Superman/Batman: Night and Day #1

I liked this trade a lot. It is a nice way to define Superman and Batman.  Both with what they do and with how they are as heroes.  Day or Night, Night or Day, Mashed up universes or alternate avatars (reverse selves), Superman will always inspire and Batman will always be the pinnacle of Human perfection.   This trade is broken up to 5 parts: "Mash Up", "Sidekicked", "Night & Day", "Sweet Dreams" and "Night Of The Cure"
 

Mash Up:

Is a wonderfully drawn by Francis Manapul and is story written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson.  The cover of the trade also comes from the interior art in the comic.
 
This story is a mash up of heroes.  Guys like Hal Jordan and Dick Grayson become the same person.  I loved this dynamic because as much as it changes the "Characters", the virtues are still there and both characters are still respected some how. This is also a great outside view on the interactions of Superman and/or Batman to those characters.  For example, Hal Jordan and Dick Grayson are similar because they are fearless, but their interactions with Bruce differ.  This NightLantern still is respectful to both characters that are apart of him.  
 
This is not a must read story, but its a nice addition to this Handsome trade 

Sidekicked:

The story was self-contained and it was a nice pairing of Robin (Tim Drake) and Supergirl, the "Sidekicks" to the big guns if you were.  A strong feature of the Superman/Batman series is that these stories can take place at anytime and this story was the first time Robin and Supergirl were a team and even those two can't score a break.  This comic takes them in a gantlet of Batman's Rogue Gallery, all the key guys are there and it is great.  I respect a story that has Zsasz in it, one of the most overlooked and interesting characters in that gallery.  
 
Superman and Batman take a backseat, but this other dynamic duo doesn't disappoint.    
 

Night & Day:

I love future Batman stories.  Batman: Year 100, and everyone enjoyed Frank Millar's Dark Knight series.  This story is a future simulation of what the world would be like if Grodd ruled the world and it would not be pretty.
 
Part of the reason I really liked this is because no matter how dark the future was, every character was true to who they were.  Alfred was loyal to the end. Bruce is the greatest detective. Superman inspires.  Those golden go to ideas seem fresh in this issue where there is a Gorilla gone wild. 
 
This is a good self-contained story. The only reason I can think this comic got no love is because it has Grodd in it and really how many Grodd fans are there? 
 

Sweet Dreams:

Released as a Halloween issue, but with Scarecrow a story like this is always fun to read.  The Premise is far-fetched with Scarecrow having Superman, Batman, The Joker and Lex Luthor all lined up ready to get buried and under another "hybrid" fear toxin.  This toxin as normal brings out the worst fear, but in this case the four men are a sleep and dreaming them.  Some of the "dreams" are really twisted like Batman's and it is too short that I will spoil it.  All I can say is Rat-A-Tat-Tat and not like how Tupac would rap it, like a the sound of hot metal shells cutting the air while flying out of a machine gun.  Other "Nightmares" are more funny like Lex's.  Overall this was a fun Halloween Comic.  The cover art is a nice piece of art that would make a nice poster for the "Darker" comic fans.   

Night of the Cure:

What makes this Blackest Night tie-in nice is because the anti-versions (or the opposite versions if you will) of Superman and Batman are used.  Guys that are normally seen as villainous. This was one of the more underrated Blackest Night tie-ins in my opinion, it suffered because it used Black Lanterns, but didn't really impact the overall crossover.  
 
This story was not about Blackest Night, it is still about Superman and Batman, even as Bizarro and Man-Bat, what those heroes represent are present.  It was a very clever twist on these characters I know I wouldn't of come up with. 

Trade Paperback Verdict:

I think this is a nice collection to add.  There is a great variety of Comic creators who contributed to this trade and many of them have now become Huge names, like Francis Manapul (Superboy: Boy of Steel, Flash) and Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire) to name a few.
 
This trade is also a strong example of no what the situation, night or day, Superman and Batman are heroes
Cheers
- Silkcuts