Batman/Superman #1 - Cross World

I remember waaaaay back when Chris Claremont was writing Uncanny, and the him and Jim Lee were writing X-Men with Lee on art. If you were reading Claremonts legendary run on the X-Men then you know how he was the master of starting intriguing stories that had no ending. Still, the best stories even with no ending. Anyway, X-Cutioner Song was on it's way, and we were gonna have some answers. Cable/Cyclops/Apocalypse/Stryfe etc, etc. But then something happend. Claremont left, Lee left, and a whole mess of others left to go form Image. So Marvel had to have others right the X-Cutioner story that was already plotted, and also with new artists. Fans were pissed, but the story was great so it didn't matter. Sure the art was good, and we even got an artist that is in the fans top 3 right now by the name of Greg Capullo on X-Force drawing what I think is the best Apocalypse ever. His style was differant then tho, but the art that stood out was a cover of X-Factor by a guy named Jae Lee. Archangel on the cover. Vibrant. The art inside was Lee's norish style and I fell in love right then and there. I don't see enough Jae Lee. I've complained about this before, but right now I see a lot of artists using his style and getting rave reviews. Animal Man, Green Arrow, I, Vampire to name a few, but Jae Lee is the best. I hope is fame rises, because even tho it's and aquired taste, he the best at what he does. What is it when it comes to the name Lee, because there are so many artists influenced by Jim Lee and Jae Lee and you can see it. Even so, Greg Pak is a fan favorite writer, and I can only hope he brings his best here, and Jae Lee stays with him on a great run, because Jae Lee is one of those artists whose work, if you appreciate, can be started at for hours because it's so pretty. He reminds me of John Romita Jr in the sense that when I look at his art I think to myself "I can draw this" but in retrospect...............I can't. It looks simple as hell, but it's not, and that part of his gift. Jae Lee has defined himself over the last few years. I'm just glad he's drawing a title that I actually want to buy instead of being stuck on something like Stephen Kings Dark Tower which I have no motivation to buy. Here's hoping to a long and fun read run of Batman and Superman. Lee on Batman is a no brainer.

@theacidskull:

yeah, but you can't deny that Jae Lee captured the essence perfectly. I'm big Jae Lee fan, and his norish style, that is pretty popular right now with Green Arrow, Animal Man, and when I,Vampire first started (is it drawn like that still?) works great here. Jae Lee doing Batman is a no brainer.

I'm glad you agree that Jae Lee's art is amazing. Somehow a group of people have come to hate it.

That was really good for a first issue, and I loved the interaction between the inexperienced Superman and the well-prepared Earth 2 Batman.

Great first issue, Pak was epic... but I can't help but feel that Oliver is a better fit for this book, don't get me wrong, Jae Lee's art is fantastic but Ben really captures the feeling for these characters.

While Lee has some great art (the panels with Bruce on the bench were awesome), his Superman just looks wrong. The writing is good, in that it effectively sets ups the differences between Bruce and Clark, and the story has potential, but it also feels confusing. Some of it is intentional, but it's just an odd tonal shift that feels like it's just there to make me want to read the next issue. I need to know a little more, otherwise it just feels like a plot twist that comes completely out of left field. It's above average to me, nothing special.

I'm very interested in reading this series, but as a fairly new comic book fan and someone who has really only familiarized myself with the Batman universe and not at all with Superman (or JLA in general), would I be able to seamlessly begin reading this series or should I read some other books before jumping into this one?