Friday, June 28, 2024
If you've been waiting for a comic where Jonah Hex and Scalphunter murder Batman and Superman...what the hell is wrong with you?
This is a book I'd seen in the quarter bins a number of times, and been moderately curious about, but hadn't coughed up for it until recently. And...uh, it's pretty, anyway. From 2005, Superman/Batman #16, "Absolute Power, chapter three: When Time Goes Asunder..." Written by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Carlos Pacheco, inks by Jesús Merino.
The adult Legion of Super-Villains--Lightning Lord, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen--are a continuity disaster just standing there; but they've gone a step further in this one, having altered the timeline so Superman and Batman were raised by them, and considered those three their parents! Although they had ruled the earth and crushed all opposition, now the timeline was going all weird, starting with Supes and Bats trapped in Kamandi's time. Kamandi tries to get "the Mighty One" to help, but this isn't the Superman of legend; and for good measure Batman gasses Tuftan when he tries to help; before Superman and Batman disappear again.
Next, in a version of New York City, Batman has been shot a few times, but Superman wants to get all of the culprits at once: a passel of DC's western heroes, including Bat Lash and El Diablo! Supes thinks he's got it all sewn up, until he catches a load of Kryptonite buckshot in the back from Jonah Hex. (Jonah seems to have intuitively determined, maybe use space rocks to kill a spaceman? Sure, it works, but...) Scalphunter assists with Batman, but as Supes and Bats die the timeline resets again; as they appear on Apokolips. Wait, that's earth's moon--this was earth! Damn him! He blew it all up--Anyway, Darkseid shows up, with a Kingdom Come-looking Superman, Metron, and a leashed Etrigan. They want the timeline reset the way it was, and Superman and Batman agree: Batman seems to think, they ruled before, they would rule again when it's all over. (For his part, Darkseid almost seems to admire the balls on the LSV; even if going big has shattered the timeline.) The heroes are sent back in time, to just before baby Kal-El arrived on earth; this time scaring off the Legion of Super-Villains, who retreat into the timestream. Superman is seemingly back to normal, albeit racked with guilt over those he killed in the other timeline.
They still have to reset Batman's origin though, by preventing Cosmic King from saving the Waynes from Joe Chill: instead, Batman leaps in, disarms Chill, then blows his brains out--and wipes himself from the timeline! Is this the end of Batman--nah, there's still two more issues in this plotline. This felt a little mean for my tastes: usually, it's more fun to see Kamandi, Hex, or Etrigan; but they do look good here.
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3 comments:
Now see I personally enjoyed this storyline. I’m not sure how it feels mean to you, other than a lot people here acted out of character and that was too jarring for you. In that sense, that’s more than fair to feel that way because they definitely did, but I think that was the whole point; because the two main paragons of virtue like Clark & Bruce were raised to be bad, it then clearly adversely affected other characters, changing how they would usually act.
Ah, part of that is on me, coming in cold midway there. That'd be kind of interesting; if the LSV changing Supes and Bats had a ripple effect, making everyone bad; but I didn't get that since Kamandi and his guys still seem normal.
Relatively? I’m thinking even if they didn’t break bad, they were more inclined to be more aggressive & more shoot first, ask questions later than they’d normally be.
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