From DC COMICS: "The final chapter of the Metal Men's return! Will Superman and Batman be able to stop Brainiac with Magnus' robots on his side? And what does Bruce have hidden away that's so vital?"

SUPERMAN/BATMAN‘s 3-part story arch guest starring The Metal Men finishes up in issue #36, “COMPUTER CRASH.” The writers of this arch was Mark Verheiden and Mark Guggenheim, while pencils were provided by Pat Lee.

As I previously stated, I gave this title a go when I first returned to comics 2+ years ago, and it didn’t hold my interest. Therefore, I had it pulled from my pull box down at my local comic book shop. Then a couple of months ago, I decided to give it one more chance and this time, the results were different -- I liked it. Consequently, it has again been added to my pull box.

Issue’s #34-36 of S/B -- along with their appearance in 52 -- was essentially the re-introduction of The Metal Men to the DC Universe. This particular story arch read like a Batman story with Superman playing second fiddle to The Dark Knight. Ironically, the villains featured were from The Man of Steel’s rouges gallery, not Batman’s -- in particular Metallo and Brainiac.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this 3-issue storyline. Part 3 tied up all the loose ends -- such as The Metal Men going “bad” and the reason Bruce kept the O.M.A.C/Brother Eye technology around after the events of INFINITE CRISIS. I also thought that writers Verheiden and Guggenheim had a pretty good handle on the Bruce/Clark relationship -- and that includes their heroic alter egos.

One line in particular at the end of the issue is an example of how well the writers had a grasp on the Supes/Bats relationship. After Bruce allows Superman to destroy all the remaining O.M.A.C exoskeletons, Clark asks him why Batman let him do it. “Honestly, Clark, after all these years. Have you ever known me to have only ONE contingency plan?”

Lee’s artwork was OK -- though it seems that he’s another one of these artists that has that “all characters look the same facially” syndrome.

So the bottom line here is whether or not I recommend SUPERMAN/BATMAN to be added to your pull box? If you are a fan of the entire DC Universe -- Superman and Batman in particular -- I say definitely. However, if you happen to be like me and are basically a “Batman-only Guy,” then you can probably pass on this one and stick to the two core Bat-titles. But if you have a couple or three bucks extra each month, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this title.