Superman: The Never-Ending Battle, by Roger Stern

While this book always intended to be a novel, because the characters are some of the most famous superheroes in the world it is very difficult to not compare to the drawn world. This probably isn't fair, any more than those irritating conversations we all get in that start, "the book was better than the movie." If this were a comic book, I suspect it would have been only average. The story (a villain attempting to control the world by co-opting the weather) was fine as a backdrop, but I was hoping for more depth to the characters. Unfortunately, every hero acted exactly as you'd expect; this was the Justice League out of the Superfriends, not from television. While that certainly doesn't make it bad, I find it sad that Paul Dini can create a much more powerful story and subtext in a half-hour show on Cartoon Network than found in a 370 page novel. I won't go as far as saying don't read this book, I will say a much more awarding JLA experience awaits you on Saturdays.

First Sentence:

He could see the bullet coming.