Superman : Heroes #1 ... Diana and Bruce
In “Superman(2018) #18″ Superman revealed to the World that his name was “Clark Kent” and the comic book “Superman:Heroes #1″ presents the immediate aftermaths.
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018) #18 and Superman:Heroes #1)
This Issue had a unique and delightful little story with Diana and Bruce, 0% Action, only talking,.. a dance between two people caring for each other … It revealed a bit of the real man behind the “Bat” and the “Playboy”. I loved Diana’s wisdom in this, especially when she compared Bruce to Clark.
As a first result, not every one in the Justice league looked happy about that “Scoop”..
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018) #18)
Batman’s POV about secrecy shouldn’t be a surprise, … but Diana’s behavior seemed rather unsettling… First I thought she was still angry after her speech about the loss of trust during their last exchange in DC Comics “Batman/Superman (2019) #6.
(Edit from DC Comics Batman/Superman (2019) #6)
Her whole speech was about the morality of keeping secrets … Diana’s speech may have encouraged Clark to go Public with his Identity … but after he’d done it her comment shows she didn’t seem so sure about that part … Why would she be unsatisfied if Clark just followed her theory about secrecy ?
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018) #18)
Revealing everything to the world wasn’t what she meant … She’s a diplomat, she understands that there is an “in between”, a compromise to make … not all truths can be thrown around without care… Diana was making them a lecture about “keeping secrets” earlier, Yes, but… it was mostly about “keeping secrets from each other” … so this new “secret” Clark had kept again from them was actually what she was complaining about previously and had to hurt both, Diana and Bruce,… once again one of them took a secret decision without sharing it with the others. Leaving them to face the consequences once everything was done … Bruce is so angry that he ironically tells Clark that the Kents are completely “off the grid” (something he surely invested some hard work and a lot of time to achieve) because Clark just busted all of his hard work in a second… Yeah, Clark, how should he feel about that ?… XD
(edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League(2018) #47)
Finally Clark understands how much he hurt Bruce later and apologizes (see “Justice League(2018) #47″)… He may now have understood what Diana talked about earlier…
But lets get back to our subject “Superman : Heroes #1″
The stories of DC Comics “Superman : Heroes #1″ have been written by Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction and Greg Rucka.
Greg Rucka is one of the best writers of the pairing Wonder Woman/Batman (“Blackest Night : Wonder Woman”, “The Hiketeia”, “The Solstice”, …) he has usually a great touch when it comes to tell in a more subtle way how much Diana and Bruce care for each other.
(Edits from Some of Greg Rucka’s Work for DC comics)
In the comic “Superman:Heroes”, Greg Rucka is behind these 8 Panels out of the 35 that the comic contains, pretty much one quarter of the whole book about Superman, and his story is only about Diana and Bruce … already a message in itself … and he did an amazing work again. Few words but so much was said (pretty much the opposite of what I am doing right now ! XD )
The Art is amazing as well.
It happens shortly after Superman’s meeting with the JL, and starts with Bruce standing alone in front of his Parents grave. Lost silently in his thoughts.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Suddenly a well known voice breaks him out of his reverie. Diana is here. Bruce is Classy as always, while Diana wears more casual clothing … I think Rucka chose on purpose to drop the uniforms for this exchange … because the uniforms are not really “them”. This is not really about Batman and Wonder Woman but about the people behind those masks.
.(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
She came to look after him. She could have gone anywhere, with anyone. She could have celebrated with Clark and the rest of the league this unique moment, this huge step Superman made… but she choose to go to a most lonely and sad place for one of her closest friends : Wayne Manor’s graveyard…. and she knew she would find him there… She knows his reaction was excessive … there is something hurting him hard and she needs to know what…
“Thought I would find you here … How are you doing ?” A useless question because Diana already knows the answer to her question … otherwise she wouldn’t be there, she wouldn’t have come directly to the graves…
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Bruce turns around and walks away …then, in the distance, just says “Fine.”. Diana stands silently while he flees into loneliness again… Bruce knows she won’t go away after just a “Fine”, he knows the truth, she will dig further, so he retreats from the battlefield because she won’t leave him to his dark mood…
3 sentences, 11 Words, that’s all you get for a full page with 5 great pictures…
All 8 panels of that story are really wonderful. They are made like a movie, using silences to show the depth, the seriousness of the subject, the loneliness, sadness and deep closeness of both characters. Pictures with perspectives, enhance the effect of their loneliness … Diana and Bruce may be in their home world but it is as if they were both still with only each other in the plane of Gehenna … Diana and Bruce … all alone.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Second panel … Bruce stops somewhere facing in silence a magic sunset matching his current mood … Diana follows until she stands next to him.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Again he tells her he doesn’t want company … “mhm”, she acknowledges … the wind blows in her hair, she tries to fix it … silence …
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
The wind blows, she gives up, letting her hair flow around her face… A little chat … Bruce turns around, fleeing the battlefield again …
Third panel … Hell … a full page , 7 pictures, only two sentences, 8 little words… pure magic from G. Rucka and the other artists.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
This time Diana is inside Wayne Manor … looking at the giant painting of Bruce’s Parents… deep in thoughts … wondering what exactly pushed Bruce to their graves after Superman’s revelation.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Bruce is in the kitchen … Diana enters as if she was at home and drops her jacket … approaching the table, they exchange a look … She takes a seat, her usual seat? then Diana waits for him to make his move … She smiles … She just owns the place … Bruce isn’t surprised, he expected her, he waited for her, even made some tea in the meantime… did he flee earlier ? or did he just want to get them a comfortable place to be and talk ? … He probably wouldn’t have made tea “for two” if he wanted to be left alone … He knew she wouldn’t give up on him no matter how strong he would push her away, so there was no need to put more conviction in the game … that’s what they learned in Gehenna … they may both give up the fight for their mission, but they never ever give up on each other… Bruce knew he wouldn’t win that battle. Not with Diana, so he didn’t really try. Actually Bruce needed her and she came …
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
And the only sentences exchanged between the two in the whole panel are so domestic … “Tea ?” … ”That would be lovely, Bruce.” … That bright, sly, smile on Diana’s face reveals everything … she knows she was right and won their little fight … he won’t push her away again, he doesn’t even want her away … they are going to talk. But she needs to let him space … Diana just has to let him lead the way now.
Is it even possible to make it more obvious how much they know each other, care for each other … those two don’t even need J’onn J’ozz to communicate without speaking … they only need an brief eye contact.
Fourth panel … more silence …
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Bruce needs to collect his thoughts … Diana sips her tea …
Then he talks, but Diana plays dumb … she wants him to express his problem, to name it… Diana is very smart here … because she cannot really get a grip on what is hurting him so hard. She needs to get it out of him … she knows the real problem is hidden deep under layers and layers … and this isn’t really about Clark keeping a secret from him … from them.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Of course they talk about Superman revealing that he was “Clark Kent” and even if Diana plays dumb, she still says something very interesting here … she calls him “KAL” while Bruce is upset because of “Clark” … I think this way Diana tells him that Superman still didn’t tell the truth … because “Clark Kent” is just another identity … “KAL” is the kryptonian man who lives on earth under the disguise of “Clark Kent” and who is called “Superman” when he plays Superhero… just like Bruce is a human who lives a fake life as a Playboy and CEO when he is not playing Superhero and called “Batman” otherwise … I think it is her way to say the Superman is still Lying even if it is to himself. Still she can give “Superman/Clark Kent” a name describing the real him “KAL”… while “Bruce” uses his own birthname for a partly faked persona …
In “Superman : Villains #1″, Supergirl, still under the effect of the Batman Who Laughts Toxin tells pretty much the same as what I think Diana tries to convey here.
But Bruce is too upset to listen to her … So he gives her a list of reasons why this is bad, partly accurate partly disputable … so she counters him even if her own arguments is accurate/disputable as well … nothing is simple … but this isn’t about “Superman”, something Diana understood quickly … if it was only about “Clark” or “Kal”, Bruce wouldn’t be this upset… How long have Diana and Bruce been married again ?… Yeah, Right,.. something like 37 years in Hell …
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Several millennia and all the Wisdom of Athena speaks thru Diana while she harbors that sly smile. Bruce gets silent again, Diana saw right thru him, maybe better than he did himself.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Bruce flees again … but does he really ? Since the beginning he doesn’t really push hard and Diana knows it … You just get the feeling he wants her to follow him … maybe he needs her to help him figure out why he really is that upset..
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
The Batcave … it looks as if they were getting more and more deeper, more personal … First the world outside, then inside his home, and now his most secret part… maybe another symbolic meaning … to show how Diana is getting closer to the real hidden reason.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
By the look of Bruce’s sneer, you can tell he is angry, hateful even… but Diana never feels threatened in any way, she feels safe, even “Poking the Bear” a little as shown by her mischievous look… until it suddenly downs on her !! …
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Can we just relish in that view for a moment ? … Perfect female body meets perfect male body …. Aargh !! … can’t they just go down on it ! … OK ! I need to get some self control back … sorry !
What Diana sees… is Bruce staring at his suits, his disguises, his secrets, his … enemy ? … Batman ? … now she can SEE what hurts him so hard !
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
Diana figured out the truth ! … Bruce is first in denial, then thinking and accepting it … Bruce goes from angry, to sad and beaten…
One part of the amazing points of this story is Diana’s statement when she compares “Bruce” and “Kal”. Whoever thought Wonder Woman wouldn’t value the “powerless” Bat when compared to the “godlike” Superman is going to wake up with a serious headache … For Diana, the only thing Clark can do, that Bruce can’t, is what we all do … “live without a secret identity” … anything else she considers Bruce does at least as good as Clark if not better … BAM ! … I honestly didn’t expect to read that in a comic about Superman ! … And this coming from non other then Powerhouse number two Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazon, daughter of Zeus gifted with the Wisdom of Athena … that was mind-blowing !!
But to be honest such appreciative comments from Diana, somewhere in between admiration and adoration, happen more and more often lately in different DC comics.
(Edit from several DC Comics books)
I would say we’ve gone back when Diana considered Clark as “Good husband material” for Lois, while “Bruce” was “Fast, Dangerous, the thrill ride..” … back then, even Clark understood who Diana’s heart would settled with…
(Edit from several DC Comics Trinity(2008) #6 and Blackest Night:WW(2010) )
This was of course before the New52 nonsense hit the fan…
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
The other great point is that “Bruce” … is jealous of “Kal” … What !? how is that great ?
For the Dark Knight, admitting this kind of weakness to anyone is pretty much unthinkable … unless it is to Diana. I think Bruce and Diana are now closer than Bruce and Clark ever were. But this jealousy is as well the proof that there is a man behind the Batman, behind the Playboy … someone who doesn’t really like either of them, someone who dreams of family, home, of the freedom to live a normal happy life. The Princess of Themyscira is one of the only women (if not the only one) to have access to that man, the real “Bruce”.
Bruce is someone who can’t be reduced to “the Batman” as often said. He is a man, a Hero who decided to play that role, a man who made it his duty to fight crime and to protect those who can’t do it for themselves. Just like Diana did when she chose to become “Wonder Woman” and leave the paradise island of Themyscira for Men’s world. He is jealous, and is ashamed of it, because he should grant it to his best friend Clark/Kal. It is his dream to have that kind life, a dream Diana shares as well … but both have decided long ago that their Duties were more important and had to be done at any personal cost.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)
But there is another message in this Jealousy …
Over the last 50 years, it had been explained several times that Bruce Wayne chooses his romantic partners with a purpose as described in the story with Bekka (in January 2008): Relationships must fail.
(Edit from DC Comics Superman Batman(2003) #42 - story with Bekka)
If Bruce is Jealous about Clark’s “Home, Family” life this means he is now ready to a real longtime commitment with a woman. He wants that now. Over the years he matured (just like “Batfleck” in the DCEU). Keeping his distance with Diana because of their friendship all those years was only part of the excuse. He always chose his partners to fail … and with Diana he knew a relationship would have a high risk of succeding. I think Diana was always more ready to start something with him at least judging by the way she smiled when she woke up from the “Transconciousness Articulator”, but she changed her mind once he told her he didn’t want to know what was “lurking in his mind” … Back then Diana knew he wasn’t ready.
Bruce Wayne is ready now … Is this what Tom King meant when he said he changed Batman for the Decade to come, that he put his “Mark” on Bruce Wayne ? His Batman/Catwoman run proved one thing to the shareholders… the Batman fans are ready to have their Hero seriously committed to a Woman. In fact the love story didn’t drop the sales but supported them. Tom King showed Batman sells better as a “Man in love” then as a lone Wolf …
Still a lot of fans understand that an untrustworthy and still active criminal like Selina can’t possibly be the best match for the crusader of Justice … and while Diana seems still to adore him, after that little chat in the Cave and the 37 years in Gehenna, she should have understood by now that he is ready for something really serious … So … “Perhaps ….” hopefully in the near future …
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