Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Superman Visits Batman And The Outsiders For Christmas

Superman came to visit Batman and the Outsiders at Christmas time, though not quite for the best of reasons in Batman and the Outsiders #19 (March, 1985) in "Who's Afraid Of The Big Red S?" by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo (with Aparo also providing an ornamental cover for the issue)....

...sadly, this wasn't a casual social call, or even singing of Christmas carols, but something a little more serious.



Halo rushed into Wayne Manor to get help from Batman (Bruce Wayne), and after a bit (where she recalled her own personal exchange with Geo-Force), explained that he had gotten a call from a fellow graduate student, one Denise Howard, who had taken too many sleeping pills.   Geo-Force rushed to her rescue, to get her to safety, and found out that Denise's professor had been trying to take advantage of her, only offering her a scholarship in return for favors.  This enraged Geo-Force, who went off to handle the matter.  Fearing for the teacher's life, Halo came to Batman for help.  Batman said he would send a friend, and that Halo should go meet him (the other Outsiders were busy; Metamorpho dealing with his girlfriend, Sapphire Stagg, and issues with her dad, and Katana and Black Lightning dealing with a mugger taking on Santas as Katana misses Halo).

The help Batman called was his friend, Superman, who went with Halo to stop Geo-Force, as he was confronting the lech, working another student in his mountain cabin.  After a brief fight, with Geo-Force using his gravity powers to nearly match Superman, Batman arrived, finding evidence of this man performing this behavior before, and taking him off to jail.  Geo-Force then checked on the then recovering Denise (in his alter ego of Prince Brion), with her recovery being the start of a Merry Christmas.

This issue was a double Christmas treat, as, while Jim Aparo had drawn much of Batman and his family, as well as the rest of the DC Universe over the years, it was a rare chance for him to draw Superman, as well as a little of his supporting cast at the Daily Planet (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, even non-regulars like Melba Manton and Percy Bratten, all enjoying the Christmas cheer!).

1 comment:

  1. So intriguing to see words from an actual Christmas carol used in the background of the first two panels.

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