In Batman & The Joker: The Lethal Duo, Marc Silvestri brings his distinctive aesthetic and storytelling sensibilities to the final word surprising DC team-up. After Harley Quinn is kidnapped, the Clown Prince of Crime and Gotham’s most well-known son make an uneasy alliance to seek out her. It is a mixture which will have stunned some DC readers, however Silvestri is definitely persevering with a longstanding DC custom of unusual hero and villain partnerships. Although there are some apparent examples that includes anti-heroes like Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, the enjoyment of DC UNIVERSE INFINITE is that we are able to dig into the proverbial again concern bins and revel in a few of the wilder, weirder and oft-forgotten occasions that good and evil have needed to come collectively.
Lex Luthor has lengthy been some of the malicious and crafty of Superman’s rogues, however do you know he as soon as used his thoughts—and a few historical magic—to trick the heroic Hercules into serving to him escape from jail?
After introducing readers to the muscled demi-god as he helps Superman save Lois Lane, we’re shortly thrown when he is summoned to Lex Luthor’s jail cell. Spinning Hercules a bit of sob story, Luthor enlists him to free him and to steal some treasure again that Lex claims belongs to him. The naive super-god goes together with Luthor’s ploy for some time, however it’s throughout as soon as he realizes he is been duped. This can be a nice instance of the form of bold and odd tales that got here out of DC within the ’60s.
On this hilarious Silver Age romp from Henry Boltinoff, Jack Schiff, Ruben Moreira, Joe Certa, Sheldon Moldoff, Mike Esposito and Jim Mooney, Batman drives Batwoman to despair and near-betrayal after her life is saved by an amorous Cat-Man. Batman throws all of the blame onto Batwoman, who’s already bored with his shenanigans—the pair are relationship—and he or she sneaks off to affix Cat-Man. Her costume is infinitely cooler, and (in contrast to Batman) Cat-Man guarantees the newly named Cat-Girl a life collectively because the king and queen of crime.
Their team-up is a robust one and seems way more helpful for Bat/Cat-Girl and her position as a possible sidekick/lover than with previous Bats. However, in fact, it is all only a ploy for Batwoman to indicate Batman that she’s really a really helpful crimefighter. After serving to Batman defeat his foe, the story takes an exceedingly darkish flip. Cat-Man’s boat explodes because the romantic pair look on and smile concerning the reality he by no means might have survived. Even grimmer is that Batwoman retains her Cat-Girl costume as a “trophy.”
Does a wedding depend as a team-up? And might the Jekyll and Hyde journey of the Monster Prince actually be described as villainous? For the sake of together with this completely wild concern by Bob Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito on our checklist, the reply is a giant fats sure! After her three traditional suitors—Steve Trevor, Manno the Merman and Hen-Man—every annoy her to a harmful diploma, Surprise Girl meets a mysterious hunk. Little does she know that he is really a monster.
After stumbling throughout her villainous would-be groom hidden away in his citadel, Surprise Girl decides to try to assist the monster, however he viciously assaults her and the Amazons, rejecting their assist. Regardless of that, Diana decides she should marry him to provide the Monster Prince an opportunity at happiness. Alas, the marriage is stopped by Manno and the Prince flees, hoping to avoid wasting Diana from his monstrous methods. In a stunning twist, after saving Surprise Girl’s life throughout their chase, the Monster Prince transforms right into a good-looking hunk. Diana is understandably intrigued, however her beau has realized marriage is extra hassle than it is value and rejects Diana, heading dwelling to construct a large “no trespassing” signal.
From a team-up with one in all her most obscure villains to her greatest identified! This Surprise Girl concern from Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Marguerite Sauvage and Pat Brosseau takes the entire concept of the superhero and villain team-up to the following stage. Removed from a gimmick or consideration seize, this story showcases the perfect of Surprise Girl and perhaps her largest power: compassion.
The gorgeously illustrated comedian begins as Diana breaks into Cale Industries labs to free her one-time buddy and long run foe Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva A.Ok.A. Cheetah. After a profitable escape—together with burning the offending lab to the bottom—Diana binds Cheetah with the Lasso of Reality within the hope that it’ll lead the villain again to humanity. It is a vibrantly intelligent plan and it really works, resulting in Cheetah becoming a member of Checkmate and combating alongside her sister as a hero and ally reasonably than the antagonist she as soon as was.
We finish with what’s positively the weirdest entry on our checklist—and that is saying one thing. This three-issue miniseries from beloved Batman inventive staff Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (with Jonathan Glapion on inks, FCO Plascencia on colours and Tom Napolitano on letters) took Batman to the sting of the apocalypse with a particularly surprising companion.
After being shot by a useless physique, waking up in Arkham Asylum and realizing that the whole world as he is aware of it has ended, Bruce Wayne will get yet one more impolite awakening. His solely buddy is the decapitated head of the Joker, which he carries in a cracked crimson lantern. All through the unusual story, which is narrated by the Joker, Bruce has to take care of a post-apocalyptic panorama and the inane chatter of his one-time nemesis. And simply whenever you assume issues could not get stranger, the Joker takes on the mantle of Robin in a brilliant high-tech mech go well with that holds up his decapitated head.
Thus far, the Joker’s head in The Lethal Duo has stayed firmly on his shoulders…however with three points nonetheless to go, that may all the time change. It’s a DC Black Label e-book, in spite of everything, and if this checklist has taught us something, it is that when heroes team-up with their largest adversaries, the actually unusual factor could be to say what to anticipate!
The primary three problems with Batman & The Joker: The Lethal Duo by Marc Silvestri with Arif Prianto at the moment are in shops. Extremely members also can learn the primary two on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.
Rosie Knight is an award-winning journalist and creator who loves Swamp Factor, the DC Cosmic, and writing about these and extra right here at DC.Com. You may hearken to her waxing lyrical about comics, motion pictures, and extra every week as she co-hosts Crooked Media’s popular culture podcast, X-Ray Imaginative and prescient.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this function are solely these of Rosie Knight and don’t essentially mirror these of DC Leisure or Warner Bros.
