Superman and Batman are two iconic characters. No matter how many comic books you have or have not read, you've heard of Batman and Superman. Their first meeting (told in Superman #76 in 1952) marked the beginning of a partnership - and a friendship - that lasted decades.
Today, both characters are very different from their 1950s counterparts. Batman is far darker, and Superman is much less of a stereotypical Boy Scout. Their first meeting would be far different from the friendly "let's team up to solve this mystery and save Lois Lane" story told back in the '50s. And now, that story has been told.
Kevin J. Anderson tells the story of the first meeting between these two prototypical superheroes. Anderson sets his meeting in the late 1950s, very shortly after each hero has made their public debut. Batman refuses to believe that Superman is actually an alien, and has the engineers at Wayne Enterprises trying to duplicate the technology that gives Superman his powers. Superman believes Batman is a criminal. The first meeting does not go so well - Superman catches Batman in the middle of stealing something from Lex Luthor's home, and takes him into custody. Batman comes to the conclusion that Superman is employed by Lex Luthor.
Anderson's story is firmly set in the paranoid world of the Cold War. Luthor works alternately with a KGB general and Senator Joe McCarthy to further his agenda. People seem genuinely frightened at the prospects of an alien invasion - exacerbated by popular movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Superman worries that everyone will ultimately turn on him - mistrusting the alien from Krypton who only wants to help humanity.
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