Batman: Annual 2014 / Superman: Annual 2014 (2013)

Author: Various | Illustrators: Various | Page Count: 74 (each)

"That’s what Superheroes do. They hit people."

Annuals used to be eagerly awaited jumbo-sized hardback editions with specially commissioned stories. There was little or no reprint. The dates for year of first publication as stated on the copyright page of both these individual titles suggest a lot of reprint, although I can't be entirely sure of that.

Yes, that qualifies as an old man, "back in my day…" grumble. But £7.99 for 74 pages? In Britain we call that a rip-off. The last regular DC comic I bought was three days ago. It had 100 pages and was half the RRP of just one of these.

Even more insulting is that both publications have adverts! They’re relevant to the character, but still, I'm heavily opposed to that kind of thing. It means we're essentially paying for advertisements. Not good.

Happily, the content is worth reading. The Superman annual is targeting a slightly younger audience than the current monthlies, so the stories have a younger focus; but it's not exclusive, there are still a number of things that'll also ring true for adults and perhaps, in some cases, even leave a deeper resonance.
The highlight is a story by Devin Grayson with art by Ariel Olivetti. It begins with two kids arguing over who is the better hero, Superman or Batman, and develops into something more than the sum of its parts.

The Batman book is darker in tone than the Superman one, like it ought to be. The stories chosen are more diverse. Each one shows a different facet of Batman's character, so new readers will, without their knowing it, be seeing the result of a lot of history filtered into short, self-contained one-shots. They explore in very different ways and in varying levels of detail what Batman is and what he isn't, what he stands for morally and what people think he stands for.
One in particular, written by Andrew Dabb and illustrated by Giorgio Pontrelli, uses a fictional world as a contrast to deepen the 'reality' of Batman’s world. The motivations of the second lot can't ever be fully understood by the first, but the story is crafted so that the reader, who belongs to neither world, will garner a deeper appreciation of the hero.

Value for Money: 1 wallet moth out of 5
Superman: 2½ schoolyard squabbles out of 5
Batman: 3½ defining moments of darkness out of 5

DC Comics: Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle (2010)

Authors: Various  |  Illustrators: Various  |  Page Count: 352

A giant sized book that attempts to present a history of DC Comics from its beginnings as National Allied Publications in 1934, through its change to Detective Comics in 1937, right up to the year of publication (the last entry is Batman #700, August 2010). It's not just an encyclopaedic list of characters; it also gives an insight into the company and its various imprints, TV and film endeavours alongside real life events that clearly influenced the consciousness of the comics' creators of the era. It's an ambitious undertaking that has no choice but to hurry over certain things, otherwise it'd be bigger than the coffee table it sits on.

It's split into chapters, one for each year, that offer memorable quotes, an overview of events, creator profiles and an extensive timeline of the complicated DC Universe. Each page is awash with colourful illustrations and faithful reproductions of original cover art. It's a treasure trove of information. I admit I skipped over some of the character entries. As with most reference books, not every entry appeals to every reader.

It's an attractive package housed in a very sturdy slip case, with two unique lithographs by Ryan Sook that some folks will likely want to frame and hang to better appreciate their beauty. Unless you're the type of person that buys this kind of thing as an investment, thereby negating its very purpose, to be read, then you’ll maybe find yourself returning to it time and again. I know I have.

4 history lessons from men in tights out of 5

Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (1997)

Author: Alan Moore | Illustrator: Curt Swan | Page Count: 48

“By the time we heard the screams ... the nightmare was already underway. There must have been hundreds of them and they all wanted the same thing…”

Whatever Happened...? is the final Superman story. The end. It was decided that the entire comic Universe be revamped after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, wiping out years of complicated back-story and killing off redundant characters. It’s a move that’s generally regarded to coincide with the ending of the Bronze Age of comics. Moore had a hand in the direction of what followed that era, but it seems he wanted a hand in what had preceded it, too. So he penned a belated, final Silver Age Man of Steel story, giving it another emotional end. We all know Superman continued, but beneath the bright colours was a darker canvas.

It's a love story to that Silver time, filled with weird and wonderful things, including the caped-dog Krypto and Jimmy Olsen's signal-watch. Readers of the modern era may not appreciate the allusions and the changes that it heralded, but older readers, those of us that grew up with comics, that read them under bed covers with a flashlight, will see the real importance and heart of the story. The majority of which is told in flashback. Lois tells the tale of Superman's final days to an aspiring Daily Planet reporter ten years after they happened.

The book is saturated with aspects of finality and loss. It uses the kind of language those old stories used, but it’s more streamlined—there's a weight to them that a lesser writer would need twice as much space to convey. In that way, Moore put a nail in the coffin of not just the character but of a style of writing that had endured for decades. It was the right time to do it. A new breed of storytellers had emerged, influenced by the past but equally ready to sculpt something shiny and new from the ashes of the old. So long, Superman.

The book collects together Superman 423 and Action Comics 583, both originally published in 1986.

3½ (Super)man-sized statues in memoriam out of 5