Superman/Batman Is As Superman/Batman Does.
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Superman/Batman is one consistently stupid book. Like its spiritual predecessor, World’s Finest, it teams up DC’s heaviest hitters month after month, and in true Silver Age fashion, there is a bit of an “anything goes” approach, where wild ideas abound but logic is often the first thing to go out the window. It’s a title that began with President Lex Luthor putting a million-dollar bounty on Superman’s head because a Kryptonite asteroid was going to collide with Earth, and became even more idiotic with each successive story. The idea that Superman’s nemesis Metallo had possibly been the real murderer of Thomas and Martha Wayne was raised early on in the series, but never resolved. There have been heartfelt but confusing tributes to the Silver Age, Alan Moore, and, for some reason, various Marvel comics (Luthor as Wolverine? Atomic Skull as Ghost Rider?). The book features a supremely annoying house style of writing where the two leads narrate in hilariously homoerotic tandem, constantly commenting on what the other must be thinking right now. In defiance of all odds, it somehow became even stupider when Jeph Loeb wrapped up his 25-issue arc.
However, I submit to you that, despite all these flaws, Superman/Batman is the most consistently accessible and yes, entertaining, mainstream book featuring these two leads a lot of the time. This comes with a couple of qualifiers—neither Grant Morrison or Geoff Johns can be writing Supes or Bats in another title at the time, which makes for pretty short windows. Also, the art is a huge component of the book’s debatable success. Ed McGuinness or Carlos Pacheco can make Loeb’s foolishness a lot more palatable, for instance, and Rags Morales or Rafael Albuquerque will make the proceedings run a lot more smoothly than, say, Whilce Portacio or Shane Davis. While the storylines are often modern glosses on Silver Age tropes—our heroes get shrunk, or their powers goes crazy, or they meet adorable l’il kid versions of themselves—they are usually fun, dumb adventures that only last a few issues at most. It’s also the most self-contained of the mainstream DCU books—this title does not pause to acknowledge Crises, whether Infinite or Final, nobody’s Battling For The Cowl, and there’s nary a New Krypton to be found in the cosmos.
Take this week’s issue #60, for instance. Current writers Michael Green and Mike Johnson deliver the first of a two-parter called Mash-up that finds Superman and Batman suddenly inhabiting a city called Gothamopolis, where familiar old faces are strangely mixed and matched. For instance, our two confused leads almost immediately run into the Justice Titans, a team made up out of amalgamated JLA and Teen Titans members. Among these weirdos are Night Lantern, Donna Wonder, Star Canary, Flash (‘cause he’s in both teams, get it?), Hawk-Beast, and Aqua-Borg. That’s right, Aqua-Borg. There’s an obligatory misunderstanding and fight scene, but they all eventually put aside their differences and go to the Justice Tower to solve the mystery, where we learn that they’ve been saving the silliest JT member for last; Terranado, a mash-up of Red Tornado and Terra (whose alter ego is Terra Mark V, which is actually kind of clever).
Soon, they’re all off to S.T.A.R.kham Labs (I know, right? Seriously!), where they fight Doomstroke, who it turns out is working for evil genius…Lex Joker. Well, why not, I guess. To be continued.
This is a very silly issue of a very silly book, and yet, it was probably my favourite comic of last week. I honestly don’t want to think too hard about what that means for the state of the industry right now, but there it is. It had the two best superheroes ever confronting a weird mystery, it had a couple of cool fights, and a cliffhanger ending that made we want to learn just what the hell is going on. It also had striking artwork by Francis Manapul (Legion of Super-Heroes), who is trying out a cool new style—very brushy and angular—that is lushly coloured here by Brian Buccellato. Manapul is the artist on the new Adventure Comics title debuting in August, which I am now officially a lot more excited about. For more goodness, check out Manapul's official website. You'll be glad you did.
This may all sound like I’m damning this book with the faintest of praise, but it’s sincere—this comic provided a kind of diverting entertainment you don’t see much of nowadays. You don’t have to know what’s going on in a zillion other books, there isn’t any disturbingly adult content that has no business in a superhero title, and there was something new and ridiculous to capture your attention on practically every page. This, by design or otherwise, seems to be the unofficial mission statement of Superman/Batman. As mission statements—or superhero team-up comics, really—go, you could do worse.
Sometimes, fishing is just a means to an end. Here we have "Crusher" Crock, the Sportsmaster, dressing up like a fisherman in order to steal things. This is his schtick, though - heck, that mask is his only real costume. The next time he appears, he might be a baseball player or a water-skier or a dartsman.
Or airplanes!
Note, however, that the fish monster is careful to use a rod and hook when attempting to catch a human. This is very important, and is a bit of a mistake. Humans aren't quite as dumb as fish, after all, and you just can't be certain that they'll manage to impale themselves on any barb that you toss out there, even if you put a hamburger on the end. The Fishermen of Space had the right idea there, what with their claws and all.
He had a cape made out of a net! His little hat (since revealed to be an alien parasite of some kind, which kills one of my jokes) is the same colour as the rest of his costume and makes him look a bit like a lobster! Hell, even the caption-voice calls him "bizarre", which is a pretty tough distinction to achieve as a villain in a 60s DC comic.
Hey, check out that cover - that’s fantastic! Who drew that… Joshua Middleton, hey? Way to go Joshua! Astonishingly, this cover seems to depict a short woman in a costume fighting a teenager with questionable fashion sense! Supergirl looks like someone who hasn’t stopped growing yet rather than someone who has had multiple rounds of cosmetic enhancement! Hooray, it’s revolutionary! Also: really pretty. This is one of my favourite covers in a long while.
Okay, here goes. So far, the Final Crisis Aftermath series are starting well: Run is an interesting exploration into the super-villain as self-centred douchebag rather than megalomaniac or insane person, while Escape might just be the right flavour of whacked-out craziness to be a good read (and is evidently based on an idea that Jack Kirby had about a super-hero version of The Prisoner, so the similarities are more apt than I had thought). I know that a first issue is not a series, but I’m actually cautiously optimistic about the whole thing - DC is redeeming itself somewhat for all of the really terrible stuff in the year between 52 and Final Crisis. And the Super Young Team are interesting characters, so that’s another bonus. I’ve read some fairly valid critique of them as reflecting a Western “look at the wacky Japanese” superficiality but… well, if super-heroes were an actual part of day-to-day life I don’t know that there wouldn’t be a group of trendy super-powered dilettantes with crazy-ass names and costumes swanning around the Japanese club scene. I guess I’ll reserve judgment until I see how the rest of Japan makes out. Bah blah blah - let’s read the comic.
Batman Jones! The kid who was named after Batman and thus became a huge Batman fanboy! Did I miss some earlier return of Batman Jones or did someone set out to dig up the most obscure character ever? Either way: fun revival.
This issue contains: an incredibly creepy cult leader, a trip to Burning Man (well, Blazing Man), super-cool flashbacks and a dramatic reveal. And girls in bikinis, if you like that sort of thing. Man, I would definitely buy a comic based on the early adventures of Mysterius, particularly if they feature lots of crazy magic globe-trotting. Of course now I have to go back and look for things in prior issues of Mysterius, thanks to that dramatic reveal. Curse you, Parker! I’m a busy man, and a lazy one! Your clever writing has inconvenienced me slightly for the last time!
