ENEMIES & ALLIES by Kevin J. Anderson - SIGNED FIRST EDITION BOOK
See all titles by Kevin J. Anderson.
Caped Crusader meets Man of Steel in the early 1950s. Anderson (Paul of
Dune, 2008, etc.) returns to the fertile playing field of comic-book
heroes with an action-packed follow-up to The Last Days of Krypton
(2007). In a story seemingly inspired by DC Comics' Elseworlds imprint,
Batman and Superman first encounter each other in the tense early days
of the Cold War, when communists and aliens seem equally threatening.
Superman works in disguise as reporter Clark Kent at The Daily Planet
while trying to come to terms with his new role as Earth's protector.
In Gotham City, millionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne fosters a playboy
image - cribbed, he claims, from Ian Fleming's new James Bond novels. As
Batman, Wayne is highly suspicious of Superman and wonders what secrets
are behind his mind-boggling powers. What draws them together is a
sinister plot by Lex Luthor, who conspires with Russian general Anatoly
Ceridov to launch an international nuclear conflict that will allow
Luthor's corporation to sell his atmospheric-defense system to the
Feds, integrating the evil genius' company into the burgeoning
military-industrial complex.
Anderson spins a rousing superhero epic
that doesn't retread the heroes' origins, but instead cleverly uses its
generational iconography, integrating Sputnik, Wernher Von Braun and
Area 51 into the globetrotting plot, to say nothing of Luthor's death
rays, chunks of Kryptonite and alien spacecraft. The book also makes
good use of Lois Lane, Alfred Pennyworth, Jimmy Olsen and other
supporting cast members. Positioning all the superpowered heroics
squarely between the era's futuristic optimism and postwar paranoia,
this is a refreshing diversion from the grimness of The Dark Knight or
the tedious Superman Returns. Injects a welcome dose of retro
exuberance into the capes-and-tights routine.
Every book is perfect 
