Quote Originally Posted by Kuwagaton View Post
That's a problem with defining a cutoff for classic where the character himself goes, as that example relies on defining the older takes on Superman by a situation that never did and never would happen. Golden age Batman didn't really share a universe, silver age Gotham never had to deal with the aftermath of a catastrophe. How does NML apply then?

Also if it helps here's a recap of that story, where Superman refuses to leave without helping. His only failure is that he can't save people from themselves. "They're not ready."
http://babblingsaboutdccomics.blogsp...-help.html?m=1

He thinks to himself, "don't antagonize him" as he asserts that Batman can't stop him. Is that fear or just not being interested in unproductive conflict? I go with the latter considering what followed.
I may have embellished on the shaking like a leaf part but the pages and the follow up pages I feel do in fact support my reading. He's in general nervous about how to handle the situation and does seem antsy that the slightest wrong move will set off some kind of confrontation. The internal dialogue seems like a guy psyching himself up rather than a man showing his conviction. When Bruce reaches behind his back he does legitimately panic for a second, I guess fearing that Bruce was about to bust out the Kryptonite or something which is a legit fear I guess. But that still seems for at least a second he was legitimately afraid of Bruce in that encounter. Afterwards Bruce tells him he has 24 hours and Clark meekly accepts his conditions. I mean don't get me wrong I did REALLY enjoy the bit with him and the engineer restarting the power plant and it was a great moment for the guy but what follows kind of reinforces he wasn't ready to put in the time or effort to actually fix things.After that the story shows Superman basically trying once and quitting the second he hits anything thats tough and requires some kind of perseverance.

Sure there's no 1 to 1 older storyline where Clark and Bruce get into over Gotham being caught up in an Earthquake and the ensuing year long chaos that follows but we at least knew what happened to people when the tried to impede Superman from fighting for truth and justice.



The get knocked over.