Reviewing the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Prequel Comics

UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS

From the World of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Upstairs/Downstairs

Written by Christos Gage
Art and cover by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi Color
Lettering by Deron Bennett

The hardest of the comics to actually locate so far, Upstairs/Downstairs was a digital-only comic, a code for which is included in a Frito-Lay Family Fun 20 Pack available only at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart, if you'll remember, was the home to the Man of Steel prequel comic as well, although that book was pretty widely available since it came free with a pre-order of the Man of Steel Blu-ray.

At any rate, Upstairs/Downstairs feels like the one that's most likely to match the tone of the film. Batman is a dour fella through the whole affair, which basically depicts both he and Superman saving the day in their own ways while the city of Metropolis unveils the Superman statue seen in promotional material for the movie.

We get a sense for Batman's single-mindedness, his brutality, and his disdain for Superman. That's what it is here; while we've seen rage and hate in some of the TV spots, actor Ben Affleck has talked about the Dark Knight's "comtempt" for the Man of Steel, and that sounds just about perfect for what's on display here.

This one, even though I'm starting with it, it actually probably the final chapter in all of this stuff...if we were to assume that all of it takes place in the same universe and is all canon. There's a reference in here, for instance, to Superman stopping a runaway train with his bare hands -- something he does in one of the Dr. Pepper digital comics.

Christos Gage does a pretty good job of capturing how Metroplitans respond to Superman, and why there's enough of a positive opinion of the hero to put up a statue in his honor, in spite of all the qualms -- some expressed by characters in these comics -- that people have with the third act of Man of Steel. That there's almost no genuinely negative sentiment directed at Superman -- just a lot of positivity and then somebody who's "unsure" -- is curious. Is Batman really that much of an outlier? We know that at least Lex has similar feelings, but how much of the world really dislikes Superman?

Joe Bennett is a great choice for these comics. The artist, who draws the majority of the prequel books, isn't perfect -- but he's got a cartoony style that allows flexibility in the way the world is depicted, even while his characters clearly resemble the actors they're supposed to be.

He's somewhat constrained by the needs of this issue -- it seems most mainstream superhero creators are still a little tentative when it comes to writing for a digital-first/digltal-only format -- but the simple page layouts allow for a clear communication of the story which benefits the target audience of a comic which you can get in a bag of Doritos.

That is to say, Gage and Bennett aim to speak to the casual reader, the curious movie fan, etc., and in large part they succeed.

Both the likenesses and the overall quality of the faces is the most variable part of the art; Bennett conveys the action well, has spot-on anatomy and is always clear about his intentions. If I had to guess, I'd say that the pages that look less good are a product of his failure to "nail" the likeness but the need to still turn it around quickly and just work with the image he'd already started.

Readers don't really understand who the...terrorist? Arms traders? Militiamen?...Batman is fighting are, and it's unnecessary. In the same way, you don't see exactly what Superman is doing, either. What you do see is enough to communicate the theme: Superman is working in the light, getting attention, and doing things on a massive, global scale while Batman is working in the shadows, hiding from credit, and thinking locally. It's the dichotomy that makes a conflict between the characters so interesting in the first place, and it's why, in spite of the apparent timeline issue, this book is worth reviewing first: it sets the tone not only for the rest of the comics, but for the movie as well. It feels like if they could only have one prequel comic, it would be this one.

If there's a downside to this approach, it's that by world-building and explaining the characters' motivations, Gage has created arguably the least engaging of the prequel comics. On its own, it stands alone fine but it would be difficult for those same casual readers to describe what it's actually about.

It's difficult to write a comic based on a movie you (presumably) haven't seen. Just ask Evan Dorkin, whose Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey comic based on the film's script ended up resembling the finished movie almost not at all. Gage manages to work in the world of Batman V Superman in a way that feels organic to both their comic book depictions and to the world of Man of Steel. Bennett does the same thing with the iconography of both characters.

How closely it will mirror the world built by the time we see the movie in two weeks is anybody's guess, but it's a solid comic set in that world.

PLAYGROUND HEROES

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice #1 - Playground Heroes

Written by Jeff Parker
Art by RB Silva, Jose Marzan, Jr., and Andrew Dalhouse
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic was one of four included in boxes of General Mills Cheerios cereal.

First off, if anybody thought they were going to get an all-ages-friendly Superman story by Jeff Parker, and that it wasn't going to be wonderful, they're stoned.

Parker, whose credits include a story in DC's recent anthology series The Adventures of Superman, as well as Batman '66 and a fantastic Flash Gordon book for Dynamite with artist Doc Shaner, is probably one of the best writers working in mainstream comics today on an issue-by-issue basis. His work tends to be lighter in tone, something that doesn't really fit in the angsty, event-driven world of the Big Two, which means he's swimming against the current all the time.

No Aquaman-related pun intended.

Silva's work is a great fit here. The animation-style art he does fits well with a story in which the "bad guys" are aliens who look kind of like one-eyed rabbits, and most of the protagonists are children.

And, yeah, the children. The General Mills comics follow children from a (the same?) school in Metropolis as they relate their impressions of Batman and Superman. This first issue is structured around a child's essay, in which he details visiting S.T.A.R. Labs (yes, that S.T.A.R. Labs) and being attacked by aliens, only to have Superman arrive and rescue the kids.

...None of whom noticed that the Daily Planet reporter they were following to the lab was gone the whole time Superman was there, but still.

To say too much more about the story would spoil its core, but I'll say this: As absurd as it sounds to say it about a minicomic tipped into a box of cereal, this is one of my favorite stand-alone Superman comics.

Like, ever.

Parker really gets Superman, what makes him special, and what makes him different from other heroes. That's something that's pretty evident throughout, but which crystallizes in the last few pages.

Many of my all-time favorite Superman stories are the ones that show how he interacts with the community, and many of those tend to be one-off, since it's not like answering fan mail is going to take Superman very long or present much of a physical challenge. "Playground Heroes," though, stands shoulder to shoulder with Dan Jurgens's "Metropolis Mailbag" and Joe Kelly's "What's So Funny 'Bout Truth, Justice and the American Way" as one of the smartest, most heartfelt and unapologetically Superman Superman stories I've ever read.

And, like "Mailbag," it does so without leveling a city block or even really presenting a supervillain who is any kind of serious threat to the Man of Steel.

If I had to get nitpicky about anything, it would be the S-shield. The Kryptonian House of Arms is really wonky throughtout Silva's art, and while it's totally on-model with the way Eduardo Pansica draws it in another of the General Mills comics, it's way off from both the movies and any other comic book iteration, so it tends to draw focus.

FIELD TRIP

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice #2 - Field Trip

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Federico Dallochio and Jim Charalampidis
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic was one of four included in boxes of General Mills Cheerios cereal.

The first impression here is that this is my least favorite of all the Gary Frank covers for the General Mills comics.

The artist is not one of my favorites on Superman as a character, although he's had some pretty notable stories, and on some of those he did good work. Here, though, he can't seem to nail Superman's face, and so when we see the character up very close -- as we do on this cover -- it just doesn't quite work.

Inside is a different story. Federico Dallochio does some great work, and manages to make the somewhat absurd-looking villains of the story look good and feel grounded in the world of Batman V Superman in spite of the style and coloring of this story not really supporting their schtick.

That isn't a knock on the colors, which are spot on for the story that's written. It's just a note that the art team worked together to make villains who probably shouldn't work in the Nolan-inspired world of Batman V Superman, really work.

While we don't actually get Superman and Batman in the same comic -- not exactly -- what we do get is Bruce Wayne acting very Batman-like while Superman works to protect a Wayne Enterprises building. It's as close to a team-up as the pair come in any of the prequel comics. A group of villains come in to steal some Kryptonian tech from Wayne's military R&D wing, where a group of "men and women of tomorrow" -- young people interested in science and engineering -- are there on a field trip.

It's a cool mirroring of the "Playground Heroes" issue, in which the kids -- seemingly a few years younger, but still students -- were following Clark Kent, interested in becoming a new generation of reporters. And the idea of "the next generation" of anything...well, let's say it recurs throughout.

Still, even though this is the one where the kids are supposed to be Wayne-like and not Kent-like, there's a girl whose father works at the Daily Planet, and who goes snooping around. She ends up being our point-of-view character when Bruce Wayne grabs her to keep her safe, hidden, and silent.

We get a look, here, at how Kryptonian weaponry changes the world post-Man of Steel, and one has to wonder whether some of Lex's frustration is that the military seems to be more keen on Wayne than Luthor to explore its possibilities. We also see a strange green light emanating from one of Zod's Kryptonian guns...!

The biggest strength of this issue is that it shows Bruce Wayne as a functional human with empathy and intellect -- something that much of the promotional material and even some of the comics kind of come up short on. Ben Affleck has said that his character is a little bit broken by the events of Man of Steel, and that's something we can see throughout: Batman's rage and paranoia define him a lot of the time. Here, Gage allows the character's humanity to come through in a way that only one of the other prequel comics really focuses on.

It's a solid read, and probably the least "all-ages"-centered of the General Mills comics; it probably is the one that fits in the best with the Dr. Pepper and Doritos stuff, which makes sense coming from Gage. While Dallochio's art is a highlight, it's almost kind of a shame they couldn't have had Joe Benett do this one so they could collect all the Gage/Bennett material into an 80-page giant or something later.

PICTURE PROOF

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice #3 - Picture Proof

Written by Marguerite Bennett
Art by Marcus To and Irma Kniivila
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic was one of four included in boxes of General Mills Cheerios cereal.

While the wrap-up at the end of this issue is nice and the art is gorgeous, "Picture Proof" is the least engaging of the prequel comics.

Don't get me wrong: there's absolutely nothing really "wrong" with it. It just doesn't feel like it needs to exist in the world of Batman V Superman instead of just being a random Batman story that could be told anywhere, with any Batman.

On the upside? I love the cover, which is the only one of the four General Mills covers I really thought was strong as a single piece of art.

The story is so simple that it's hard to give any kind of synopsis without blowing the ending, but the bottom line is, a young girl manages to get a photo of Batman and has to decide whether using it to get prove he exists (and shut a bully up) is more important than the symbolic importance the Dark Knight can have to Gotham as a symbol.

...So, yeah. It's very much steeped in the philosophy of the Nolan films, the issue's final image feels very much like what a Batman V Superman poster might look like if it were designed by the graphci design team behind The Dark Knight Rises.

LIGHTS OUT

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice #4 - Lights Out

Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Eduardo Pansica, Art Thibert, and Jeromy Cox
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic was one of four included in boxes of General Mills Cheerios cereal.

This is an issue where Batman and Superman both share the page, and don't, as the entire issue is about who's better and would win in a fight.

A bunch of kids, presumably in an orphanage, stage the debate while looking back at things the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel have done to earn the "world's greatest hero" title.

...And, yeah, we do at least get a token Wonder Woman mention here. Which throws the timeline a bit, since the conversation seems like Batman and Superman have not yet fought and then teamed up, but Wonder Woman is a known public figure. Based on trailers, it seems like those two things don't really overlap, but maybe we're wrong.

Anyway, the issue kind of reminds me of that episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Legends of the Dark Knight," where kids talk about their idea of Batman, and then make fun of a young Joel Schumacher.

...No, really:

Anyway, the issue is nice, and Pansica turns in some really beautiful art, including a few splash pages that feel like they ought to be transformed into merchandising art for the movie, but at the end of the day, it's kind of a non-story. It isn't bad, but it's not particularly memorable. Even Bennett's "Picture Proof" didn't feel like it was really necessary in the world of the movie, but that ending was clever and left an impression. Williamson's writing here is fine, the kids are cute, and the ultimate message is the perfect one to end the four issues on...but it's all a little too pat.

BATMAN

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Chapter One - Batman

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic could be redeemed by using the Blippar app to scan the side of a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper.

Batman's solo comic is a testament to the force of nature that the filmmakers intend to depict him as.

We see him blow through a group of thugs -- complete with a supervillain in the lead (Firefly) -- with ease while establishing his attitude, his motive, and a little bit of his visual language, too.

...And, yes, all of this while Lex Luthor watches from afar with great interest.

There's a lot less to say about these Dr. Pepper comics than there are in the others. It doesn't feel like they're all that much shorter than the General Mills or Doritos comics, but the proprietary reader -- Blippar -- is a lot less friendly to comics than something like ComiXology or even just a web reader would be...especially if you're foolhardy enough to scan the Dr. Pepper bottles and redeem the comics on your phone rather than a larger device.

Y'know. Like me.

Anyway, Gage and Bennett's comics have a tonal consistency and their depiction of the Dark Knight is far more fierce and less forgiving than some of the others -- not surprising, since as we've mentioned before it's likely that the General Mills comics were designed with kids more in mind than the digital products were.

Between this one and "Picture Proof," it seems that they're building a truly noir Gotham -- one where everyone who's anyone has a dark inner monologue running about how miserable the city is. I also like the design of Firefly and the decision to use him here, because it's pretty obvious he's not going to be the central antagonist of a major motion picture anytime soon.

This one's also the one that's most chock full o' visual cues that point to the Batman lore and The Dark Knight Returns, so in addition to what we've already said about Bennett's art -- that his likenesses may be hit-or-miss but they're generally very well-suited to these stories, that his storytelling is terrific and that it's generally a great fit -- we'll give him a tip of the hat here as he deftly weaves those things in without making it look forced.

LOIS LANE

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Chapter Two - Lois Lane

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic could be redeemed by using the Blippar app to scan the side of a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper.

I love Lois Lane, and this issue did a great job of establishing her as a go-getter in the world of Batman V Superman.

Nobody who watched Man of Steel could question Lois's journalistic chops or her single-mindedness. Tracking down Clark and talking to him before he ever even put on a suit, and sneaking her article into a rival website because the Planet wouldn't run it goes to show you all of that.

Here, though, we see something that's very much like what made fans go crazy for Iris West a few weeks back on The Flash: Lois puts herself directly in harm's way, without immediate access to her super-friend, to get the story.

The tale also gels with both the Batman chapter of the Dr. Pepper comics, and the "Field Trip" book from General Mills, dealing with the fallout from having so much Kryptonian technology on the market, how it would be regulated, and what that would mean. That seems to be an important theme they're setting up for the movie, and given both fan theories and the facts we've seen in trailers, it's easy to guess why.

This is a quick read, and it's all politics and law...but it's far from dull trade negotiations. This feels like one of the most urgent and integral of the tie-in comics, and Lois's characterization is so good I'd say it's probably Gage's best work on the prequels.

Also: Bennett's cover here is stunning. This one and the Batman chapter both feel like something that would jump off the shelf at you if it were actually a comic that was going to appear on a shelf.

SENATOR FINCH

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Chapter Three - Senator Finch

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic could be redeemed by using the Blippar app to scan the side of a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper.

Like the Lois Lane chapter, this one is a lot of politics, and a lot of talk about the role of Superman in the world and how he's changed it. Senator Finch and the committee she meets with here see that the coming of Superman is likely to be perceived as a red-letter date in history, and they all want to be a part of whatever is coming next.

It sets up just what the hearing we've seen in so many commercials is likely to be for, and gives fans an idea of how Holly Hunter's character will respond to the Man of Steel.

Of course, this is the one chapter where the likeness is just totally in outer space. It's almost as though they didn't get Hunter to sign off on likeness rights, and rather than pay her more, they said "Ah, whatever."

A little less integral and a little more dull than the Lois Lane chapter, this one also sticks out as being the only chapter where we don't get a mustache-twirling Lex Luthor. For that reason, it almost feels like this was created as an afterthought -- although if it was, it's hard to imagine why they would have chosen Finch as a character, rather than almost any other DC Universe character who could have provide similar insight.

Don't get me wrong: this isn't bad. But it's the weakest of the five Dr. Pepper chapters, and as such, probably Gage and Bennett's worst. Still quite readable, but it's easy enough to read it and then ask yourself why it's there.

SUPERMAN

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Chapter Four - Superman

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic could be redeemed by using the Blippar app to scan the side of a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper.

I'm not crazy about Superman's face in the cover image, although I do love the fact that they chose to connect the Batman and Superman images. It seems as though Bennett was going for the look of the banner where the pair are staring each other down -- one of the most-used promotional images of the campaign, so a pretty recognizable image that's likely to be the DVD cover down the line.

It's actually three-part connected image with Superman, Batman, and Lex Luthor -- while Lois and Finch's covers are a two-part panorama. I never noticed that until now, so I'll mention it here, instead of in the Lois Lane or Senator Finch reviews that I've already blown past.

I'm slightly annoyed that when I actually tried to piece together the three covers, it looks like there are slivers of art missing so there isn't a way to really do it perfectly, but that's not Bennett's fault. I'll blame Dr. Pepper or Blippar.

That's a lot about the cover. So what's inside?

Superman saves a train from a derailment; much is made of how he does it, and what he means to the world. It's framed as a talking head debate on a weekend news show, with pro- and anti-Superman arguments and a moderator who tries to put a light, puff-piece sheen over the whole thing.

Of the political material he delves into, this is where Gage is the sharpest and most insightful, and also where much of what he has to say is as applicable to any version of Superman as the one in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's also Bennett as his peak, since outside of the exemplary Lois Lane chapter, he doesn't get much room to draw superhero action in these prequels.

LEX LUTHOR

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Chapter Five - Lex Luthor

Written by Christos Gage
Art by Joe Bennett, Sean Parsons, and Hi-Fi
Lettering by Deron Bennett

This comic could be redeemed by using the Blippar app to scan the side of a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper.

Worldbuilding is the name of the game here; Lex allows us to see not only how humanity views Superman, but how the central villain of the film does. Since we've already got an idea of how he feels about Batman, we have some key dynamics for the movie laid out by Lex's role in all of these prequel comics.

It also does things like name-dropping Ted Kord's company and establishing Mercy Graves as the strong, silent type. And, yes, we see that Lex appears to genuinely feel menaced for somewhat legitimate reasons by Superman...but that he's also just kind of an a-hole.

This is some great characterization on Luthor, and shows one of the big benefits of having a writer like Christos Gage -- whose characters are as good or better than his plots -- write these books: he understands Luthor, and he makes him a full-realized human in a way that the film hopefully will.

The story itself is somewhat forgettable -- really there's almost no plot -- and the art is somewhat static and dull, only because it's a guy in a suit monologuing.

Still, the characterization shines and Luthor is probably the best likeness for Bennett, so artistically it's hard to knock it.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

There are some unifying ideas here that make the whole batch of these work; hell, I'd buy it if it was collected into some kind of non-sponsored trade paperback collection or maybe just pulled together into a book that can be included in the Wal-Mart-exclusive Blu-ray like The Avengers did with that Peter David book.

I'm a little bummed, honestly, that with eleven total comics we didn't get a single peek at Wonder Woman, although it's understandable enough, I suppose. It seems from everything we know that her character will appear more or less fully formed at some point in the movie that's likely to be after the halfway point. Any background information we got on her here might be less teasing and setup and more blowing the surprise.

The General Mills comics don't really deal with Batman and Superman in the same issue very much. The first issue is entirely Superman and the third issue is entirely Batman. It's understandable, since the heroes have to actually meet onscreen for the first time, but given the co-branding, and the fact that these really are fairly standard-length comics, it's a little surprising to not see anybody try an "Upstairs/Downstairs" approach to getting the characters together.

And, I'm sorry, can we stop giving Gary Frank work drawing Superman now? The General Mills covers didn't reflect the interior content -- not uncommon; if you remember the last round of GM/DC collaborations, Dan Jurgens drew Justice League covers for comics drawn by a variety of people -- and the dark, photorealistic look of the covers might be more on-brand for the movies but it did nothing to gel with stories. Also: His Ben Affleck Batman looks pretty solid but, like every other time he's drawn Superman, there's enough Christopher Reeve in there to throw the whole thing off. Usually, it's just a little distracting, which is fine...but here, when he's trying to invoke the likeness of another actor, it's just...odd and off-putting.

The fact that almost all of the stories approach the content through the lens of how everyday people (and Lex Luthor, but he mostly counts) perceive Batman and Superman is a cool way to do these things. it allows you to truly feel like you belong in the world of the movies, without having to draw too much on the storylines that will feed into the movie and spoil anything. It also allows writers and artists to work primarily with the iconography of these great characters, rather than worrying about whether they nail the specific version the movie is going to offer.

Using Lex himself as a through-line that ties the stories together was fairly ingenious, both in the sense that he's got access to all of this information and all of these places, and in that he's the film's central antagonist, which means building him up is almost as important as building up Batman and Superman.

All in all, it works well. They're a marked improvement over the Green Lantern movie tie-in comics, and on par with or better than the Superman Returns and Man of Steel tie-ins -- although the Superman Returns books are the fairest comparison since there were multiple books by multiple creative teams, so we got to see some of the variations in tone and quality that we saw throughout the Batman V Superman books.

Not a one of them is genuinely bad, though, which is a rarity when you're looking at a line of books like this, and it reinforces the idea that if somebody were to put together a line of comics set in the DC Extended Universe, it could be a lot of fun.