Enemies and Allies by Kevin J. Anderson

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

What would it be like if Batman and Superman happened to meet one day and decided to join forces. That is the premise behind Anderson’s latest work, Enemies and Allies. Set in the 1950’s, perhaps the golden age for comic book characters, the time frame of the novel is important because this is in it’s own way a cold war type of book. The two super heroes meet when Clark Kent- then a up and coming reporter, interviews Bruce Wayne-then an up and coming industrialist.

While Batman has the criminals of Gotham city in check, Superman has some serious problems in Metropolis when Lex Luthor undertakes a mission for world domination. Batman becomes involved when LuthorCor, Luthor’s company, attempts to undercut Brusce Wayne’s company Wayne Industries. Meanwhile, Jimmy Olson and Clark Kent investigate a supposed space ship crash, which leads Kent to wonder if there are others like himself living on Earth.

What follows is probably a fifty year old comic book junkie’s dream tale. There is classic Batman and Superman maneuvers. There are the evil Soviets to conquer. There are even the dreaded death rays! What may be problematic for this book is that it is NOT a comic book or even a graphic novel. It is a 326 page long hardcover book. By choosing to write this engaging tale in this format, with pictureless pages, I’m afraid the author may have missed a greater audience for the book, that is the crowd who weekly scoop up the newest in graphic novels. That would be a shame. The language is certainly simple enough for the young adult audience and may leave some adults wanting.

Though my foray into the escapades of Batman and Superman is limited almost entirely to the movies based on the comic books, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.