Superman & Batman: Generations 
 

Writer, Artist and Letterer: John Byrne

Colorist:  Trish Mulvihill 
 

Reviewed for Raging Bullets: BulletPoints by Omri
 
 

Generations:  The World’s Finest team finally faces the one enemy they never faced before: time!  See them age and mature through the decades, growing to points never reached in their regular cannon stories. 
 

      First things to be stated about this book is that it is a highly typical John Byrne story.  Those familiar with his work should immediately recognize not only his art style, but also his writing methods and plot driving elements.  Though I’m not a big fan of his work, I picked this up as mere curiosity and was surprised by the quality of its contents. 
 

      The story has 8 chapters, each set ten years apart, ranging from 1939 to 1999, followed by an extra chapter at 1929.  What makes this so interesting is that Byrne adopted those decades’ feel into his writing and art, and each chapter truly captures and feels as if it was published in that time.  Thus, the 1939 story, true to cannon, has the debut of Superman and Batman, with funny costumes, cheesy lines and violent justice.  The 1949 story has all the back-history exploration and villain development, imbued with impossible stunts, and continuity errors (which are obviously placed here on purpose).  1959 is the decade of hokeyness, where Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite reign, Batman has all the gadgets that made his TV show famous and the story takes weird (and unnecessarily out-of-left-field) turns.  1969 is the decade of change, social issues brought to the table and the discovery that violence is real and has consequences.  1979 follows, not surprisingly, with happiness that very quickly turns grim, gritty and very dark with plot elements that lay under the rugs for years suddenly resurfacing.  Expectedly, 1989 follows with political explorations and value settings, focusing on our heroes’ moral standpoints, with 1999 finally taking them out of the slump and into a place from which they can look at the future. 
 

      The story focuses on Superman and Batman, their relationship, their growth, their aging, and their pantheons (yes, that means families).  Their lives seem to forever be entangled, each needing the other for his latest threat- dealing, having more influence in the other’s life than they’d believe they do.  As they each marry and have children, they pave the way for new, young heroes to take their place once they get older.  We see the kids learning, trying, and eventually surpassing their parents.  We see some of them disappoint their parents and even failing them miserably.  It is a story that spans several generations, on how blood relations are as important as friendships, how trust is so easy to break but so hard to gain, and how evil will never rest, even after it’s dead and gone.