Superman/Batman: Absolute Power (2005)
It occurs to me that given DC's September plans, it might be a good idea to get back to my neglected almost-completed history of Clark and Bruce's friendship and add some more scans to the collection!
When last I posted, I'd gotten all the way to 2005 and the "Absolute Power" arc of the Superman/Batman title. "Absolute Power" is basically an alternate-history AU in which Jeph Loeb asks "What if evil supervillains from the future came back in time to adopt Bruce and Clark as children, raise them as their sons and rule the world together?" Jeph Loeb doesn't spend a great deal of time on the AU, but Clark and Bruce have an extremely intense relationship there. The story opens with Bruce giving Clark a birthday present: the chance to kill the freedom fighter Green Arrow. The fight reveals that Bruce has quite a temper in this world, and gets quite upset when Clark gets hurt:
Batman beats Ollie up for quite a while, but when Ollie looks like he's going to rally, Superman unceremoniously fries him to ash with heat vision. Loeb has a lot of unnerving fun with Clark and Bruce murdering their former friends in this series--in this case, before they head home to a happy birthday part with their mother and fathers:
Clark and Bruce assault Namba Parbat and are attacked by Deadman, who possesses Superman and makes him fight Batman until Bruce fights back with a backwards-spell.
Well, those first two panels are the essence of "Absolute Power"--casual mention of callous cruelty mixed with some pretty intense brotherly love.
The happy family times come to an end when Wonder Woman and her team of freedom fighters assaults Clark and Bruce--this time Diana is able to stab Bruce to death, breaking Clark's heart.
Clark then breaks Diana's neck with her own lasso (ugh) and when he fights the human bomb the whole world collapses inward. The boys then go through a series of AU worlds, dying over and over again (I include the panel below just because I love the snark):
They can't figure out what's going on and they keep trying to find their "parents," but instead they interrupt their killing of the Kents and set the timeline right, so Clark remembers the correct world at last. Then they travel to Crime Alley--but here things don't go as planned at all.
Batman kills Joe Chill and fades out of existence entirely, leaving a bewildered and shocked Clark. Clark then jumps in time to twenty years later, and discovers in a world without Batman, Ra's al Ghul rules the world.
Clark goes to find Bruce and discovers him happily lounging by the pool with his friends in his parents' home:
Reluctantly, Clark forces Bruce to remember that this world is not the right one and that they need to set it right. Bruce's memories are restored, but he's out of practice physically and lacks the fighter's edge, a loss he feels keenly as they prepare to assault Ra's's stronghold (where their former parents are also waiting to inform them they've "been naughty" and try to kill them). In fact, he can't get his Bat-instincts back until Clark throws himself in front of a Kryptonite blade for him:
My scan here went really bad, but Clark murmurs "I could not let you die..." to Bruce. Bruce responds by, um, murdering Ra's, yikes.
He consoles himself after by saying that once they set the timeline right it won't really have happened, but I am a bit dubious of that reasoning. They both are too, actually: once they defeat their evil parents and restore the world, they go to check on Green Arrow and Wonder Woman, feeling guilty about the memories they have of murdering them. The story ends with a rather melancholy bonding moment at the Wayne family plot:
As usual with Loeb stories, this one is an entertaining mess filled with cameos, in-jokes, and plot holes, but it sure is fun. Not surprisingly, it's a source of inspiration for a lot of fanfic!
Speaking of Clark and Bruce's friendship, you can find a recent interesting take on it by Chris Sims at Comics Alliance: Superman, Batman, and the World's Finest Friendship.
It all goes back to Batman being a detective. He's trained to observe people, to watch them, to know when they're lying and what their true motivations are. Five minutes talking to Superman, and he's going to understand that he's not a guy who plans to gain the public's trust and use that to declare himself King of the World. Batman's going to understand that this is a guy who simply cannot stand by and let people suffer while he can do something to stop it. That's something he can respect, because he's the exact same way.
And yes, Clark Kent might hear about a six foot bat terrorizing the night in Gotham City and think this is something worth putting a stop to, but the first time Superman sees the lengths Batman's willing to go to in order to protect the innocent and stop Crime from hurting other people, his doubts are gone. He'll see the good in Batman, just like he sees the good in everyone else, no matter what kind of scary front they put up.
Back to 2000-2010
When last I posted, I'd gotten all the way to 2005 and the "Absolute Power" arc of the Superman/Batman title. "Absolute Power" is basically an alternate-history AU in which Jeph Loeb asks "What if evil supervillains from the future came back in time to adopt Bruce and Clark as children, raise them as their sons and rule the world together?" Jeph Loeb doesn't spend a great deal of time on the AU, but Clark and Bruce have an extremely intense relationship there. The story opens with Bruce giving Clark a birthday present: the chance to kill the freedom fighter Green Arrow. The fight reveals that Bruce has quite a temper in this world, and gets quite upset when Clark gets hurt:
Batman beats Ollie up for quite a while, but when Ollie looks like he's going to rally, Superman unceremoniously fries him to ash with heat vision. Loeb has a lot of unnerving fun with Clark and Bruce murdering their former friends in this series--in this case, before they head home to a happy birthday part with their mother and fathers:
Clark and Bruce assault Namba Parbat and are attacked by Deadman, who possesses Superman and makes him fight Batman until Bruce fights back with a backwards-spell.
Well, those first two panels are the essence of "Absolute Power"--casual mention of callous cruelty mixed with some pretty intense brotherly love.
The happy family times come to an end when Wonder Woman and her team of freedom fighters assaults Clark and Bruce--this time Diana is able to stab Bruce to death, breaking Clark's heart.
Clark then breaks Diana's neck with her own lasso (ugh) and when he fights the human bomb the whole world collapses inward. The boys then go through a series of AU worlds, dying over and over again (I include the panel below just because I love the snark):
They can't figure out what's going on and they keep trying to find their "parents," but instead they interrupt their killing of the Kents and set the timeline right, so Clark remembers the correct world at last. Then they travel to Crime Alley--but here things don't go as planned at all.
Batman kills Joe Chill and fades out of existence entirely, leaving a bewildered and shocked Clark. Clark then jumps in time to twenty years later, and discovers in a world without Batman, Ra's al Ghul rules the world.
Clark goes to find Bruce and discovers him happily lounging by the pool with his friends in his parents' home:
Reluctantly, Clark forces Bruce to remember that this world is not the right one and that they need to set it right. Bruce's memories are restored, but he's out of practice physically and lacks the fighter's edge, a loss he feels keenly as they prepare to assault Ra's's stronghold (where their former parents are also waiting to inform them they've "been naughty" and try to kill them). In fact, he can't get his Bat-instincts back until Clark throws himself in front of a Kryptonite blade for him:
My scan here went really bad, but Clark murmurs "I could not let you die..." to Bruce. Bruce responds by, um, murdering Ra's, yikes.
He consoles himself after by saying that once they set the timeline right it won't really have happened, but I am a bit dubious of that reasoning. They both are too, actually: once they defeat their evil parents and restore the world, they go to check on Green Arrow and Wonder Woman, feeling guilty about the memories they have of murdering them. The story ends with a rather melancholy bonding moment at the Wayne family plot:
As usual with Loeb stories, this one is an entertaining mess filled with cameos, in-jokes, and plot holes, but it sure is fun. Not surprisingly, it's a source of inspiration for a lot of fanfic!
Speaking of Clark and Bruce's friendship, you can find a recent interesting take on it by Chris Sims at Comics Alliance: Superman, Batman, and the World's Finest Friendship.
It all goes back to Batman being a detective. He's trained to observe people, to watch them, to know when they're lying and what their true motivations are. Five minutes talking to Superman, and he's going to understand that he's not a guy who plans to gain the public's trust and use that to declare himself King of the World. Batman's going to understand that this is a guy who simply cannot stand by and let people suffer while he can do something to stop it. That's something he can respect, because he's the exact same way.
And yes, Clark Kent might hear about a six foot bat terrorizing the night in Gotham City and think this is something worth putting a stop to, but the first time Superman sees the lengths Batman's willing to go to in order to protect the innocent and stop Crime from hurting other people, his doubts are gone. He'll see the good in Batman, just like he sees the good in everyone else, no matter what kind of scary front they put up.
Back to 2000-2010