Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well today. So I couldn't decide whether to review a Batman comic or a Superman comic, so I decided to review a Superman comic that Batman appears in. I am talking about Superman: The Man of Steel #37, the first of the Superman tie-ins to Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time from 1994. So let's get into it.
I first saw the cover of this issue on an old Geocities website in the late 2000s, which contained covers for all of the Zero Hour issues, all of the tie-ins, and the #0 issues that came out the next month which gave us revamped origins for pretty much the entire DC Universe post-Zero Hour. I saw this cover and thought it was cool because I recognized some of the Batmans on this cover, like the one from Batman: The Animated Series, and the ones from the 1966 TV series, the 1943 movie serial, the comics from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (first costume). However not all of these versions appear in the actual comic. The ones that do appear are the original Bob Kane comic book version from 1939, the Dark Knight Returns version, the Neal Adams comic book version from the late 60s and early 70s, the Kelley Jones comic book version from 1994, the Dick Sprang comic book version from the 50s, the 1966 TV show version, and the Carmine Infantino/Joe Giella comic book version from 1964.
I'm a little skeptical that one of the Batmans that appear in this book, and on the cover, is the Kelley Jones version from 1994/1995. The DC Wiki says that that's the version of Batman it is, but, Kelley Jones didn't debut as the penciler on Batman until issue #515, which was published after this issue came out and the only other version of Batman he'd drawn up to this point is an Elseworlds version in the story Batman and Dracula: Red Rain which was published in 1992. So either it's actually the 1992 version from Red Rain or it's a preview to the version that Jones would've been working on at the same time this issue was being produced. Either way it's the Kelley Jones version, which is cool, it's just unless it's a preview for upcoming issues of Batman, it can't be a version that hasn't debuted yet.
There isn't a whole lot to the story. Superman is called by Batman because there's weird things happening in Gotham City, which were shown in the Batman comics being published at the time, with characters from the past/alternate timelines, like Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, Bruce's parents, pre-Crisis Earth-2 Alfred Beagle, and Dick Grayson as Robin appearing as if they belonged in the present day/current timeline. However, the Batman that Superman meets up with isn't the Batman he knows, as this one has never had his back broken by Bane, because he's from the 70s and never encountered Bane. Then pre-Crisis Batman and post-Crisis Superman encounter the Dark Knight Returns Batman as he's beating the crap out of a thug who's attempting to disrupt a special benefit concert being held to support the rebuilding of Metropolis after it was destroyed in an undisclosed incident that couldn't be prevented by Superman. I think it's a reference to everything that happened with Cyborg Superman in Reign of the Supermen/The Return of Superman, but nothing is specifically stated by anyone in the issue. It's possible another event happened in between Reign of the Supermen and this issue, since there was enough time for Bruce Wayne to have beaten by Bane, replaced as Batman by Jean Paul Valley, Superman to have met the Jean-Paul Valley Batman, and for Bruce to have returned, so it could be anything.
Anyway, the Neal Adams Batman becomes the Kelley Jones Batman, and the 1939 Bob Kane Bat-Man shows up, and Superman and the three Batmen protect the concert from the Mutants, criminals faced by the Frank Miller Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. And then they go find Professor Hamilton, who attempts to figure out what's going on by running scans on the Frank Miller Batman, who transforms into the Dick Sprang Batman before all the Batmen disappear and Superman races off to finally meet up with his Batman, who's waiting for him and then Metron shows up to take them to tell them what's going on.
That's the story. Like I said, there's not a whole lot going on, primarily because this is a tie-in to Zero Hour which was being published concurrently with the tie-ins as one does with a major crossover event, and so not alot could be done, except for showing what's drawing Superman and his friends and allies into the time crisis. Which is fine. I actually like this issue quite a bit. Louise Simonson, wife of legendary Thor writer Walt Simonson, and a wonderful comic book writer in her own right, is the writer on this issue, and I've always enjoyed her work on Superman, which I've only read here, and during the Death and Return of Superman story arc. Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke are the artists on this issue, and I like their work. Bogdanove is the penciler, so it's his character designs that populate this issue. Honestly he did a wonderful job of homaging the art styles of the different versions of Batman that appear in this issue. Also they both did the artwork for the cover and their Batmen are spot on to the era they're from including the BTAS (1992 animated series) Batman looks like he was lifted from an issue of The Batman Adventures which was still in publication in 1994. Which is cool.
Definitely pick up this issue if you can find it. I haven't been able to find it on it's own in the back issue bins or at comic book sales. However I do have it in the Superman: Zero Hour trade paperback collection, which collects all of the Superman Zero Hour tie-ins and #0 issues for Action Comics, The Adventures of Superman, Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, Steel, and Superboy. It was published in 2018 so it should still be in print.
Alrighty that is going to be it for this week. I'll be back on Monday with more cool stuff coming your way here at the Review Basement. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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