FREESUPERMAN / BATMAN: VENGEANCE EBOOK Ed McGuinness,Dexter Vines,Jeph Loeb | 160 pages | 09 Dec 2008 | DC Comics | 9781401210434 | English | United States Superman/Batman, Vol. 4: Vengeance by Jeph Loeb Superman / Batman: Vengeance Loebthe series' first writer, introduced a dual- narrator technique to present the characters' often opposing viewpoints and estimations of each other, which subsequent series writers have maintained. Before the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earthsthe two iconic characters were depicted as the best of friends. After the first 13 issues, most of the story arcs were independent and self-contained from the ongoing or Superman / Batman: Vengeance storylines in the other Batman and Superman comic titles. Twenty-six writers and artists who knew Sam worked on the issue, donating their fees and royalties for the issue to the Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund. LoebSuperman / Batman: Vengeance wrote Superman for two years before the launch of the title, wrote the book for the first two years of its publication. Unlike later writers, Loeb's work on the book lasted for several storylines, which were interconnected. President Lex Luthor declares Superman and Batman enemies of the state, claiming that a Kryptonite asteroid headed for Earth is connected to an evil Superman / Batman: Vengeance by Superman. Superman almost kills Lex, with Batman standing aside. Superman changes his mind at the last moment. The new Superman / Batman: VengeanceHiro Okamura, assists with the asteroid's destruction. Captain Atom is seemingly killed. Luthor is defeated and appears to die in the battle, although he is shown to survive. In the course of the fight, Luthor is irrevocably exposed to the world as Superman / Batman: Vengeance villain for the first time in Post- Crisis continuity. Batman says her arrival is too coincidental. Wonder Woman abducts Kara to Themyscira to train her for combat. Darkseid kidnaps Kara, intending her to be the new leader of the Female Furies. She is rescued from Darkseid and taken back to Earth. The villain follows, seemingly killing Kara at the home of Jonathan and Martha Kent. An enraged Superman Superman / Batman: Vengeance Darkseid into the reality-spanning Source Wallentrapping him. However, Kara is back in Themyscira and is introduced to the world as Supergirl. This story arc marked the only time in the late artist Michael Turner's career that he provided interior art Superman / Batman: Vengeance a company other than Top Superman / Batman: Vengeance Productions or his own publisher, Aspen MLT. In "Absolute Power" issues 14—18, illustrated by Carlos PachecoLightning LordSaturn Queenand Cosmic King —three supervillains from the 31st century—eliminate members of the Justice League of Americaexcept for young Superman and Batman, whom they raise as their own children. Batman and Superman Superman / Batman: Vengeance raised to be dictators of the world, eliminating all opposition and killing people who would otherwise be their friends. During a fight with Wonder Woman and the Freedom Fightersas Uncle Sam has been given Hal Jordan 's power ringduring which Batman is killed but Superman is able to kill Diana with her lasso, the timeline is thrown into chaos, and the two men travel through alternate timelines. Darkseid makes a deal with them in one reality to send them back through time to stop the supervillains who raised them from altering history. The Legion then team up with Ra's al Ghul Superman / Batman: Vengeance take over the world. Superman and Batman restore history, but the murders they committed haunt them. Issue 19 illustrated by Ian Churchill is a stand-alone backdoor pilot story for the Supergirl series. The issue was later reprinted as Supergirl 0. In "With a Vengeance! Superman and Batman fight a team of Superman / Batman: Vengeance from an alternate universe called the Maximums a pastiche of Marvel Comics ' Avengers series, more specifically their incarnations from the Ultimate Superman / Batman: Vengeancethe Ultimates. Double-crossed, Superman becomes stuck in the wall himself. Bizarro and multiple Supergirls rescue him. Everyone so far and many more other duplicates fight in an arena before Bat-Mite escapes. The two imps tie up all loose ends with their cosmic powers. Jeph, along with 25 other comic book professionals and artists who had known Sam, worked on the issue, scripting or penciling individual pages. Marvel Comics allowed John Cassaday and Joss Whedon to work on the issue, despite their exclusive contracts. All 26 contributors donated their fees and royalties for the issue to the Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund. The issue was released shortly after Superboy's death in Infinite Crisis 6, and Robin's eulogy of Superboy serves as both a framing sequence and as a meditation Superman / Batman: Vengeance the author's passing. Tim Sale provides the art for the story in a style reminiscent of the Superman for All Seasons miniseries. If they cannot reverse the process in time, the women's personalities will soon reassert themselves and destroy the men's consciousness, killing them. In "The Enemies Among Us" issues 28 —33, illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver for Parts 1—3, with Matthew Clark picking up Parts 4—5 and Joe Benitez concluding with Part 6Superman, Martian Manhunter and other alien superheroes are being controlled by an entity known as Blackrockwhich later infects Batman when he takes the rock to successfully stand up to Superman. After Superman visits Lois Lane to be reminded why he fights for Earth, he is able to force Blackrock to leave Batman by convincing it that he will kill his friend to spare him being used by the rock. Tracking Blackrock to its source, they discover that it was actually being 'led' by Desperowho convinced an alien race that Earth was not worth saving by giving them access to Superman's mind during a period of self-doubt. Challenging the aliens to read his mind again, Superman convinces them that they were wrong about Earth. In "A. Bruce Wayne hires the Metal Men as security guards. They go on a rampage and steal a prototype OMAC unit. In "Torment" issuesillustrated by Dustin NguyenSuperman is psychologically tortured by the Scarecrow and brought to the war planet Tartaros by DeSaad. DeSaad plants a mind-controlling spike in Superman's head, and sends him to retrieve Highfather 's staff from the Source Wallwhich Darkseid plans to use to restore his powers, which have been steadily waning since his escape from the wall. Batman comes after Superman, but is sidetracked by Orion 's wife Bekka. Both are unable to control their attraction to one another. Superman retrieves the staff, but is trapped in the Source Wall as a result. Batman and Bekka take advantage of DeSaad's attempted betrayal of Darkseid to steal the staff and bring back Superman. Superman, Batman and Bekka return to Earth, bringing Scarecrow with them. Bekka is retrieved by Orion, and is later seen being killed by a shadowy assailant. The team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning filled in for issue 43, and later wrote off of scripts from Mike Johnson for issues 57— In "Darklight" issue Superman / Batman: Vengeance, illustrated by Mike McKoneDoctor Light infiltrates a dark matter fuel experiment on a Waynetech satellite, by creating solidgram Superman / Batman: Vengeance of the original Teen Titans to distract the guards. He then uses the experiment's Kryptonian processor to enter the Fortress of Solitude. While Superman battles the Titan solidgrams, Batman manages to head off and defeat Light by trapping him in a Dark Matter crystal. Light is later freed by Lex Luthor, who wants him to join his new Injustice League. In "Nanopolis" issues 57—59the Prankster tricks Superman and shrinks him to microscopic size. Batman must find him and return him to normal size. Before returning to normal, the two heroes must rescue the microscopic civilization whose existence has been inadvertently endangered by the Prankster. As of issue 46, Mike Johnson joined with Michael Green to continue the series; issue 44 was the beginning of the new run. They are the first writers to hold regular roles on this series since Jeph Loeb. In "K" issuesillustrated by Shane DavisSuperman and Batman began a mission to collect and rid Superman / Batman: Vengeance Earth of every piece of Kryptonite, a substance lethal to Superman, which has been in great abundance since Kara's arrival earlier in this Superman / Batman: Vengeance. Along the way, Batman and Superman receive a lot of support from other heroes, including Firestormlooking for membership in the JLA. They surprisingly also encounter some resistance, especially from the new Aquaman. This story also includes the reveal of two new variations of Kryptonite that have been also enhanced by a magical charm. One causes Superman to feel like a child and carefree for the day, which also has implications of a drug-like effect, while the second restores him to normal. As they continue to search, they encounter the Last Line, a team run by Amanda Waller and a new Kryptonite-powered version of Doomsday created by Waller. In the end, Superman decides to give Batman the last piece of Kryptonite, because he feels he needs his weakness to be human and also in case he goes rogue. After he flies away, the Caped Crusader retreats to the Batcave, Superman / Batman: Vengeance it is revealed that a sample of each Kryptonite variation, along with large chunks of green Kryptonite, are still kept there. In "The Fathers" issue 50Superman / Batman: Vengeance rebuilding Smallville following the events of "K", Superman and Batman uncover a piece of Kryptonian technology that reveals that Jor-El came in contact with Thomas Wayne while searching for an appropriate planet to serve as baby Kal-El's new home. These Lil' Leaguers are childlike versions of the heroes and have similar powers.