Category: Silver Age
Last article published: 4 June 2022
This is the 397th post under this label
Who's This? Neither Batman nor Superman.
The facts: First appearing in World's Finest Comics #142 (June 1964), by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan, the original Composite Superman was a bitter janitor at the Superman Museum accidentally imbued with all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes who then fought Superman and Batman on two separate occasions. After that, an alien called Xan (see below) maneuvered himself into the role. The Composite Man has returned since in various iterations, like the Composite Man who faced the Reboot Legion or a giant mech version in Superman/Batman #6 in the 2000s, but we're getting pretty far from Joseph Meach there.
How you could have heard of him: That mech version is in the animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies release (an adaptation of the same story), and Robot Chicken has parodied the character in several episodes (including a Composite Santa Claus).
Example story: World's Finest Comics #168 (August 1967) "The Return of the Composite Superman!" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Klein
After his first appearance, Meach was of course brainwashed so he'd forget having become the Composite Superman. In his second appearance, events will conspire to turn him back into the One-Man-Legion, or rather, an alien called Xan will. Xan's story begins at his criminal father's death bed - a man imprisoned by Superman and Batman in some untold story. Xan vows to avenge his father, but not with his newly-invented magna-gun. That would be too swift and merciful! Instead, he studies the World's Finest villains to see who he could use to make the heroes suffer. The duo have many enemies, but only one will do (well, you did see the title of this story, right?):
Xan arranges for the accident that created the Composite to happen again. An open window, a lightning bolt directed a Superman's collection of Legionnaire statuettes, waiting for Joe Meach to walk by... it's that easy. But will the now rehabilitated Joe turn bad again? With his memories flooding back, we dare say YES!
The next day, Superman finds a stone carving that combines his and Batman's emblems and rushes to the Batcave to discuss it... leading the Composite Superman (how does Batman feel about that name? He's part of the matrix too!) right to Batman's secret lair.
The COMBINED strengths of three Kryptonian level heroes?! Batman's head should have flown off, Pantha-style. But strength isn't all the Legion has to offer. How about Star Man's gravity powers?
Meach has left the cave, but Xan is stoked! His father's enemies are humiliated! But where DID the Composite-Superman go? He didn't go anywhere. By the time the heroes dug themselves out, he'd hidden Robin away somewhere and replaced him with Chameleon Boy's powers! But this is Batman we're talking about. He pushes a button in the Batmobile and gas fills the cabin, so:
Okay, maybe not so smart to rumble a triple-Kryptonian while Superman's away in the 30th Century to consult with Brainiac 5. Brainy (in fact, ADULT Brainy, Superman's flown to the period patrolled by the age-appropriate Cosmic Man, Saturn Woman, etc.) confirms the process by which he created the statuary could have transferred their powers to the objects. Ah! Superman returns to the present day and destroys the statues so Meach can't recharge when his batteries run out. He then tracks the Dynamic Duo to the desert where he finds the abandoned Batmobile, but...
Yep! The Composite-Superman again! Time for that transformation fight sequence the splash page promised! Now having Batman AND Superman under his power, he combines his powers to create a new, deadly effect!
Which of the Legion's powers are those? You tell me, gentle reader. Element Lad if he had Brainiac 5's super-mind? It doesn't really matter anyway because Meach's powers are running out, and he can't recharge. Xan shows up and reveals he's been behind everything, and with the heroes' energies depleted, he'll finally kill them with his magna-gun. Except that as the Composite Superman turns back into plain old Joe Meach, his hate for the World's Finest ebbs away and turns into guilt-fueled loyalty!
And then Batman and Superman do what they were always going to do: 1) Easily defeat a random dude with a gun (should have let Composite kill them, glory hound). And 2) build a monument to Joe Meach that, eech, is kind of a back-handed tribute.
While this was not exactly the end of the Composite Superman, it would be true to say that he's way too powerful to stick around. The Silver Age spawned a number of characters who were designed to have temporary powers (recently, we covered the second Clayface) and/or temporary villain personalities. Probably because they didn't want to waste a concept, but also didn't think it made sense for the threat to be incarcerated after it was defeated. There's a lesson in there somewhere about fitting danger levels to the characters, but with the World's Finest, it's further complicated by the two stars widely divergent power levels.
Who's Next? Brainiac 5's biggest mistake.
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