No Mans Land - where I soften up to Batman

So y'all know how much I dislike Batman.  I was chatting about this with a friend of mine the other day, waxing lyrical about how Batman is a prat and all, and after the conversation ended it hit me that I do actually like one version of Batman - when he's teamed up with Superman.  I buy Superman/Batman every month and I always enjoy it.  Batman, for me, works best when he's got someone happier to bounce off of.  So you can imagine how delighted I was to find a Superman/Batman team up in No Mans Land.  Actually there have been 2, Batman 566 which was absolutely rubbish all about the Batfanwank, and then there was Shadow of the Bat 9, which was actually pretty great.

The story is that Supes flies in to Gotham to see how Bruce is doing - check that he hasn't lost his soul etc.  This is the scene where they meet:

Oh Bruce.  You're such a miserable bugger.  I suspect he's playing up to his reputation here.

They both discover something that needs their attention.  I just think these panels are nicely done.

The story is that Gotham is going through a dry spell and no one's vegetables are growing.  We know this cos Supes (in his Clark guise) did his regular thing of chatting to the everyday folk to find out what life is like in the ruined city.  He even commented on the type of clouds saying they should be ok to give rain.  Anyway, at the end of the comic he flies off, and obviously does something to the clouds to make them rain.  Isn't he a sweetie.


Other parts of NML that made me soften up to Batman are these scenes:

From Batman 571

Both from Batman 558

From Batman Chronicles #18.  Lesley plays the pacifist and conscience here.











But don't worry, he can still do the tough guy thing. Here for instance, where for some reason I don't think he's being a dick:

And here where he's scaring the crap out of Luthor:

Good times!