Scans: Superman/Batman
Superman/Batman 85: Written by JOSHUA HALE FIALKOV; Art by ADRIANA MELO & JP MAYER
Superman/Batman 85 kicks off the last arc of the title (DC has said the title is "resting" after the relaunch "while they establish the new Superman status quo"--I have some hope that we'll eventually get it or a "World's Finest" title back) with a story that has Batman suspected of murder and Superman supporting his friend, although the evidence doesn't look good for Batman. It seems to be set slightly early in their careers, but I'm not sure.
Also, I had a teeny tiny part to play in writing this issue! I really did!
The story begins with Clark Kent being asked by Perry to go to Gotham to investigate a murder of a Gotham Gazette reporter who was a friend of Perry's. It seems the reporter might have found out Batman's secret identity and there are suspicions Batman might have killed him because of that. Clark is dubious:
Clark takes the train to Gotham, with a nice little heroic moment--I love scenes where Clark does something heroic while focusing on something else.
Clark almost gets mugged, which gets Batman to show up and confront him in a dark alley--and Batman/Clark encounters in dark alleys is one of my favorite things in the world, so of course I liked this issue. :)
Batman discovers that the reporter did indeed seem to know he was Bruce Wayne. The GCPD is banging on the door, so Bruce sets the reporter's evidence on fire and flees, now implicating himself in arson as well.
Here's my exciting tale of helping to write a Superman/Batman comic!
Dean Trippe, who does a lot of comic-related work, like the web comic "Butterfly" and the costume-redesign site "Project Rooftop," is on my follow list on Twitter. A few months ago, he said "For a friend of mine--does anyone know if the editor of the Gotham Gazette has ever been named in canon?" Since I just happen to have used that information in a fic last year, I remembered it was mentioned in one Batman comic in the 70s as Martin Mayne, so I sent that along to him. He said thanks, I had no idea what it was for, I forgot about it.
So I was pretty tickled when I got to these panels in Superman/Batman 85:
I WANT CO-WRITE CREDIT, DAMN IT. :)
Mayne gets a call that Batman has committed arson, so Clark ditches the office and heads to the scene as Superman, leading to a very nice Gordon-Superman moment:
Poor Jim.
Then it's time for yet another tense confrontation in a dark alley! (Yeah, I'm enjoying this story). Batman finally comes clean to Superman: years ago, when he was just getting started as Batman, he made the mistake of using one part in his Batman equipment that was still marked with the Wayne Enterprises serial number. The equipment got left behind at some point, the reporter found it, and from that managed to put together that Batman was Bruce Wayne. More importantly for Clark, it seems that Bruce was using Wayne Enterprises in some less-than-legal ways at this point in the past, and the reporter was trying to reveal that as well.
I'm not sure that's very plausible (right from the start, I'm dubious Bruce would leave something with a serial number in his gear, but...characters do have to make mistakes sometimes or there's a lot fewer stories). But the point is that Batman is furious at himself for being sloppy. I suspect he's angry that his sloppiness might have led to this reporter getting killed as well, but mostly it just means he's particularly grouchy with Superman, especially when Clark insists that he might have to expose Wayne Enterprises' shady dealings in the past.
That's a nice dramatic ending, but does Bruce understand that his snappy comeback is basically admitting that he's wrong now as well, and that he does need Superman's help? I'm going to take that as a Freudian slip... :)
Superman/Batman 85 kicks off the last arc of the title (DC has said the title is "resting" after the relaunch "while they establish the new Superman status quo"--I have some hope that we'll eventually get it or a "World's Finest" title back) with a story that has Batman suspected of murder and Superman supporting his friend, although the evidence doesn't look good for Batman. It seems to be set slightly early in their careers, but I'm not sure.
Also, I had a teeny tiny part to play in writing this issue! I really did!
The story begins with Clark Kent being asked by Perry to go to Gotham to investigate a murder of a Gotham Gazette reporter who was a friend of Perry's. It seems the reporter might have found out Batman's secret identity and there are suspicions Batman might have killed him because of that. Clark is dubious:
Clark takes the train to Gotham, with a nice little heroic moment--I love scenes where Clark does something heroic while focusing on something else.
Clark almost gets mugged, which gets Batman to show up and confront him in a dark alley--and Batman/Clark encounters in dark alleys is one of my favorite things in the world, so of course I liked this issue. :)
Batman discovers that the reporter did indeed seem to know he was Bruce Wayne. The GCPD is banging on the door, so Bruce sets the reporter's evidence on fire and flees, now implicating himself in arson as well.
Here's my exciting tale of helping to write a Superman/Batman comic!
Dean Trippe, who does a lot of comic-related work, like the web comic "Butterfly" and the costume-redesign site "Project Rooftop," is on my follow list on Twitter. A few months ago, he said "For a friend of mine--does anyone know if the editor of the Gotham Gazette has ever been named in canon?" Since I just happen to have used that information in a fic last year, I remembered it was mentioned in one Batman comic in the 70s as Martin Mayne, so I sent that along to him. He said thanks, I had no idea what it was for, I forgot about it.
So I was pretty tickled when I got to these panels in Superman/Batman 85:
I WANT CO-WRITE CREDIT, DAMN IT. :)
Mayne gets a call that Batman has committed arson, so Clark ditches the office and heads to the scene as Superman, leading to a very nice Gordon-Superman moment:
Poor Jim.
Then it's time for yet another tense confrontation in a dark alley! (Yeah, I'm enjoying this story). Batman finally comes clean to Superman: years ago, when he was just getting started as Batman, he made the mistake of using one part in his Batman equipment that was still marked with the Wayne Enterprises serial number. The equipment got left behind at some point, the reporter found it, and from that managed to put together that Batman was Bruce Wayne. More importantly for Clark, it seems that Bruce was using Wayne Enterprises in some less-than-legal ways at this point in the past, and the reporter was trying to reveal that as well.
I'm not sure that's very plausible (right from the start, I'm dubious Bruce would leave something with a serial number in his gear, but...characters do have to make mistakes sometimes or there's a lot fewer stories). But the point is that Batman is furious at himself for being sloppy. I suspect he's angry that his sloppiness might have led to this reporter getting killed as well, but mostly it just means he's particularly grouchy with Superman, especially when Clark insists that he might have to expose Wayne Enterprises' shady dealings in the past.
That's a nice dramatic ending, but does Bruce understand that his snappy comeback is basically admitting that he's wrong now as well, and that he does need Superman's help? I'm going to take that as a Freudian slip... :)