1982-1985 Summary
Superman and Batman were two of the first superheroes to become friends, and for a long time (like, 30 years) their friendship was a relatively uncomplicated thing. They were guys who fought crime together, both in the Justice League and in the pages of their own team-up book, World's Finest, and rarely disagreed about anything. Their friendship began to deepen in the late 70s and early 80s, as DC started to try and flesh them out more as characters and personalities, and in 1982 their friendship started to become much closer--with interesting results.
Story names with links can be clicked to see specific scans from the stories!
08/1982: " The Joy Bringers" (World's Finest #282) The long story arc that covered the intensification of Clark and Bruce's friendship begins quietly enough when they are drawn to another, paradisical world and must fight its enemies. The world features a kind of music that apparently has relaxing and disinhibiting effects, as Bruce (who through the vagaries of time travel arrived there a month before Clark) has become positively cheerful.
They defeat the bad guys and go back to Earth, but Bruce gazes wistfully at the stars and wonders if he'll ever find that kind of peace again.
The storyline wasn't referenced again right away, but three issues later we find that Bruce is still wistful about his happy time in the other world and deciding to take action to bring more balance and joy to his life. This issue begins a four-issue story arc whose emotional intensity has to be seen to be believed.
11/1982-02/1983: "Deliver Us From Evil/All Hell Breaks Loose/Within My Heart...The Enemy/To Hell and Back" (World's Finest #285-288). This story arc starts with an incredible sequence where Superman and Batman, returning home from their latest adventure, have decided to take the scenic route home so that they can fly around in the clouds together and talk about whether or not they can ever be truly happy.
The entire issue is at that level of intensity, as they are attacked by a magical animal and Clark takes a wounded Bruce home and bandages his chest. He starts to leave and Bruce begs him not to leave him alone, so the two talk about their families until Bruce falls asleep. Clark goes home and has a horrible nightmare in which Bruce dies in his arms (in a sequence that reminds me eerily of Final Crisis). As the plot thickens (you don't need to know anything about the plot except a demon is trying to possess Batman's body), Superman becomes more and more agitated and worried; Barry Allen thinks:
What makes the scene is how uncomfortable Barry looks while thinking this. "Brothers! Yes, that's the word I was looking for!"
When Batman is kidnapped and feared dead, Superman completely loses it in a sequence that I thought indicated he was being mind-controlled, but no--he's just so worried about Bruce that he flies around almost crying, thinking about how he couldn't go on if Bruce were to die, and nearly killing Barry when he suggests Bruce might be dead. Eventually Superman rescues Batman, in a very intense fight scene. The denouement features Superman attempting to explain the plot and Batman interrupting him to say that he's tired and really would rather go have a cup of coffee with Superman. They walk off, arm in arm.
You would perhaps think it would be hard to top that. You would, however, be wrong.
03/1983: " A Kryll Way of Dying" (World's Finest #289). Directly after the story arc where Superman practically goes insane at the thought of losing Batman comes potentially the slashiest comic book in DC history. Simply put, there are few stories to rival this single issue for subtext. Perhaps I should put most of this commentary in bold blue text, but I have to say that if DC wanted to show a strong male friendship, they went way, way over the top into some very odd areas.
Reading it has to prompt the question "What exactly were they thinking?" If the book were set in the 60s I would say they were just oblivious to the overtones, but in 1983 I just can't explain it. The plot is slim in the extreme but features aliens that feed on strong emotion and come to Superman's Fortress, where Clark and Bruce are spending the night deep in a heart-to-heart conversation, because it is the spot on the planet where the most emotion can be found. It ends with panels that are actually somewhat difficult to read as anything BUT a fade-to-black, as the two men weep and embrace.
That makes a six-month arc of sorts that starts with Bruce wondering if he will ever find peace and happiness, and ends with him weeping Clark's arms. And that was a clear, deliberate editorial choice--the editorial letter columns of the time make explicit that this was planned by DC as the next step in the evolution of their friendship. That's...pretty amazing. As a side note, a letter to World's Finest at the time reveals that during all this, Lois and Superman had recently broken up! The letter-writer suggests Lois date Bruce to cause tension between them, but I'm still boggling at the idea that DC broke up Lois and Superman and then immediately launched into this particular arc between Clark and Bruce.
However, after that something shifted in the editorial direction. It's tempting to conclude that DC started getting panicked letters from fans and decided to change the direction--they did actually print one protesting letter saying the writer was "afraid Superman and Batman were going to kiss!" so one wonders if they got more, and more strongly worded letters as well. It's always hard to say what prompts decisions in character development, though, and it's sometimes kind of random. DC might have already decided to give Batman his own team (the Outsiders) and suddenly realized it didn't really fit with him being so close to Superman, so they had to trump up a reason for the two to not be getting along. Or someone could have said "Oh my God, Superman and Batman look like they're gay, quick, get Batman his own team and get him away from Superman!".
08/1983: Whatever the reason, the friendship between the two took a sharp turn for the negative five months later in Batman and the Outsiders #1, with a cover featuring Batman barking at Superman and Wonder Woman:
In the story, the League refuses to get involved when Lucius Fox is kidnapped so as to avoid political entanglements, and Batman storms off in a huff and creates his own team of mavericks.
This decision caused a major rift in Clark and Bruce's friendship which is reflected in a sudden change in their own title. However, if DC was hoping to cut down on the slashiness, they manage to fail utterly, as Clark and Bruce proceed to spend five issues moping, angsting, pining for each other and weeping quietly, as shown in World's Finest #294. A sample:
The two rarely speak and when they do, it's to repeat the basic arguments laid out in Batman and the Outsiders #1: Is Batman contemptuous of law and order? Is Superman overly concerned with protocol over human relations? No real conclusion is reached, but the two do make up six months later in World's Finest #300 (02/1984), mostly because, as Green Arrow puts it, the League insists the two "stop acting like big babies in capes"! The two go back to being friends, but the extreme intensity of that friendship was notably toned down. You can click here to see some of the angsty goodness running from World's Finest #295-300. Now jump ahead a year to:
04/1985-03/1986: Crisis on Infinite Earths. CoIE was one of the first absolutely massive crossover events, a literally world-shattering storyline in which the multiple worlds of the DCU were destroyed to make way for a simpler, streamlined continuity. It is both tempting and fun to imagine the folks at DC saying "We must stop Clark and Bruce from looking like they're in love! DESTROY THE ENTIRE CONTINUITY AND REWRITE THE PAST SO THOSE ISSUES OF WORLD'S FINEST NEVER HAPPENED!" The repercussions of CoIE were many, but for our purposes the most important were 1. the simplifying of Superman's past to clean up what writers at the time considered "Silver Age excesses" like Kandor, Supergirl, multi-colored Kryptonite, and Krypto. (That all of these eventually sneaked back into continuity after being ruthlessly written out of existence is an interesting testimony to the persistence of certain ideas) and 2. The rewriting of Superman and Batman's history to make them antagonistic rather than friendly from the start.
In the next section the results of the Crisis re-writing unfold, and a vision of the future changes the past.
Return to full history
Forward to 1985-1988 summary
Story names with links can be clicked to see specific scans from the stories!
08/1982: " The Joy Bringers" (World's Finest #282) The long story arc that covered the intensification of Clark and Bruce's friendship begins quietly enough when they are drawn to another, paradisical world and must fight its enemies. The world features a kind of music that apparently has relaxing and disinhibiting effects, as Bruce (who through the vagaries of time travel arrived there a month before Clark) has become positively cheerful.
They defeat the bad guys and go back to Earth, but Bruce gazes wistfully at the stars and wonders if he'll ever find that kind of peace again.
The storyline wasn't referenced again right away, but three issues later we find that Bruce is still wistful about his happy time in the other world and deciding to take action to bring more balance and joy to his life. This issue begins a four-issue story arc whose emotional intensity has to be seen to be believed.
11/1982-02/1983: "Deliver Us From Evil/All Hell Breaks Loose/Within My Heart...The Enemy/To Hell and Back" (World's Finest #285-288). This story arc starts with an incredible sequence where Superman and Batman, returning home from their latest adventure, have decided to take the scenic route home so that they can fly around in the clouds together and talk about whether or not they can ever be truly happy.
The entire issue is at that level of intensity, as they are attacked by a magical animal and Clark takes a wounded Bruce home and bandages his chest. He starts to leave and Bruce begs him not to leave him alone, so the two talk about their families until Bruce falls asleep. Clark goes home and has a horrible nightmare in which Bruce dies in his arms (in a sequence that reminds me eerily of Final Crisis). As the plot thickens (you don't need to know anything about the plot except a demon is trying to possess Batman's body), Superman becomes more and more agitated and worried; Barry Allen thinks:
What makes the scene is how uncomfortable Barry looks while thinking this. "Brothers! Yes, that's the word I was looking for!"
When Batman is kidnapped and feared dead, Superman completely loses it in a sequence that I thought indicated he was being mind-controlled, but no--he's just so worried about Bruce that he flies around almost crying, thinking about how he couldn't go on if Bruce were to die, and nearly killing Barry when he suggests Bruce might be dead. Eventually Superman rescues Batman, in a very intense fight scene. The denouement features Superman attempting to explain the plot and Batman interrupting him to say that he's tired and really would rather go have a cup of coffee with Superman. They walk off, arm in arm.
You would perhaps think it would be hard to top that. You would, however, be wrong.
03/1983: " A Kryll Way of Dying" (World's Finest #289). Directly after the story arc where Superman practically goes insane at the thought of losing Batman comes potentially the slashiest comic book in DC history. Simply put, there are few stories to rival this single issue for subtext. Perhaps I should put most of this commentary in bold blue text, but I have to say that if DC wanted to show a strong male friendship, they went way, way over the top into some very odd areas.
Reading it has to prompt the question "What exactly were they thinking?" If the book were set in the 60s I would say they were just oblivious to the overtones, but in 1983 I just can't explain it. The plot is slim in the extreme but features aliens that feed on strong emotion and come to Superman's Fortress, where Clark and Bruce are spending the night deep in a heart-to-heart conversation, because it is the spot on the planet where the most emotion can be found. It ends with panels that are actually somewhat difficult to read as anything BUT a fade-to-black, as the two men weep and embrace.
That makes a six-month arc of sorts that starts with Bruce wondering if he will ever find peace and happiness, and ends with him weeping Clark's arms. And that was a clear, deliberate editorial choice--the editorial letter columns of the time make explicit that this was planned by DC as the next step in the evolution of their friendship. That's...pretty amazing. As a side note, a letter to World's Finest at the time reveals that during all this, Lois and Superman had recently broken up! The letter-writer suggests Lois date Bruce to cause tension between them, but I'm still boggling at the idea that DC broke up Lois and Superman and then immediately launched into this particular arc between Clark and Bruce.
However, after that something shifted in the editorial direction. It's tempting to conclude that DC started getting panicked letters from fans and decided to change the direction--they did actually print one protesting letter saying the writer was "afraid Superman and Batman were going to kiss!" so one wonders if they got more, and more strongly worded letters as well. It's always hard to say what prompts decisions in character development, though, and it's sometimes kind of random. DC might have already decided to give Batman his own team (the Outsiders) and suddenly realized it didn't really fit with him being so close to Superman, so they had to trump up a reason for the two to not be getting along. Or someone could have said "Oh my God, Superman and Batman look like they're gay, quick, get Batman his own team and get him away from Superman!".
08/1983: Whatever the reason, the friendship between the two took a sharp turn for the negative five months later in Batman and the Outsiders #1, with a cover featuring Batman barking at Superman and Wonder Woman:
In the story, the League refuses to get involved when Lucius Fox is kidnapped so as to avoid political entanglements, and Batman storms off in a huff and creates his own team of mavericks.
This decision caused a major rift in Clark and Bruce's friendship which is reflected in a sudden change in their own title. However, if DC was hoping to cut down on the slashiness, they manage to fail utterly, as Clark and Bruce proceed to spend five issues moping, angsting, pining for each other and weeping quietly, as shown in World's Finest #294. A sample:
The two rarely speak and when they do, it's to repeat the basic arguments laid out in Batman and the Outsiders #1: Is Batman contemptuous of law and order? Is Superman overly concerned with protocol over human relations? No real conclusion is reached, but the two do make up six months later in World's Finest #300 (02/1984), mostly because, as Green Arrow puts it, the League insists the two "stop acting like big babies in capes"! The two go back to being friends, but the extreme intensity of that friendship was notably toned down. You can click here to see some of the angsty goodness running from World's Finest #295-300. Now jump ahead a year to:
04/1985-03/1986: Crisis on Infinite Earths. CoIE was one of the first absolutely massive crossover events, a literally world-shattering storyline in which the multiple worlds of the DCU were destroyed to make way for a simpler, streamlined continuity. It is both tempting and fun to imagine the folks at DC saying "We must stop Clark and Bruce from looking like they're in love! DESTROY THE ENTIRE CONTINUITY AND REWRITE THE PAST SO THOSE ISSUES OF WORLD'S FINEST NEVER HAPPENED!" The repercussions of CoIE were many, but for our purposes the most important were 1. the simplifying of Superman's past to clean up what writers at the time considered "Silver Age excesses" like Kandor, Supergirl, multi-colored Kryptonite, and Krypto. (That all of these eventually sneaked back into continuity after being ruthlessly written out of existence is an interesting testimony to the persistence of certain ideas) and 2. The rewriting of Superman and Batman's history to make them antagonistic rather than friendly from the start.
In the next section the results of the Crisis re-writing unfold, and a vision of the future changes the past.
Return to full history
Forward to 1985-1988 summary