DC Sneak Peek: Batman/Superman #21 and Superman/Wonder Woman #18

[superfangirl1]

Batman/Superman #21


























Superman/Wonder Woman #18

Comments

[lencannon]

Well, this seems like a real treat.

[aperturedreams]

Can't writers at least try to come up at reasons for superheroes to fight each other? I mean surely Gordon would stop to think that maybe punching Superman, or even someone that barely looks like Superman, might not be a good idea?

[locuatico]

He did not recognize Superman...why he DIDN'T is anyone's guess...

[aperturedreams]

I mean, the haircut is different, but you'd think the giant S on the T-shirt would give it away a little bit.

[shadowpsykie]

*in robert deniro voice* I wear a superman shirt, does that make me superman?

[deh_tommy]

I've noticed that technological beings don't recognise Clark anymore (or at least to a lesser degree), like when the Fortress of Solitude stole his suit, and now with him having teleporter troubles.

[locuatico]

But Gordon is not a technilogical being...and does Cyborg not recognize him?

[deh_tommy]

No, but the Batsuit is. The head might be a bit restrictive in relation to peripheral vision, so I imagine that Gordon relies on technology akin to the Iron Man suits to help him in the field. Two people can look similar, but be completely different (in the Silver Age, Lois was trying to prove certain people were actually Superman due to similar appearance). So if the suit didn't identify him as Superman, chances are it was right.

[captainbellman]

Funny how all it takes is putting on a robot suit and suddenly years of tactician's patience and cop's negotiation skills get turfed out in favour of "I really really want to see what the shoulder-cannon does".

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Don't lie.

You'd be the exact same way.

[captainbellman]

But would Jim Gordon? I mean, the one we know and love, not the impulsive screamer from "Gotham".

[jekylls_salvation]

It's a question at keeps me awake at night: "Is Jim Gordon a better man than you?" And you know, when I wake up in the morning, I try a little harder.

[zapbiffpow]

I'll cop to that. Although I'd pick a relatively mild target to test it out, though, like a broken garbage can or my cousin's giant teddy bear.

Also, Get it? 'Cop?' Heh, because Gordon...ah, whatever.

[alschroeder3]

A motorcycle.

Even in his earliest days, Superman was "faster than a speeding locomotive"---could run plus ninety miles per hour--

I get it, I get it. A vulnerable Superman is one that there can be some suspense about the outcome. But this is wayyyyyy too much in the other direction. Even the Superman preview (where he faced that big bruiser with the tattoos) showed him with enough super-strength to take on Gordon/RoboBatman, leaping ability, etc. But...this...?

Deprived of his double identity,his costume, his spitcurl, robbed of almost all his strength, his speed, his toughness....

Basically it's the adventures of a generic badass. It's a DieHard movie. It's Conan on a motorcyle, It's Ah-nold in an action movie. Everything that made Superman unique....that endeared us to the character...

...Is gone. At least in the Superman/Batman preview.

Plus, how big an idiot do you have to be to dump Wonder Woman? I haven't been a big fan of the Superman/Wonder Woman pairing, but when the breakup came, I expected it to be Wonder Woman to be doing the dumping, not Clark.

Yeah, I'm being reactionary. I hate everything I've seen of this.

And I subscribed for the next two years.

Crap.

Thanks, DC. If I wanted to see an old Van Damme movie, I wouldn't have subscribed to Superman.

I'm disgusted.

[locuatico]

hey now. that would mean giving WW her own agenda, as oppose to being reactionary to the decision of the men in her life. and we wouldn't want that, wouldn't we? (*rumble rumble rumble*)

[alschroeder3]

If there is any justice in the world, Wonder Woman (who judging by the previews, is probably stronger than Superman at this point) rips him a new one in the next few panels.

Won't happen. But we can hope, right?

[q99]

Every part of it's been about Superman, hasn't it?

[shadowpsykie]

faster than a speeding bullet., more POWERFUL than a locomotive...

[alschroeder3]

Yeah, that's the radio (and later TV) show. The original description of Superman was:
"he could hurdle skyscrapers, leap an eighth of a mile, raise tremendous weights (showing him lifting a car), RUN FASTER THAN A STREAMLINE TRAIN, and nothing less than a bursting shell can penetrate his skin."
So...basically the Hulk's strength and toughness mixed with Quicksilver (not Flash's) speed.
Again, if they just had depowered him to THAT, I would have been overjoyed. It's the other stuff--the loss of costume, cheerful idealistic outlook, and most of all, the Clark Kent identity, which I think is a tragic mistake.

[silverhammerman]

I really wanted to like Greg Pak's DC work, but that guy seems determined to do the kinds of stories that I find completely uninteresting. As much as this seems like an attempt to go back to Morrison/Morales' fantastic t-shirt and jeans Superman concept from Action Comics, everyone at DC seems to have missed the whole damn point of that story, opting to just ape the superficial elements while making Superman into a generic badass.

Also, how doesn't Bat-Gordon recognize Superman's new look? Superman was outed! The whole point is that people know who he is now! Plus, given that Superman and the real Batman teamed up a ton of times it'd be more than reasonable for Gordon to have at least researched the other members of the Justice League enough to recognize their faces. I get that the pre-team-up superhero fight is inevitable, but this is particularly vexing and poorly justified.

Honestly I'm kind of amazed by how DC is doing a bunch of stuff with Divergence that I'm really interested in, but then their big name titles sound like the same crap that they've been doing for years.

[locuatico]

okay. i am happy that they are breaking up (assuming they ARE and this is not a cop-out). but...
time and place, clark.
time. and. place.

[silicondream]

Maybe he's just telling the biggest lie he can think of in order to induce some sort of protective lasso feedback effect? I dunno. It must be some kind of Clever Scheme, though...otherwise he's just trying to make sure she dies with a broken heart, which seems implausibly dickish even for this version of Superman.

Besides, that's a weird-ass way to break up in any context. Of course he still loves her. He loves lots of people, and whether or not he wants to keep dating her, WW's a trusted friend and ally. Superman doesn't seem like the sort of guy who would end his relationships with "surprise I hate you now."

Readers were already wondering whether this is an alternate earth Supes, maybe this is more evidence for that?

[zapbiffpow]

What the hell is Flash wearing? First time I saw that here I thought it was Johnny Quick, or some alternate universe version of Flash.

[sagrada]

When you think and act at super-speed, sometimes...sometimes you make super-mistakes. Clark just happened to bust in when Barry (need to keep reminding myself it's not Wally, because obviously it isn't) was going through a slew of mistakes trying to find one that worked as well as his normal work clothes.

[beyondthefringe]

Yeah, no kidding. Either he's got a new costume, or the artist got confused by previous depictions of the lightning effect.

[silverhammerman]

Flash is getting a new costume to match the TV show, though this is much much uglier than the one on the show.

[beyondthefringe]

Why isn't there a Batman/Wonder Woman title, to complete the trinity?
Heck, if it makes them feel better, call it Superman's BFF Batman/Superman's GF Wonder Woman. o.0

[q99]

There's never been as much emphasis on that duo... but there should be!

Especially because by default, at least one of them would have to be non-romantic.

[silicondream]

Well, there's nothing actually stopping all three duos from being romantic simultaneously....

[q99]

Save for making some people's heads explode ^^

[burkeonthesly]

There was some great Diana/Bruce stuff in the old Justice League/JLUnlimited cartoons. And stealing good stuff from the cartoons is tradition!

[junipepper]

I miss Superman.

[jekylls_salvation]

Gambit?!

[philippos42]

Hey, Pink Floyd reference! (Syd Barrett era, no less!) And these two might break up‽ Wow, this gives me two reasons to smile!