He's faster than a -- well, y'know.

The greatest battles between DC Comics' greatest heroes Batman and Superman -- shoot, I don't even have to say who publishes them, you know who they are! -- have many and varied contenders. But the collection I picked up last week which was published last year on the eve of the big-screen premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice collects six of DC's best post-Crisis (post-1986, for the non-comics cognoscenti among you) iterations of them. Batman Vs. Superman: The Greatest Battles (ISBN 9781401266462) depicts the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel -- see, they even get cool nicknames, and let's face it, Marvel doesn't even come close to this friendly rivalry/knock the stuffing out of each other with Captain America and Iron Man!


I'm sorry, Marvel. I love you, but I've got to go with DC on this one.


Sometimes the heroes fighting among themselves are the most satisfying to us. Yes, they all want to fight the good fight, but if what is justice to us gets expressed in as many different ways as there are ... as many of us there's going to be conflict. Besides, we know Batman is going to win out more often than not -- yes, Superman's the more physically powerful, but I would also say he's the more gullible, the more trusting, the more I need the power I've got under this yellow sun. And you want a hero to be that (powerful and trusting, at least; also, he gets the Messiah comparisons and Batman doesn't) but you also want him, her, or it to be functioning as the best humanly possible.


And being the heroes we want to be.


"Don't look so downcast, mate. You don't 'ave to be a true 'ero. 'Tis sufficient to be an ordinary, everyday, run-o-the-mill one." Mudge's counsel to Jon-Tom in Alan Dean Foster's The Time of the Transference which I finished re-reading yesterday (the Spellsinger series is FANTASTIC!) I can live with too. I also make the heroes I'm writing the adventures of live within those limits -- at least, I think I am. Finding all the pieces that I've written and bringing them together with some final connecting threads ... this won't be the perfect story, but it will be the perfect story for me to tell.


That makes sense.


I stopped in at Bethany this morning for Coffee With The Boys after bringing the kids to school and then picking up the stool Martha's been using at work to sit down on due to her bad knee to bring back to her parents' place. Tuesday night one of our twenty-something members Jacob led his first dance class there ... I've got to admit it sounds pretty exciting, I wish I had the time to get there myself! A lot of the dancing and music reminds me of our wedding reception, from slow to fast!


But NOT faster than a ... well, you know.


David