20130702-154332.jpg

In “Cross Worlds,” Clark Kent arrives at an Art Deco Gotham City where Zeppelins traverse a sky touched by gothic, black metal spirals. Clark first meets Bruce in a Gotham park, where Bruce is a spectator of a preteen street fight, and as expected from this contentious context, they instantly begin to judge each other. Clark does his best to stop the bullying, and Bruce says Clark isn’t doing the kid any favors. Their next meeting is one of alter egos, when Batman and Superman meet for the first time (in the New 52 continuity) during Batman’s pursuit of a possessed Catwoman. Each perceives the other as a “monster”; Superman sees Batman as a freak of purpose and Batman sees Superman as a freak of nature. Superman then finds himself shifted to an alternate Smallville where Batman seems to know him as a friend and where Jonathan Kent still lives.

A new Batman / Superman bromance book? Is this even news? On the face of it, yes. Greg Pak, Jae Lee, and Ben Oliver do bring the shock and awe. However, in the milieu of spectacle that is the comic book rack in 2013, there is a preponderance of overworked titles; flash and style have lost much of their effect as too often they have been used to adorn underwhelming event titles that are mainly marketing cash-in and not true game changers. Too much packaging and prize, not enough Cracker Jack.

Fortunately, Batman / Superman is not starting out as an ephemeral title. There is enormous talent, especially in the rich panels delivered by Jae Lee. With this much talent in the pages of Batman / Superman, one expects and hopes it will lean toward memorable rather than forgettable. Long time DC fans don’t want another throwaway title. Hopefully there will be fans who carry this in their hearts as the canonical Superman / Batman team origin story, just as “The Mightiest Team in The World,” from Superman 76 (June, 1952), is both one of the most reprinted Superman stories and one of the most reprinted Batman stories at the same time. Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan’s classic is deceptively simple, but the critically disarming storytelling and the cartoony charm of Swan’s line have ensured its perpetuation across time and culture for over 50 years. The Grand Comics Database lists six United States reprints, one English, and one German. The transcontinental nature of its popularity can be attributed to its simple theme–that of fighting the good fight and having someone at your back while doing so.

There is a more complex idea in Batman / Superman #1 than in Superman 76, one that depends more on the differences than the similarities between the two heroes and their missions. The theme of “Cross World” is that these heroes differ less in their power level than they do in their upbringing and moral fiber. The assumption is that Bruce is the more disciplined of the two men due to the time and training required to develop his skill set, but discipline can also mean moral conduct, or upbringing, and Bruce was disadvantaged in this compared to Clark, as Bruce had his parents taken from him at an early age. Clark had living exemplars for his entire childhood, while Bruce’s exemplars were modified by death and his own indomitable will into unobtainable ideals. Clark is successful in living up to his parents’ memories, to the degree that he feels good about it every day. Almost no one lives up to Bruce’s ideals; as shown in this issue, even the people he comes to save may be occasionally subject to judgment. And Bruce is rarely shown feeling good about anything.

This is all well and good, and the tone that is established is one that we expect from these heroes. However, while Greg Pak has listened to our heroes’ voices, he has overlooked Batman’s moral architecture in the haste to replicate a tone palatable to Batman fanboys. While Batman is saving one of his employees, a high level executive who has misused company resources, he snaps the man’s wrist. The man’s daughter is also at risk in this scenario. It is out of character for Batman to abuse a crime victim, despite how he feels about misappropriation of Wayne resources– and he certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to injure a child’s father when he is apparently counting on that parent to make good the child’s escape from harm.

Overall, Batman / Superman #1 is a recommended read. It does what it sets out to do–it renews the Batman / Superman relationship and attempts to make the characters a little more contemporary to our time. Throw it on your coffee table and it will probably prove to be a better conversation starter than a full-sized coffee table book, as the art inside is better than that in most coffee table books and the story is a better conversation starter–nerdwise, that is–than heftier books. If you can’t find the paper edition, you can buy it on comiXology.

Related posts: