batman-3_4_r536_c534This comic was a no-brainer and rumored for some time, but DC has finally announced their new Batman/Superman comic, titled Batman/Superman.  (World’s Finest is now Worlds’ Finest with Huntress and Power Girl and moving the apostrophe would probably cause mass confusion, so we back to a more literal title for the book.)  The real surprise here is the creative team: Greg Pak and Jae Lee.

Jae Lee has been over at DC for awhile, working on Ozymandius for the Before Watchmen goodwill tour.  Greg Pak, on the other hand, has not been at DC.  To the best of my knowledge, this would be Pak’s first work for DC and the first “name” Marvel scribe DC has pulled over in a while.  Actually, let me qualify that: first Marvel scribe who was a “name” after the 90s were over.

While Pak’s not been in the spotlight lately, his star shown brightly five years back with a very popular run on the Hulk titles, including the “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” storylines.  Pak hasn’t been as visible in the last few years, but part of that may well be having caught assignments on lower visibility titles.

This is a good signing for DC and a good pairing of name creators.

While one wonders how much thinner the Batman franchise can stretch, a Superman-Batman team-up book has been a steady staple of DC for decades.  Batman’s red hot.  Superman’s getting a line overhaul to be headed up by the Scott Snyder/Jim Lee Superman title.  This really ought to have some legs.

June’s a big month for DC.  They’re launching 6 new titles (replacing 6 titles that could have VERY low sales by the time May rolls around) and relaunching the Green Lantern family of books.  Here’s the new title list as it stands:

*Larfleeze
*Batman/Superman
*(presumably) 
untitled Lee/Snyder Superman title
* add 3 more.

Usual suspects include a Robin title, Martian Manhunter and Shazam! to fill out those extra slots.  And probably one non-cape title, though those haven’t been faring very well for DC.

9 COMMENTS

  1. I think this is honestly one of the more interesting creative team announcements I’ve seen in a while. Pak writing for DC leaves me hopeful, while anything by Lee is welcome.

  2. Yeah right Pak said there was an “element of danger” in Batman and Superman meeting. A comment like that is beyond stupid not to mention that DC has an opportunity to cover new ground but decides re-tell a story that has been done and re-done. Ooh I wonder if one of them will kill the other when they first meet? I wonder if they will team up and have a begrudging respect for each other that will become genuine over the years? I hardly think you could call this writing any more than someone writes a McDonalds commercial.

  3. When skimming, “Pak and Lee” can very easily be misread as “Pat Lee”. Scary. Reality much better.

    Also, “Batman/Superman”? Wow, that’s a radical departure from PreNew52, when they had “Superman/Batman”!

  4. Greg Pak is known for excellent buddy books ala Amadeus Cho and Hercules, so the question here is… will he give us Jimmy Olsen and Alfred as a buddy book in the guise of Superman/Batman?

    One can hope, right?

  5. Wow no one here follows Pak’s work huh? He’s been around on several Marvel titles though most notably he’s been head writing XTreme Xmen, although that series is ending soon. When I went to NYCC last year and met him for the first time (he’s awesome BTW), he was indeed pushing forward his new digital version of Vision Machine, which is a good story. I am excited for this new book though as I also love Jae Lee’s art and I love the promo image for Supes they released with this news too.

  6. Oh and is Larfleeze really getting his own title? Isn’t Threshold his ‘home’ right now? And what about Green Team and the Movement? Aren’t those part of the new wave?

  7. While I haven’t formally heard whether Larfleeze is exiting Threshold (or what would be replacing him there), that’s correct. Green Team and the Movement are May titles, though. Batman/Superman and Larfleeze are launching in June. It depends whether you consider it an ongoing wave or group it by the month.

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