Source: Superman/Batman #44-49 (2008)
Type: The real deal (since retconned)
Why is it that ridiculous, convoluted, over-the-top stories in the Silver Age are fine and charming, but the same thing in modern comics is considered terrible? Length? (My money's on that one.) Tooth-grinding art? Either way, if there was a place where the Superman Silver Age story telling aesthetic was alive and well in the last decade, it was in Superman/Batman. You be the judge...
"K" is a 6-part "epic" in which Superman and Batman embark on a quest to find every last particle of kryptonite on Earth because - and this is somewhat surprising - there are literally TONS of the stuff around, in every conceivable color.
So Superman gets a lead-lined suit and goes to work with his best friend in tow. On the way, we'll see...
...kryptonite that mutates people and animals (it's written by Smallville script writer Michael Green if that answers any questions).
...Joker's teddy bear in Arkham has a kryptonite heart.
...Everybody from Aquaman Jr. to the U.S. government is actually against Superman ridding the world of the only substance that can take him down.
...Magic kryptonite that makes Superman high. (There's a strange mixed message at the end that seems to make Superman endorse casual drug use.)
...Batman refusing several times to believe in magic IN ZATANNA'S FACE!
...A gun nut in rural Kansas with an easily-affordable kryptonite-powered rifle.
...A version of Doomsday with bones made of kryptonite.
...Kid Toy-Man wins the day and is rewarded with a date with Power Girl instead of Justice League membership.
...Superman goes real dark and creepy on Lana because she betrayed him to LexCorp, and enjoys listening to a tear go down her face from afar.
...And at the end, there is NO MORE KRYPTONITE ON EARTH except for a stash Superman leaves Batman in case he goes rogue. So if you saw kryptonite after this, we know who leaked it.
So you tell me... Any of those things (or combination of those things) in an 8-page Silver Age story or 22-page full-length "novel" would be a camp classic today. So why does it read like something you immediately want to qualify as "non-canon" and forget you ever read it?
BONUS SUPERMAN!
The story also features a World's Finest movie that features an off-model blond Batman (because Batman doesn't give interviews) whose production the real World's Finest spy on. The hardest thing to believe in all of "K" is that they went from filming to theatrical premiere in the space of 6 issues. So while it features a Batman who was beaten by his abusive mother with a BAT (Bruce Wayne is right to tell reporters he doesn't want origin nonsense in his superhero movies), Superman is more on point. He's even got a more textured suit.
I see Mr. Green was against the red shorts too. Well, maybe that shouldn't be a surprise. It's DC's litmus test for writers who want to work on the New52 Superman Family.
Type: The real deal (since retconned)
Why is it that ridiculous, convoluted, over-the-top stories in the Silver Age are fine and charming, but the same thing in modern comics is considered terrible? Length? (My money's on that one.) Tooth-grinding art? Either way, if there was a place where the Superman Silver Age story telling aesthetic was alive and well in the last decade, it was in Superman/Batman. You be the judge..."K" is a 6-part "epic" in which Superman and Batman embark on a quest to find every last particle of kryptonite on Earth because - and this is somewhat surprising - there are literally TONS of the stuff around, in every conceivable color.
So Superman gets a lead-lined suit and goes to work with his best friend in tow. On the way, we'll see......kryptonite that mutates people and animals (it's written by Smallville script writer Michael Green if that answers any questions).
...Joker's teddy bear in Arkham has a kryptonite heart.
...Everybody from Aquaman Jr. to the U.S. government is actually against Superman ridding the world of the only substance that can take him down.
...Magic kryptonite that makes Superman high. (There's a strange mixed message at the end that seems to make Superman endorse casual drug use.)
...Batman refusing several times to believe in magic IN ZATANNA'S FACE!...A gun nut in rural Kansas with an easily-affordable kryptonite-powered rifle.
...A version of Doomsday with bones made of kryptonite.
...Kid Toy-Man wins the day and is rewarded with a date with Power Girl instead of Justice League membership.
...Superman goes real dark and creepy on Lana because she betrayed him to LexCorp, and enjoys listening to a tear go down her face from afar.
...And at the end, there is NO MORE KRYPTONITE ON EARTH except for a stash Superman leaves Batman in case he goes rogue. So if you saw kryptonite after this, we know who leaked it.So you tell me... Any of those things (or combination of those things) in an 8-page Silver Age story or 22-page full-length "novel" would be a camp classic today. So why does it read like something you immediately want to qualify as "non-canon" and forget you ever read it?
BONUS SUPERMAN!
The story also features a World's Finest movie that features an off-model blond Batman (because Batman doesn't give interviews) whose production the real World's Finest spy on. The hardest thing to believe in all of "K" is that they went from filming to theatrical premiere in the space of 6 issues. So while it features a Batman who was beaten by his abusive mother with a BAT (Bruce Wayne is right to tell reporters he doesn't want origin nonsense in his superhero movies), Superman is more on point. He's even got a more textured suit.
I see Mr. Green was against the red shorts too. Well, maybe that shouldn't be a surprise. It's DC's litmus test for writers who want to work on the New52 Superman Family.
Comments
Contrast with Dial H--China Mieville is committing to the type of nutty hero creations in a "real world" context, but somehow he's pulling it off (so far).
It takes a very special writer to sell Silver Age nuttiness in a realistic framework. Grant Morrison became famous for it, for example.
Part of the problem with those Superman/Batman stories (the first arc was just as dumb) is that I'm not sure the writers are actually trying to invoke the Silver Age.
(can I get a zing? I think I can.)
I've got nothing wrong with stories that try to be serious or to change the status quo, but I'm going to evaluate stories by the standards they aspire to.
Part of the weirdness and nonsense of this story can be explained by DC's stated position at the time that Superman/Batman was not in continuity. At the end of the Johnson/Green run, didn't their last issue reveal their run to have been a computer simulation (shades of Dennis O'Neill's explanation of the Super-Sons story)? I don't think there ever was an attempt to relate that era of Superman / Batman to the rest of the DCU.