Don't bother wasting your time reading this book. Instead, waste your time reading this review.

At a mere 48 pages, this book is a very brief read. There are two parts, each of which is divided into a Superman story and a Batman story.

The first, 1959: Strange Days, is drawn and told in the style of the Golden Age of comic books. For example, it opens on Batman chasing down an animated warehouse on his "Whirlybird," a helicopter in modern parlance. And Batman and Superman are faced with very Golden Age-y challenges: They must save a goody, renounced-all-war gangling alien civilization from another evil, violent warlike brawny alien civilization who have conquered them despite all appeals for peace. Of course, they happen to learn about Earth's superheroes, and manage to send two emissaries to bring back help. Unfortunately, they have only enough fuel for one, so they enlist Bat-mite and Mxyzptlk to test Superman and Batman, respectively, to see which is the greatest. Everything is solved in a wink and a smile. Very Nostalgic.

The second part, 1969: Changing Times, centers around Batman and Superman's successors and the Vietnam War. The Justice League, of course, is opposed to the Vietnam War and refuses President Nixon's orders to get rid of protesters who, as the Green Lantern says, "have a constitutionally guaranteed right to protest." Very ham-handed. But wait! It gets even more clumsy: Superman's son, Joel, who was exposed to gold kryptonite while in still in the womb, has joined the Army and of course, is massacring noncombatants. Of course. There's also a story about the new Batman, Dick Grayson and his sidekick, Bruce Wayne, Jr., the new Robin. Batman is drawn into a trap by the Joker and killed. But then Junior arrives on the scene and exchanges costumes, and steps out of the building (in the Batman costume) carrying Grayson's body (in the Robin costume, head covered by yellow cape) and interupts the policeman ("Y-you r-really killed Batman. . ??"), announcing, "No--as usual, he's lying. He didn't kill Batman. He killed Robin!" Cut to Dick Grayson's funeral. Cut to exchange between Kara Kent (Clark and Lois's daughter), aka Supergirl, where Junior breaks off their relationship because he now has to take up the mantle of Batman. End on panel of a telegram from the Gen. of the Army, informing with regret that Lt. Joel Kent has been killed in action (and where it is implied that he was killed by his men, for being a psycho, aka "fragged"). ( )