Batman and Superman finally met their gay stuntmen, Apollo and Midnighter

After nearly 10 years of existing in the same continuity, Batman and Superman finally spent canonical time in the same room as Midnighter and Apollo, thanks to Action Comics scribe Phillip Kennedy Johnson.

Johnson has been preparing all year for the Man of Steel to bring a low-key but powerful superhero strike team to the planet Warworld, in order to rescue a secret group of Kryptonians who survived the planet’s destruction. This week Batman / Superman Special Authority picks up where Grant Morrison and Mikel Janín left off in Superman and authority, featuring a special Batman-themed side quest for Superman’s team of misfits.

Apollo and Midnighter were originally Image Comics characters who, while their origins differed significantly, were obviously blatantly reflections of Batman and Superman. And they were in love.

Without context, it’s a laugh-worthy fun. But within the comics they appeared in, and they weren’t exceptional! – Apollo and Midnighter weren’t some kind of “break up and get back together” soap opera relationship, but “If someone messes with my husband, I can and will literally rip his spine from his body with my bare hands, too, we “I have adopted a baby relationship.”

Apollo and Midnighter, along with everyone else in their Wildstorm environment, were brought into DC Comics canon in 2011, and while they’ve had sporadic (mostly cool) appearances since then, this year is the first time they’ve finally met. to characters they were meant to lightly satirize.

What else is happening on the pages of our favorite comics? We will tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of books our comic book publisher enjoyed this past week. It’s part of the Superhero Lives Society pages, part of reading tips, part of “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the latest edition, read this.)

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Image: Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Ben Templesmith / DC Comics

Midnighter’s infamous claim to fame is that he has a supercomputer in his brain that allows him to discover the winning moves in any match. Midnighter’s classic move is to open a fight scene by smugly saying to his opponent “I know how this ends,” which is insufferable enough to make you love him. So of course he passes the mission, to a world where an evil Batman took over the League of Shadows and rules with an iron fist, not so subtly trying to figure out how to establish that he could totally, totally defeat Batman in a fight. .

Speaking of doubles from the alternate universe, Dark Knights of Steel # 1 (DC’s universe but it’s a D&D-style fantasy setting) came out the door as the best kind of AU fan fiction – with tons of juicy potential for thrills drama. Like Batman and Superman raised together as princely brothers. Yasmine Putri’s character designs, all with pouting faces and untied necks, don’t hurt either.

It’s no wonder at this point that anything Chip Zdarsky starts starts off strong. NewburnThe first issue is as twisted a detective story as any great television procedure, with a final button pointing to the true hook of the series: the aging private detective who works alone for the mob faces an apprentice.

In the “Man I love this art” news, I still love the work that artist Dani and colorist Dave Stewart are putting into Arkham City: Order of the World. Even if the story wasn’t interesting (and it is), you could pick this up anyway.

The team that will soon produce a Batgirls ongoing series took the backup story in this week bat Man And if each issue has a panelist, Jorge Corona, and colorist Sara Stern, going as hard as they do on this one, I’m going to love this series even more than I anticipate. And I look forward to loving him very much.