3 pages from SUPERMAN BATMAN #87

[starwolf_oakley]

These pages from the last issue of SUPERMAN BATMAN. They cover the idea that some "regular" citizens aren't happy with what Batman "did" to Gotham City.








There is something to be said about preferring untouchable mobsters over garish serial killers.

The editor is fired as Wayne Enterprises is buying the paper. Nothing can be proved other than he put a name in a dropbox.



I remember somewhere a DC editor saying Superman was the fireman. It could have been DiDio. Because Dan DiDio hates you, that's why.



Here's a link to the last page done without the word balloons:
http://blondthecolorist.deviantart.com/art/Superman-Batman-87-p20-254600654

Comments

[ensiform]

I think Batman's words here are a bunch of crap. More "dark brooding Batman is wiser than silly boyscout Superman" fanboy nonsense.

What Superman should have responded, instead of gaping like the dipshit this writer made him, was: "Yeah? There were twenty thousand violent deaths today all over the world. I hear them all, all the time. Someone's killing someone right now. I triage constantly. I go for the biggest fires, the worse crimes, and I have to let the minor ones go. But none of them are minor; every one is a tragedy. I just saved seventy people all over the world right while we were standing out here and you were talking shit. I just caught a burning plane in Tokyo while you turned your head there for a second. I blew out a fire in Chicago while you blinked just now. Who's the fireman now, assface?"

[randyripoff]

As things have been for the last few years, the argument that Batman makes Gotham worse by attracting supervillains is pretty much spot on. I can't remember the last time Batman and friends battled a robbery/burglary scheme or solved a murder mystery. Every threat to Gotham has been about killing as many people as possible or destroying the city. It's hard to see any sort of value he brings considering that every 24 hours Gotham burns.

[junipepper]

Because Dan DiDio hates you, that's why.

DiDio does hate me. It's increasingly obvious with every new editorial edict...

Not that this is an example of it, particularly, just thought I'd chime in on DiDio.

[kingofmadcows]

There has been a steady escalation in the kinds of crimes that are committed in Gotham.

Even non costumed criminals are committing some very gruesome and horrific crimes. The mobs are using the ruthless and brazen tactics of Black Mask and the gangs are becoming more and more like the Mutants in "The Dark Knight Returns." Then you have organizations like the Religion of Crime that pretty much exist just to commit depraved acts.

The crimes being committed by supervillains are becoming so sick and perverse that not only do they have zero chance of redemption but it's becoming impossible to believe that they would be allowed to live. There's just no way that there wouldn't be riots and lynch mobs calling for their deaths.

Gotham has become this horrible soul crushing city of the damned bereft of hope.

[captainbellman]

This book was all about the silliness, as I recall, and nothing's better and sillier than topping off a tragic moralistic story by having Batman saying "I'm a Fireman" with a straight face.

[chocochuy]

So Superman is an architect and Batman is a fireman? Poetic as it may have been intended, methinks it would be more fitting to avoid giving them metaphorical jobs and simply state what they really are : Heroes. Aye, their motives and methods do vary but both do their best to fight for justice and peace. Truth to be said, I never was a fan of these dynamics between Superman and brooding "wiser" Batman (Clark, just give old frown-face a hug already!).

[blunderbuss]

You know, reading these comics makes me think that Batman is a concept that only really works if the writers use an even keel. If Batman mostly focused on defeating 'regular' crime and had his rogue gallery commiting mostly 'regular' crime and only going big scale very rarely, then the argument could be made that he's making a real difference and he is right by not killing them.

But by making ridiculous body counts all over the place, it just makes Batman look like an inept fool and Gothamites like suicidal lemmings.

Of course, I've read this community long enough to know that DC ever being that restrained is a fool's dream.

[darkknightjrk]

I remember somewhere a DC editor saying Superman was the fireman. It could have been DiDio. Because Dan DiDio hates you, that's why.

I don't know, I can see the argument to that--because of his abilities, Superman is one of your best shots at going into some sort of disaster, getting everyone that's in it out of the situation, and stopping it. It's not all of him, but that's certainly a fairly big component of him.

Also, I sincerely doubt DiDio hates every single person who disagrees with his positions. Painting a man in such a sociopathic light honestly sounds like personally insulting a creator to me, and I thought that was a no-no in this community.