Superman/Batman #1-26

Jeph Loeb had big success with this series and I always wanted to check it out. Now that I have I will share my thoghts.
 

1-6: World's Finest, Ed McGuiness
This first arc surprised me a lot. It introduced the characters and their relationship, and it also showed them fighting many super villains as well as cameo appearances by many fellow heroes. What really surprised me was the main villain being Luthor, who ends his presidency in this arc. That's a huge event in the Superman/DC universe. This to me said that this series is totally in continuity and tells important stories, as well as self contained ones. I was a bit disappointed that the meteor/Darkseid connection was not fully explained in later issues. The art by McGuiness is nice, but it's not a favorite of mine. It is a little bit too cartoony for me, it takes me away from the seriousness of the story.
 
7: Protege, Pat Lee
This story is about Robin and Superboy, who recruit Toyman, a character seen in the first arc. This was interesting in that it very briefly explored the relationship between the sidekicks and S&B. Other than that this was basically an excuse to have Pat Lee draw robots.
 
8-13: The Supergirl from Krypto n, Mike Turner
Following the arrival of the meteor, we also get a new Supergirl (I am totally confused on the other Supergirls). I liked the way this new character is introduced, I especially liked the conflict between Superman and Batman on how to treat her. It makes sense that Wonder Woman is involved as well, which makes it even more interesting. There is also a death in this arc, and though it's not a huge character, it still makes this series "count". I was fooled by the surprise death towards the end, I really thought that was it. But I didn't like how Superman dealt with Darkseid so easily. He could have done it before. I was also disappointed at the end: after Darkseid is gone, we find Kara hiding, afraid to let people know about her. Then she just reveal herself to everbody?!? The art by Mike Turner is very nice, and obviously well chosen for Supergirl and all the other Amazons running around half naked. I do like his style, but his characters look too much like models.
 
                                        14-18: Absolute Po wer, Carlos Pacheco
This story started as an elseworld, presenting us with the main concept: 3 villains from the future go back in time and kill all superheroes during their origins, except for Batman and Superman, who are adopted by them. So now we have "bad" Superman and Batman who rule the world. As I said, a good premise. We also get other versions of DC characters, however I am not too familiar with DC, so I didn't get them all. At the end the time travel becomes very confusing, and although I understand the concept I just don't "believe" it. In particular I have problems with the fact that Superman and Batman remember everything that happens to them, even though they come from alternate time lines, as well as different times. This is more like a Silver Age explanation, which to me is not acceptable. The art by Pacheco is very clear, I like his style though it does not excite me too much.

19: Supergirl, Ian Churchill
This is just a set up for Supergirl's ongoing series, where we setup her status as well as Luthor's interest in her. I was midly curious about Lex's involvement, but I don't think I'm going to read her series.
 

20-25: With a Vengeance, Ed McGuiness
This last arc sees the return of McGuiness, this time dealing with an arc that might be more appropriate to him. Mxy and Bat-mite's involvement means a more cartoony story, also thanks to Bizzarro. Unfortunately for me, I do not like any of those 3 characters. Not to mention that basically everything that happened does not count. This story reminded me a little of the first arc in JLA Classified, drawn by McGuiness and written by Morrison. I was totally confused by both.
 
26: Sam Loeb
This last story was plotted by Jeph's son Sam, who died of cancer. So this is just a tribute to him by his father and a long list of artists. The story goes back to Robin, Superboy, Toyman, where they just have some fun. The backup story by Jeph Loeb and long time collaborator Tim Sale was very emotional.
 
Overall I wouldn't call this a favorite series of mine, but it did have some great moments and great art. I did not like the internal dialogs from Superman and Batman, it felt like a gimmick to see their opposing point of view on everything that happened to them, which might have worked at first, but after a while they were distracting me from the main plot. I do not think they really told me anything new about these characters. None of the 4 arcs blew me away, I had some problems with all of them.