By [ad_1]
Despite their now iconic friendship, Batman and Superman had a strange Post-Crisis first encounter in John Byrne’s The Man of Steel.
Fans of the iconic friendship between Batman and Superman might be unaware of just how strange their first interaction was in Post-Crisis DC continuity. The brooding detective and the bright boy scout have always been characters with sharply opposing values and beliefs, and their first interaction here reflects that, but when mixed with minor supervillain Magpie, exploding trinkets, chess pieces that shoot razor-blades, forcefields connected to bombs and Batman’s face full of trash, there lies the makings of a strange yet highly memorable tale.
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the reins of Superman were handed to John Byrne, whose task was to modernize DC’s premier hero for a new age of comics. Byrne’s tenure on the character is well-remembered by fans, as he began his two-year run with the 1986 miniseries, The Man of Steel. In this time, he would humanize Superman, stripping him of the outlandish powers and characteristics that had once been associated with the character in the Silver Age of comics, and reestablishing the relationships integral to the emotional side of the character. Byrne’s story of how the Man of Steel met the Dark Knight in The Man of Steel #3 is a strange tale of two titans teaming up to take down a simple jewel thief.
The story opens with Batman attempting to beat information out of a thug named Bull Carter, who works for new Gotham villain, Magpie. Before he can get this information, Bull throws trash into Batman’s face, giving him the distraction he needs to escape. Before he can catch back up with Bull, he is intercepted by Superman (who happens to coincidentally be flying over Gotham), grabbing his grapple line in an attempt to fly him to the police station. Batman escapes and confronts Superman, who intends to turn the Dark Knight in to the authorities.
In order to make Superman cooperate, Batman informs him that he has created a forcefield around himself that should Superman try to touch him, would detonate a bomb and kill an innocent (a move that seems outlandish and out of character). Batman then details a recent string of strange yet brutal crimes that have taken place in Gotham.
Meanwhile, angry that her henchman had been caught, Magpie murders Bull with an explosive to the mouth, an explosion that Superman hears. Though enemies only a few pages ago, the two heroes are now united in this adventure, eventually using a five-thousand-year-old cloth thread to track Magpie down to her lair at an abandoned Gotham museum. There, she is confronted by the heroes, and reveals that she was once an employee of the museum, breaking down in front of the heroes. Here, they take pity on her, despite her string of violent murders. The issue then ends with the two heroes establishing their respect for one another, following Batman’s reveal that the bomb he had set was actually in his utility belt the whole time, meaning he would have been the one killed had Superman penetrated the forcefield. The issue closes with Batman admitting that in another reality, they might have been friends, a moment of dramatic irony considering the complex friendship that forms.
In a tale of two of DC’s most recognizable heroes, it is strange that the two are pit against a character as minor as Magpie, a criminal who poses little threat to either hero on their own, let alone together. Despite the outlandish (and strangely coincidental) circumstances of their meeting, this issue succeeds in establishing the dichotomy between these two icons, as well their respective cities. While one is the avatar of vengeance in a city defined by its shadows, the other is the avatar of peace in a city ever-illuminated in light. Even with these differences, each recognizes the need for the other, laying the groundwork for a friendship that will be celebrated in the years to come.
About The Author
[ad_2]
