When DC Comics announced its latest wave of canceled books we knew that the announcement of their replacements could not be far behind. Today we’ve got the first announcement.
USA Today has all the info on Batman/Superman the new book coming in June by writer Greg Pak and artist Jae Lee.
Set in the early days of The New 52, Batman/Superman is set to explore the burgeoning relationship between The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel.
Says Pak, “What would your reaction be if you saw a guy running around in a bat costume in the dead of night attacking people for the first time? And what would your reaction be if you met an alien who could crush steel in his bare hands for the first time? These guys are going to have very different immediate impressions of each other than we’re used to seeing with these characters. There’s an element of danger to the book that I think is very real and very exciting.”
Batman/Superman is instantly on my “most anticipated” list. Greg Pak is a fine writer and the idea of getting at least a few regular issues out of Jae Lee featuring Superman and Batman is very exciting. He is one of the most unique and interesting artists working today.
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This sounds solid. I’ll certainly pick up the first issue. I liked most of Jae Lee’s work on the Dark Tower books and Greg Pak seems talented (though I haven’t read much of his stuff.)
Well that was only a matter of time right? Only thing selling worth a damn is the Bat/JL/GL titles, so just keep expanding those lines?
At least they got a seriously talented team on this one. Just wish those two were being used to do something new and original.
Should be good, just to see Lee on interiors. Pak’s work starts out strong, but has a tendancy to fizzle out rather than end on a strong note.
Well, World War Hulk sure fizzled out. I haven’t read much of his work, but it was just decent to me.
Jae Lee however is crazy good.
Okay now this sounds solid. Great writer, unique art style and characters I like…while telling stories that need telling now post-relaunch. I’m in.
sounds great, Superman/batman was a fav book of mine before the New 52. Lots of fun adventures. Excited to see Lee’s layouts..he’s been doing some crazy cool stuff lately.
Didn’t they meet for the first time in John’s Justice League?
Or did Bruce just allow Clark to think that was the first time?
They did, I have a feeling that Pak was just saying that and it’ll actually be set after that initial meet-up.
I thought the same thing @Mr,J. I miss the old Batman/Superman series (it opened the door to me reading Superman later), but one of the things that made that fun was the rich wealth of history and characters they could draw on. A blank canvas is good, but what can we see now we didn’t see before?
Batman knew who Superman was before they met. He had compiled much information and said as much with Lantern before the confrontation. They meet at the end of JL#1 and when JL#2 picks up, it’s toward the end of their battle because Superman comments that Batman’s belt is empty. Also, there’s a 5 yr gap between the first 6 issues of JL and the rest of the DCU(except Action) and in later JL issues, Superman confesses to the League that he and Bats have worked together outside of the group(in the gap).
I think its Batman/Superman and not the other way around. That’s what other sites are announcing it as. It if is that, it’s weird that they changed it. Although I could see why, as Batman outsells just about everything DC is putting out right now.
To be fair, people called the previous volume Batman/Superman even though the actual title was the other way around. I think it’s a preference thing. I like Superman more so I’ll be calling it Superman/Batman. Ultimately I don’t think it matters.
Pak referred to it as Superman/Batman on USA Today
anyone familiar with pak’s work?
how is he?
I loved him on Hulk for almost all of his run. His Incredible Hercules was pretty great as well.
I second the sentiments on Incredible Herc. That book was great fun. His Hulk material was pretty good, but then again, I’m not the hugest fan of the character in his own title.
Man, I haven’t read a Jae Lee comic in a long time. Since he stopped doing the Dark Tower comics. I’ll definitely pick this up. It’s also great to see guys like Pak, typically only associated with one publisher, crossing the street.
Based on the preview art is looks like Jae Lee will be doing decent versions of those horrendous costumes.
They’ve established that two frequently hang out together in Justice League so it’ll be nice to see the origins of their friendship explored in the Post-52. In any case, they had me at Jae Lee.
And now we know what happens to the guys who lost chairs in the Marvel Shuffle. I expect that the next announcement will be Fred Van Lente on a Wonder Woman spinoff.
And I will read the hell out of that book!
God, DC could use some Jeff Parker.
@a.j.howard09: https://ifanboy.com/articles/look-up-in-the-sky-its-the-adventures-of-superman-with-jeff-parker-chris-samnee-chris-sprouse-and-orson-scott-card/
@Conor Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. His Legends of the Dark Knight story was pretty great too. I would love to see him get a monthly title to work with. Especially since it seems, at least to me, Marvel has been slowly phasing him out. I think he is one of those guys who could instantly make one of the “deep bench” titles really compelling. For instance, I’d be really interested in a Jeff Parker Hawkman, or a Jeff Parker Catwoman.
I’ve been saying for ages now that they should do another Superman/Batman series, but I assumed they would call it “World’s Finest” again. Although, I guess “Worlds’ Finest” (note an apostrophe’s difference) changed that.
Either way, I’m excited.
Really liked Pak’s work on Hulk and Herc and man…I’ve missed Lee’s art! Excited for this!
I’m there.
Not terribly familiar with Pak, but I know he has fans. I am a big fan of Lee’s work. He did some beautiful stuff on Dark Tower and his Batman covers from years ago were stellar. Helluva nice guy too.
I have the entire run of Superman/Batman from the Pre-52. It was consistently a good read at the very least. Especially the earlier stuff. Looking forward to this.
Perfect! Superman will look great with that silly hair do that Jae Lee draws on everyone! He’ll probably put the same silly do on Bruce Wayne too!
I’m definitely on board. Looking forward to seeing more Jae Lee superhero work.
yea this one is a shut up and take my money.
Wow, great team. Though the idea of another “five years past” book for the new52 has me a little nervy.
Connor, where is the quote on the front page from? I can’t place it and it’s been bugging me since i saw it
I believe that’s from Man of Steel #3, which was the story of Superman and Batman’s first meeting post-Crisis.
@mikegraham6: Jeff’s correct.
Winner winner chicken dinner!
“Conor” sorry :S
Great. Finally a Superman book to get excited about. Jae Lee is such a great artist so no doubt this will be just beautiful to look at. I am sure he’s gonna do some fantastic things with Batman (judging by the preview pic here he is going crazy with the cape as well as he should be) and he might be able do draw Superman in a new and unique way.
Can I please get Kelley Jones as a fill-in artist?
“Batman in Wonderland” wasn’t enough for you?
Shoot, that was Sam Keith. Nevermind.
Superman/batman was one of my fav books per new 52. This should be good ! Is this Greg Pak’s first work at DC ?
The only thing I am worried about is that this will be entirely predictable. What more is there to say about the relationship between Batman and Superman that hasn’t been said. Sometimes it feels like these are the same old stories rehashed for the billionth time.
This is pretty much what Josh was saying on the podcast last week when we talked about BATMAN #17. It’s something that a lot of people struggle with because, when it comes down to it, that’s exactly what most Marvel an DC books are–basically the same stories told over and over in, hopefully, new and interesting variations.
I guess i should just stop hanging out with people I’ve know for more than 5 years because what else could we have to talk about at this stage in our relationship right?
I have loved Jae Lee ever since his X-Factor issues back in the 90s, along with Hellshock. I remember I wrote him an e-mail years and years ago and he wrote back to me, which made my year at the time. I will most likely pick this up for the art alone. Add Greg Pak in and it sounds like a winner!
I’ve liked Pak’s work, but since most of what I’ve read of his was co-written with Fred Van Lente I’m not sure where Van Lente stops and Pak starts. Likewise, Jae Lee is an amazing artist (his G.I. JOE/TRANSFORMERS at Dreamwave was beautiful), but I don’t see him lasting an arc without delays or fill-ins. What would be great is if they do what they’ve done with Chiang on Wonder Woman and alternate arcs with another artist.
While this might be good, I can’t help but feel like this is representative of the main problem with the New 52. They’re not making a new DC Universe. They’re just doing the old one over again. They’re reintroducing the same characters and villains, retelling the same stories, and reestablishing the same relationships. It’s probably going to work the same as every other Batman-Superman first encounter. They’ll initial distrust each other and have a distaste for each other’s methods. By the end they’ll have learned a healthy respect for each other’s necessity and be on their way to friendship. Please surprise me.
What the hell? Everybody seems to forget that Greg Pak wrote Magneto: Testament, which I must say, is a terrific story, very diferent from his previous work with The Incredible Hulk. Plus: Jae Lee. Damn, they can take my money with this one.
Exactly!!!! Can’t forget as well his Red Skull Incarnate, amazing storyline into the history of the Red Skull. Superman/Batman…guaranteed pick up for me.
I’m in!
World’ Finest Comics was one of my favorite comics as a kid, and I enjoyed almost every issue of Superman/Batman.
Plus I like Pak and Lee, so this is instantly added to my GOTTA HAVE IT list.
———————
This is actually getting a lot of press. It is one of the top 10 stories on Yahoo News and has been reprinted in many national newspapers’ websites. Good show, DC Comics!
Certainly try this. Jae Lee is always interesting to look at and Greg Pak is capable of writing a good story, even if it isn’t always a home run.
Does this make up for the constant screw ups at DC lately? No.
But am I psyched for this? Hell yes! I couldn’t be more happy to see Superman/Batman (or Batman/Superman for dyslexics) return with a wonderful creative team.
I love the take they’re going for with these two characters this time, the reactions from each other and a civilian seeing one of them is a good aspect with danger, this is definitely on my gonna pull list and to see Jae Lee draw these guys is interesting alone, hope he sticks around for more than a few.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
No thanks, the new 52 is horrible & can’t be fixed. Superman in the new 52 is lame, and Batman is way too compressed. The best thing about DC was it’s legacy. Wally West as Flash, Dick Grayson graduating from Robin to Nightwing & then Batman. That’s what I loved about the DCU, and they killed it dead. They’ve lost me until they bring it back.
Alas, I don’t think DC is going to budge on getting rid of the New 52 any time soon. (For better or worse.)
I believe Conor’s quote in the logline is from issue #3 of John Byrne’s Man Of Steel post-Crisis reboot. That was a fantastic first meeting between Bats & Supes that I always looked at as the bookend to Miller’s final DKR issue. There’s more to be mined there, though, and I can’t wait to see where Pak takes it.
The only way this could be any better is if it were Supermam/Batman/Aquaman.