Any comedian forebode Superman / Batman should really be the most astounding piece of take material since Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . And yet , lamentably , DC ’s monthly amusing about the adventures of its two most famous characters has been a bit leaden for a few years now . I ’ve been obsess , during my rare downtime , about how I would restore Supes / Bats to its former spiffiness , if Dan DiDio was somehow afflicted with brainpower damage and opt to let me compose it . Here are my thoughts .
First , a littlebitofhistoryof the Superman / Batman teamups . The two first joined together in 1952 , and cursorily learned each other ’s orphic identity . Their monthly teamup comedian , World ’s Finest , lasted until the mid-1980s . They were best friends , and their floor often had a sorting of boy ’ clubhouse feel , with Robin along for the drive . from time to time a girl like Supergirl or Batgirl would want to join the nightspot . Or either Superman would get a new “ in effect friend , ” allow Batman to sense sad and rejected . Or some mean boys , like the Composite Superman or Anti - Batman and Anti - Superman , would show up and ruin everything . But the stories would always end with the club entire again .
And then in the mid-1980s , Frank Miller and John Byrne came up with the thought of making Superman and Batman uneasy ally , who did n’t trust each other . Miller ’s Batman : The Dark Knight Returns ends with the two slugging it out , and Byrne ’s Superman : The Man Of Steel has the young Superman run into the unsavory vigilante Batman for the first time . Batman thinks Superman ’s a callow son sentinel , and Superman disapproves of Batman ’s violent methods . This is the one where Batman tell Superman that he ’s implant a deadly dud in “ an unacquainted ” that will go off if Superman adjudicate to grab Batman … and then it turns out the bomb calorimeter is really in Batman himself , which means Batman is an destitute . I keep waiting for Superman to pat Batman on the back or light touch against him accidentally . ( Why could n’t Batman have just implanted the turkey in a chihuahua ? Chihuahuas are people too . But perhaps Batman does n’t believe chihuahuas are ever innocent . ) In fact , there are or so 1,000 DC comics from the late eighties where Superman says that he disapproves of Batman ’s method , before teaming up with him .
Now , the two are back to being friends , more or less , although Superman / Batman always shows that they have very unlike position by generate us recall captions from both of them . Superman is bright and affirmative , Batman is disconsolate and brooding . So at times , Superman will think to himself , “ Wow , Bruce is so dark and brood . ” And Batman will reckon , “ Oh Clark , I could never be as affirmative and bright as you are . ” ( It ’s all about the first figure nowadays . ) And now DC is working on aweekly Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman squad - up comical , written by Kurt Busiek .
So in a nutshell , the moral force between Batman and Superman has always been a shade cartoonish and oversimplify , based on whatever the reign version of Batman has been at the prison term . ( Fun caped reformist , down ‘ n ’ gritty retaliator , or paranoid - but - superb phallus of the superhero kinsperson . ) Superman has n’t changed intimately as much as Batman has .
So here ’s how I ’d make the moral force between Superman and Batman more interesting : I ’d turn them into Lethal Weapon .
Superman is the cautious one , the straight arrow who does everything by the Holy Writ despite ( or because of ) his almost illimitable power . Batman is the dotty , out - of - controller risktaker who sustain drag Superman into office he ’s not equipped for . Batman is the guy who sends Superman and himself diving into a bleak cakehole on a spaceship with one dud engine . He ’s the one who drag on Superman and himself into a nest of troll , whose magic weapons can hack Superman to pieces . He seems to make impulsive , rash decisions , but always turns out to have a design . Sort of .
And yes , I know that since Grant Morrison ’s JLA Batman has been portray as the uber - controller lusus naturae who always plan twenty step ahead in every place . But he ’s also the non - powered guy who line up up in a bat costume , with his face unprotected , and startle off rooftops into gunfire every nighttime of the workweek . He ’s the crazed , half - self-destructive Mel Gibson to Superman ’s Danny Glover .
Every Superman / Batman plot line should start with Superman being totally on top of things as common , crushing a rogue jumbo robot with one hand while using his heat visual sensation to stop a falling satellite from crash on a populated sphere . And maybe using his super - breath to avert a tsunami at the same time . And then suddenly , Batman comes zip up in his Bat - carpenter’s plane and is like , “ time to go , boy sentinel ! ” Superman starts to protest , but he get it on Batman only resorts to enquire for his helper when it ’s a serious trouble . The next matter he knows , he ’s lost control over his major power and Batman is send the two of them in a tailspin into a magical soul - eat vent . “ This vent is tie in to a crime that come about in Gotham City , which means it ’s MINE , ” Batman explains helpfully .
Instead of look at Batman and thinking , “ I do n’t okay of his methods , ” or “ He ’s my chum , ” or “ Bruce , why are you so depressed and coloured ? ” Superman should be call “ Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce ! What have you gotten me into this time ? ” at the top of his superintendent - lungs , while Batman cackles .
BatmanJeph LoebSuperman
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