Batman's relationship with Superman and other heroes

[Milton Fine]

Do you guys have recommendations for Batman/Superman team up stories? I'm not familiar with Silver Age DC, but maybe I should start there.

Well I don't remember too many Silver Age stories.

But I do have some favorites

First there was a Prestige Worlds Finest by Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude. It is a fun story with beautiful art.

The second one I really love which a Superman/Batman Annual 1 about their first team up.

But the last and best one imho is something called Dark Knight over Metropolis. First i will give some back story... After the Crisis there was only one piece of kryptonite(which was made into a ring) on the planet earth and it was stolen from Lex Luthor by an employee he fired. Anyway the employee is killed by some thugs and the ring is lost and picked up by a random homeless guy who goes to Gotham. With that information begins one of the most fascinating and personal Superman and Batman stories and it has a powerful ending. When I think of Superman and Batman and their relationship...the ending of that story crystallizes it more than anything Byrne and Miller said.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I think he has a good relationship with other heroes but it varies depending on the hero and how long the relationship lasts. I think Batman isnt the most expressive character so how he truly feels about a character shouldnt be that well known.

I could see him having an adversial relationship with a fair amount of characters because he's not that warm and probably has a judgemental side. He probably gives the younger heroes more slack but he still is hard on them. By his own he's a difficult taskmaster.

[Fearless Heart]

Well, the man is such a perfectionist, so he's going to be rigid on others. I used to think I was a rigid son of a gun, but then I read Batman comics where he would tell heroes like Red Tornado to knock off the self-pity when they were expressing self-doubts. And it's awesome! I want to read Bronze Age Superman to see how he compared since he's the other alpha male of the DC. Heck, he's Superman!

Well I don't remember too many Silver Age stories.

But I do have some favorites

First there was a Prestige Worlds Finest by Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude. It is a fun story with beautiful art.

The second one I really love which a Superman/Batman Annaul 1 told about their first team up.

But the last and best one imho is something called Dark Knight over Metropolis. First i will give some back story... After the Crisis there was only one piece of kryptonite(which was made into a ring) on the planet earth and it was stolen from Lex Luthor by an employee he fired. Anyway the employee is killed by some thugs and the ring is lost and picked up by a random homeless guy who goes to Gotham. With that information begins one of the most fascinating and personal Superman and Batman stories and it has a powerful ending. When I think of Superman and Batman and their relationship...the ending of that story crystallizes it more than anything Byrne and Miller said.

Thanks a lot! I'm going to try to check those out! They have Dark Knight Over Metropolis and a Silver Age World's Finest Volume 1 on Hoopla, so I'm going to read those there.

I didn't know that there was so little Kryptonite. I'm very ignorant of Batman's history because it's so massive, but Superman? Woof! I haven't loved modern stuff but I shouldn't judge the character by that since I prefer the 70s-90s for my other favorite superheroes (Batman, Spider-man, X-Men, Punisher, Wally West and Daredevil). The character has been around for so long so he's got to be pretty awesome!

[Toreador]

Funny enough he probably likes Ollie for being just as independent as Batman is in his approach.

He didn't feel Ollie was so independent when he accused Ollie of copying him with an Arrow car and an Arrow Cave. [think it was in a LODK issue]

[Clark_Kent]

Do you guys have recommendations for Batman/Superman team up stories? I'm not familiar with Silver Age DC, but maybe I should start there.

Superman: Dark Knight Over Metropolis (trade paperback) - my favorite S/B team-up.
Superman/Batman vols 1-4 (Public Enemies, Supergirl, etc)

Both of these are modern age (Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint) but they are very, very good.

[elenita]

"Darkseid...always hated music..."

Love that you have this line here that moment is freaking awesome

[Clark_Kent]

Love that you have this line here that moment is freaking awesome

Thanks for noticing! It's an awesome moment from my all-time favorite event book

[Wandering_Wand]

I somewhat enjoyed Bruce outcasting himself at the end of JL Doom because of his contingency plans. I think he said "You know where I am if you need me" or something. I thought that was bittersweet but proof that Bruce sometimes can't get along with these gods, so to speak.

[The World]

For better or worse I think they more or less succeeded in destroying the World's Finest angle with Supes and Bats. At their core though nothing really stops them from being friends Supes in the beginning held anti-establishment leaning and was a bit of an authoritarian and Bruce wasn't so much of a dark vigilante that he was above working with the cops. Both started out on the street level righting wrongs done to the common man.

In modern times their character actually are too different from one another and even though DC has tried to play up the angle of them ironically being friends it really hasn't worked and everyone pretty much gravitates towards them being enemies now. Things like BvS ultimately suffered for it in the end I think.

[Adset]

after 20 years of batman being more or less indifferent towards wally, it's nice to see batman and the flash written as close allies again considering the mutual respect bruce wayne and barry allen would naturally have for one another.

one of my favorite "bat-relationship" moments was a ron marz-penned green lantern issue that took place during hal's brief return in GL #100-106. while the rest of the league gushes over hal, kyle starts to question how much progress he's made since taking over only to have batman show up at his apartment and reassure him that he is the one, true green lantern. nice moment.

[Krypto's Fleas]

Are they very different in nature--yes. Are they virtually complete opposites--yes. But the idea of them putting aside their differences, recognizing what is right within the other and teaming up for a greater good while fostering a friendship is what makes comics so enjoyable. And quite frankly, the DC Universe always feels way more cohesive when Superman and Batman are on the same side and not distrusting of one another.