SPLICED Magazine Issue 02 Dec/Jan 2014 | Page 95

All images © DC Comics and their respective artists.

SUPER
TIMELINE
1938 / First appearance of
Superman in Action Comics # 1.
1940 / Superman first meets
Lois Land and villain Lex
Luthor
1941-1943 / The Fleischer
Bros. Create the first animated
Superman series
1940-1951 / The massively
popular radio serial The
Adventures of Superman
begins, introducing kryptonite
in the Superman universe.
1942 / During WW2,
Superman's shield became
larger and more elegant.
1945 / Superboy first appears
in Detective Comics (Batman's
label), which followed the
adventures of Superman as
a child.
1948 / Kirk Alyn stars as the
first Live-Action Superman
in a series of short-films by
Columbia pictures.
1949 / Kryptonite first appears
in comic form.

Superman and Batman
/ The Binary Duo

The Modern Age /
Back to Basics

By this point, readers were also made
well-aware of Superman and Batman's
friendship, which had spanned since the
1940's. It had always been one of mutual
respect, but wariness. Frank Miller's
seminal title The Dark Knight Returns
pitched a rather unique and alternative
series of questions in Batman's 'retirement
years': What would happen if Superman
chose sides? What if he became a
governmental tool, answering to a boss?
In what is one of my personal favourite
moments of the DC universe, we witness
the answers to these questions first-hand
- Superman has essentially become an
ultra-weapon, tasked by the President to
eradicate any potential threats without
prejudice or pretension. When Batman
rears his gristly head and starts to cause
trouble, none other t