Random Thoughts From Last Week's Superman/Batman

I've sort of been aware of this arc in Superman/Batman where our two title heroes travel the world, collecting all the Kryptonite so Superman doesn't have to feel vulnerable (except to magic). That of course, leads to writer-mandated conflicts with people who don't want to give the Kryptonite up, except Superman gets his way because he's awesome, or something. Can't say much for the portrayal of Amanda Waller. Probably would have been better served creating "Generic Shadowy Amoral Government Person #2735" just for the story and running with it. I had a hard time buying Waller so blithely commissioning a Doomsday laced with Green K, and letting it wipe out Smallville, and not giving a crap. As for Lana Lang, I don't know. Someone needed to smack Superman's hand and tell him "No". I thought Ma and Pa would have taught him you can't always get what you want.

Beyond that characterization concerns, I'm not sure how wise of an idea it is to get rid of most of the world's Kryptonite, especially after the whole "Max Lord's controls Superman" thing. It's not that out of the question for it to happen again, and now all the Kryptonite currently on Earth is in Batman's possession. Because surely no villain would ever be able to get in there and steal some of it, and certainly mind-controlled (or evil for some reason) Superman wouldn't think to immediately cut off Batman's access to that room. I don't suppose it really matters. If another writer wants Superman* menaced by Kryptonite, I'm sure some more will pop up from somewhere.

What did interest me about the issue was the assist our do-gooders got from Toyman, the adolescent version**. He has these little nanites that can seek out microscopic Kryptonite and eliminate it, and he agrees to do it, if he can get a date with Power Girl (though he already had the nanites working, 'cause he's not going to leave Superman in dire straits). Setting aside Batman offering Hiro a Power Girl robot (why do they have one of those?), eventually Hiro does get to go on a date with Power Girl, which is pretty nice of her, though I guess he helped make Earth livable for her and the other Kryptonians, so maybe it's a nice tradeoff.

I wonder how that date went. I figure Hiro enjoyed himself, but I hope that he was an charming conversationalist, so it wouldn't be a complete chore for Power Girl too, ya know. I'm sure dinner in Paris is nice, almost regardless of who you're there with, but having someone you're interested in talking to probably makes it nicer still.

These are the thoughts that occupy my mind. How troubling.

* Or Supergirl, or. . . Actually, is Power Girl vulnerable to Kryptonite? Earth 2-Superman wasn't bothered by Batman's ring, so I have no idea how that works these days.

** I'm not sure how I feel about the story Johns did in Action Comics last month, where the original Toyman had robotic versions of all the others, including Hiro and the one from the Animated Series. It seems like an attempt to get rid of a story where Toyman killed Cat Grant's kid, and I guess if that's damaging to the character concept, maybe it isn't a bad idea. Still, I hope they don't run with it and declare that only the original Toyman is real, and the others were all constructed by him. No reason we can't have an older Toyman who is really concerned about children, but goes too far, and a younger Toyman who wants to hang out with and help superheroes, and date them if he can, because he thinks they're cool. We've got 7000+ "Green Lanterns", and it works because they're fairly distinct characters. Same can apply for "Toyman", right?