of alternate realities to correct changes made to their pasts in order to restore the DC Universe proper.

Strengths: Carlos Pacheco has been a great artist since the first time I saw his work on the final issues of Fantastic Four volume 1. Like a fine wine or an episode of Mr. Show, he’s only gotten better with age. Pacheco has a really great classic take on superheroes that doesn’t seem rooted in a certain time period the way Joe Madureira’s or Rob Liefeld’s art does.

Alternate reality stories are always fun. Seeing how a slight change in the past can dramatically affect the present is always entertaining because it can take characters we know in love in directions we never thought possible, like Uncle Sam as a Green Lantern or zombie JLAers.

Weaknesses: We’ve all read this story many times before. Whether it’s alternate realities, amnesia, hell dimensions or dreamscapes, the basic plot has been done many times before: Superman and Batman forget who they are and have to relearn how to be the heroes they’re destined to become. The settings change and the villains change, but it all boils down to the same thing, and it’s not done well enough here to overcome the formulaic story.

A big drawback to the story is the fact that it’s completely unimportant. The DC Universe is exactly the same after this story ends as it is when it begins. The villains are introduced at the start of the arc and soundly defeated by the end, most likely never to reappear. Superman and Batman are the only ones that remember what happened to them, and neither is dramatically changed by the events of the story. While Public Enemies (Superman/Batman Volume 1) ended Lex Luthor’s reign as President and Supergirl (Volume 2) introduced the new Supergirl to the DCU, all Absolute Power did was tie up the loose ends surrounding the future Superman from Public Enemies, which didn’t really need to be tied up anyway.

Superman/Batman uses dual internal monologue caption boxes running simultaneously: one set for Batman, one set for Superman. Unlike the previous volumes, it became a bit of an issue at times to understand the narration because the length between captions got out of hand. I shouldn’t need to go back a page to remember what Batman had started to say before Superman jumped in, but that certainly was the case more than once.

Grade: C. Absolute Power is fun and pretty to look at, but eventually the charm wears off and you’re left with an unimportant, cliched story that’s hard to get through at times (kind of like Tara Reid). It’s definitely worth a read, but Absolute Power isn’t one of those trades you’ll revisit over and over again.