Enemies & Allies by Kevin J. Anderson

Review by Torsten Scheib

 

Review:

America, in the 1950’s. The start of a revolution called Rock and Roll has just begun. James Dean and Marlon Brando experience unconditional yearning by millions of female movie-goers. Spy-turned-author Ian Fleming gets his first novel published and establishes the world-wide success of his very own hero, James Bond. The Cold War-era reaches its first, dramatic climax as the Soviets shoot their first satellite Sputnik into space. Joseph McCarthy becomes infamous for being the leader of the Anti-Communism movement. A masked Unknown haunts Gotham City. Due to his appearance, the press gives him the nickname “Batman”, while a gestalt called “Superman” appears in Metropolis.

Meanwhile, ruthless business tycoon Lex Luthor is scheming his next coup, which hopefully will establish him as one, if not the most powerful person on Earth. But therefore, of all things, he’s depending on Soviet help. On a regular basis and through the back-door, Luthor has become a regular guest at a Sibirian Gulag. But those poor, working to death dissidents are not the reason for his visits. It’s rather the remains of a mysterious meteorite, that crashed nearly twenty years ago and brought a strange, green glowing mass with itself ...

... that can do so much more than just glow. Those poor souls, who are confronted with the unknown but nevertheless existing radiation ... change. Mutate. Into something terrible, as Luthor and his communistic partner, General Anatoly Ceridov, observe after countless experiments with the dissidents. Perfect fighting-machines, for which Luthor already has a purpose: to destroy the man who has become a thorn in his flesh – Superman!

But the death of the last Kryptonian is just half of his plan. The other half finds its origin on a remote island near Cuba. There, in the ruins of an ancient fort and in secret, Luthor is working on a powerful death-ray device, that will even bring down launched long-range missiles! But this modern example of fine engineering wasn’t created by LuthorCorp – but by the excellent technicians at Wayne Industries. But thanks to Luthor’s sinisterous blackmailing tactics, that technique has been layed into his very own hands. But Luthor hasn’t expected that Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Industries, soon starts to make investigations of his own, and soon finds out, that Luthor’s interests are not limited to a contract with the Department of Defence. That’s why Wayne, who’s been marked as a decadent Playboy-millionaire by public eye, finally changes into his Alter ego, who is non other than Batman, the infamous vigilante!

But little does he know, where his search will end – or who’ll be accompanying him ...

There are literally thousands of Comic-books and Graphic-novels about DC’s most well-known superheroes out there. But what about novels? Doesn’t look to good in that matter. Established authors only very rarely are daring to write something like this. Which is funny, because a certain appealment is definitely at hand. Therefore, one should give this thanks to productive writer, Kevin J. Anderson, who already made a trip into DC-territory with his 2007 novel “The last Days of Krypton.”

And what else is there to say? His second trip is a great one. To place the first encounter between Batman and Superman in the 1950’s was as clever as it is original. And, above all, it works. Wonderful, to be precise. The moods of that era are well captured as are the cultural and technical changes. But Anderson doesn’t get lost in long and boring explanations. Sometimes, only a few words are effective enough.

And the first encounter? Could’ve turned very easily into a complete disaster – if not for the many small wheels, who fit brilliant into one another. Both heroes are coming alive with huge loads of respect and knowledge. Readers therefore will also be rewarded with believable insights of both protagonists. Like how it feels to grow up among humans, but still be the last survivor of a wiped-out alien race. Or what it is, that’s driving on Bruce Wayne to slip into his black bat-costume night after night. And when it comes to Superman and Batman – they even share doubts about each other; a very interesting source, that spices things up.

 

Conclusion:

“Enemies & Allies”, the first, historical encounter between Superman and Batman will not only elate hard-core Comic-fans. Kevin J. Anderson composed a blast into the past that’s as fast as it is entertaining. Even the sometimes missing tension can be overlooked by that aspects. Let’s hope there’s a follow-up already in the making!

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