Cross Fire (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice) Library Binding – February 16, 2016

I enjoyed this little early trip into the newly expanding DC Extended Universe. Before I start, I should mention, if it's not obvious, that this is a short book geared towards kids and that you shouldn't go into this expecting a novel geared towards adults. That being said, the book does a good job at not talking down to the reader or relying on sophomoric situations like so many books and shows targeted at children do. Cross Fire gives us a story set very shortly after Man of Steel that manages to involve both Batman and Superman but without having them actually cross paths thereby saving that for the actual movie. Overall it was a nice quick read and fun primer for the upcoming feature. The best parts of the book were the little character pieces such as conversations between Bruce and Alfred as well Lois and Clark and hopefully the same relationship dynamics are part of Batman v Superman.

Its not obvious anywhere, but this is a 136 page book geared towards kids. Not a typical mass market paperback "novel" like the DC Universe series (i.e. Trail of Time) or Batman: Arkham Knight series. Story was fine...short read.

I Looking For The Comic Book!! LOL

Quick story to prepare you for the B vs S movie. A short insight into the different views of the world's greatest heroes!

a decent movie companion piecethe story is separate from the actual film but the images alone are worth it

Really nice book. Arrived on time. My son loves it.

Probably the first thing I should mention regarding about BvS: Crossfire is its target audience: if the fact that Scholastic is publishing doesn’t give it away, this is definitely a book geared towards the younger fans of these characters, and as such it does lack in depth somewhat. There’s a number of sub-plots going on here, but one of them does follow a preteen boy during his time at elementary school, definitely the demographic this is aimed at. It doesn’t ruin the book because some of the context we get in this book is clearly going to have an impact on the film. It’s not necessarily a problem, but if you’re looking for a deeper, more character-driven and mature plot, perhaps this isn’t for you.For what it is though, Batman V Superman: Cross Fire does tell a rather interesting story. The famous heroes never meet, but we do see them in both their public and private guises, giving us a pretty good grounding of how their characters will be portrayed in the film and how their relationships with other characters will go. The villain of the novel is Doctor Aesop, a niche Batman villain that mainstream fans no doubt will not recognise, which allows for the writing to focus on our heroes and allowing the villain’s arc to complement this. Its loyalty to the lore established in Man of Steel is admirable as well, with a number of plot elements deriving directly from the consequences of the 2013 Man of Steal although I won’t reveal them here.Another thing that’s worth talking about is the action described in the book. It’s definitely faithful to Man of Steel when Superman gets going, and the glimpses of fights that we’ve caught in trailers, especially the brutal hand-to-hand and gadget-based combat the Caped Crusader will no doubt capitalise on. The action scenes are really well described by author Michael Kogge, and at times the stakes are pretty high: obviously neither Batman nor Superman were going to die in this novel, but there were times where you really had to admire how they got out of some situations, which, for a plot revolving around unmanned drones controlled by a mad scientist, is pretty great.One of the main problems with the novel, however, is the imbalance between Batman and Superman. We see a lot more of the Dark Knight than the Man of Steel, with Clark Kent doing a lot more work in his reporter mode than with his Kryptonian drapes on. Batman has a lot more to do in the cape and cowl, and there’s even a few existential lines here: ‘Batman could only imagine the teasing this creature must have endured… was Batman any different?’, which wonderfully portrays the darker subject matter of this novel and the psyche of Ben Affleck’s Batman. Superman, however, is barely in his outfit until the villain situation is handled, though I will say that Clark is brilliantly written, with his dialogue with Lois Lane and Perry White some of the novel’s highlights.It’s really quite hard to go into my usual detail on a hundred-page book aimed at those substantially younger than me, but, despite this, I did enjoy reading BvS: Cross Fire. It tells a compelling, albeit unbalanced story that helps flesh out the world of the DCEU established in 2013 Man of Steel and give some grounding to what acts as a prequel to what unfolds in the 2016 Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. There’s definitely an imbalance between the two heroes, but both have their moments where they shine excellently and are portrayed so accurately that it’s hard to penalise it. BvS: Crossfire not necessarily a deep or layered story, but, as long as you go in knowing it won’t be the richest superhero story you’ve ever read, and you remind yourself it’s aimed for children, you’re sure to have a good time with Batman V Superman: Cross Fire.

Something great that came out of the new Star Wars Force Awakens junior novel collections was the stories leading to the new movie. This is what this book does for the new Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice movie. It's a story after the end fight between Zod and Cal El (Superman) in Man of Steel, and shows the new hero looking thru the wreckage of the towers for survivors. Where the Avengers age of Ultron, and Ant-Man junior novels didn't have the complete story this one did, because it was a story between the stories. The writing actually was really pretty good for the age group targeted and the new characters are fleshed out really pretty well. We meet Doctor Barbius Aesop, the main villian, jackalope, Rory Greeley, Eli, and of course Ben Afflecks take on the Dark Knight. I think fans of Superman will be happy with how he is portrayed and calm with the panic over Affleck as the Bat. Overall actually pretty fun read 6.3/10.0

Not for adults.Large text and very few pages. I though I was getting something better.

bad paper quality and very small in size. No worth buying if its for a fan's collection.