Philosopher's pipes to the ready ladies and gentlemen.

DC arguably have not one but of the two of the most iconic symbols in entertainment but which of the two symbols is on your chest? What colour's your cape? Do you prefer to bask in the sun or dwell in the shadows? In order to travel backwards in time, do you have to get shot by an evil god or does it take a few laps of the sun?

I jest but when it comes down to it, I think most people have a preference between the two.  Out of fairness, I must say I definitley prefer ol' Bat.  Not slight on Supes but this is probably due to the animated series when I was growing up and my first DC comic was Batman's Hush.

However that said I don't think I'll be joining a Barbatos cult, shunning the sun alien any time soon because I find the relationship itself as fascinating as the characters themselves.  Credit to DC, over the decades they have cultivated these two characters into harmony with one another. 

Grant Morrison sez:
 
In the end, I saw Superman not as a superhero or even a science fiction character, but as a story of Everyman. We’re all Superman in our own adventures. We have our own Fortresses of Solitude we retreat to, with our own special collections of valued stuff, our own super–pets, our own “Bottle Cities” that we feel guilty for neglecting. We have our own peers and rivals and bizarre emotional or moral tangles to deal with.

I felt I’d really grasped the concept when I saw him as Everyman, or rather as the dreamself of Everyman. That “S” is the radiant emblem of divinity we reveal when we rip off our stuffy shirts, our social masks, our neuroses, our constructed selves, and become who we truly are.

Batman is obviously much cooler, but that’s because he’s a very energetic and adolescent fantasy character: a handsome billionaire playboy in black leather with a butler at this beck and call, better cars and gadgetry than James Bond, a horde of fetish femme fatales baying around his heels and no boss. That guy’s Superman day and night.

Superman grew up baling hay on a farm. He goes to work, for a boss, in an office. He pines after a hard–working gal. Only when he tears off his shirt does that heroic, ideal inner self come to life. That’s actually a much more adult fantasy than the one Batman’s peddling but it also makes Superman a little harder to sell. He’s much more of a working class superhero, which is why we ended the whole book with the image of a laboring Superman.

I have always seen Superman as the Dream of every American and Batman is the Goal. Where as Superman power is unattainable he is the dream of all. To fly have super strength, all  people around the world have wished for it at some time. However it is a pipe dream. Batman is human but also perfection. It is possibility. but with hard work there is always a price. As for the dark and light side I have know comment and my thoughts are just ramblings. This is a topic that could go on forever 

 

" Philosopher's pipes to the ready ladies and gentlemen.

DC arguably have not one but of the two of the most iconic symbols in entertainment but which of the two symbols is on your chest? What colour's your cape? Do you prefer to bask in the sun or dwell in the shadows? In order to travel backwards in time, do you have to get shot by an evil god or does it take a few laps of the sun?

I jest but when it comes down to it, I think most people have a preference between the two.  Out of fairness, I must say I definitley prefer ol' Bat.  Not slight on Supes but this is probably due to the animated series when I was growing up and my first DC comic was Batman's Hush.

However that said I don't think I'll be joining a Barbatos cult, shunning the sun alien any time soon because I find the relationship itself as fascinating as the characters themselves.  Credit to DC, over the decades they have cultivated these two characters into harmony with one another. 

Here are two beings seperated from their parents at tragically young ages.  One adopts a planet, the other seeks to adapt to his new world.  A child is plucked from a ship and it's at this point I believe Clark Kent is born.  However with Batman, the gun rings out and a child is left kneeling by his parents.  Just as I believe Clark Kent came into existence when adopted by the Kents, I think Bruce Wayne died with his parents in that alley. Whereas Clark dresses up as a symbol, Superman, Batman dresses up as Bruce as a disguise.  I always come back to Jim Lee's great pictures of each of them looking over their cities, it sums it all up for me.  On a side note, when The Dark Knight was nearing release in the UK I heard one comparison.  Superman is how America sees itself, Batman is how the world sees America.Anyway, what I want is a nice area to just simply discuss.  What are your thoughts on their relationship? When have you seen / read it being summed up really well?  What likes/dislikes about these two together do you have?  "

I like Clark/Superman more than Bruce/Batman, but I love Gotham more than Metropolis.

Yeah that works for me,
 
 
Superman is what the whole world, well most of it maybe aspires to be, yet Batman is the reality of following those aspirations.

 While I wonder why I didn't make this thread.  Any way I like both characters for different reasons, my fascination with the two started when I watched watchmen for the first time, seeing how very different yet so similar Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias were I immediately drew a connection between Superman and Batman there go my everlasting fascination for Supes and Batman.

" Yeah that works for me,  Superman is what the whole world, well most of it maybe aspires to be, yet Batman is the reality of following those aspirations. "

I think the best way that describes their relationship is in Batman/Superman #50 I believe when they both agree that they are each the brothers the other didn't have.

I think the best way that describes their relationship is in Batman/Superman #50 I believe when they both agree that they are each the brothers the other didn't have.

@jukeboxheroabc said:

I think the best way that describes their relationship is in Batman/Superman #50 I believe when they both agree that they are each the brothers the other didn't have.

True, they compliment well what each other lacks.

Which one got the personality?  ZING!

@jukeboxheroabc said:

I think the best way that describes their relationship is in Batman/Superman #50 I believe when they both agree that they are each the brothers the other didn't have.

True, they compliment well what each other lacks.

@Feliciano2040 said:

@jukeboxheroabc said:

I think the best way that describes their relationship is in Batman/Superman #50 I believe when they both agree that they are each the brothers the other didn't have.

True, they compliment well what each other lacks.

Indeed :)