There are lots of, many Batman memes. There’s the bombastic phrase “I’m the goddamn Batman,” the sobering “Some males simply need to watch the world burn,” and the foolish photographs of Ben Affleck wanting unhappy. However there’s maybe just one — that of Batman angrily slapping Robin throughout the face — that has transcended the standing of “humorous picture” to full meme format.

Although it has been captioned many occasions in some ways, the Batman Slapping Robin meme format started its memetic rebirth with a easy joke about how Batman’s dad and mom’ are lifeless. The textual content is clearly photoshopped into the picture, and may’t be mistaken for unique comics dialogue. However what in regards to the drawing itself?

I had all the time assumed the picture was a fan recreation, pondering there couldn’t presumably be an official panel of Batman completely belting one on Robin. However I used to be naive and improper. The meme format is an precise comics panel. It’s been flipped horizontally, and one phrase balloon altered to overlap the opposite, in order that Batman seems to be slapping Robin mid-statement — however that’s it.

And so the query stays: Why did Batman slap Robin throughout the face?

The shortest reply is that the panel is from an alternate universe story the place Batman is satisfied that Superman murdered his dad.

“However Susana,” you say, “that doesn’t clarify something, and, actually, raises a complete host of recent questions.”

To which I’ll say, “I wasn’t performed.”

World’s Best #153

Picture: Curt Swan, Sheldon Moldoff, Ira Schnapp/DC Comics

World’s Best, in case you’re not up in your DC Comics naming conventions, is a conventional title for Batman tales and Superman tales, however it took awhile within the lives of each characters for the 2 to really hang around collectively. The long-running 1941 collection started life as a car for reprints of Batman and Superman comics, with a reputation impressed by a promotional comedian given out on the 1940 Queens World Truthful — giving it the “world” in “World’s Best Comics.” The duvet of the ebook all the time depicted the 2 superheroes hanging out collectively, however inside its pages the 2 starred in their very own solo tales.

That’s, till in 1952, when World’s Best put a pushpin in historical past by that includes the primary workforce up story between Superman and Batman. For the following thirty years, in case you needed to see Batman and Superman workforce up, you learn World’s Best.

Even simply by 1965, that was a whole lot of Batman and Superman workforce ups. Ultimately, issues needed to begin getting bizarre. Which brings us to World’s Best #153.

Picture: Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan/DC Comics

The duvet of World’s Best #153 touts its contents as “an imaginary story,” slightly than the same old completely actual tales featured throughout the ebook’s pages. That is each just a little foolish and a captivating refinement of the thought of comedian ebook “canon” into three phrases.

The story inside known as “The Conflict of Cape and Cowl!” and takes place in an alternate universe the place Batman’s dad and mom weren’t killed when he was a toddler, so his mom lived lengthy sufficient to die of unremarked upon pure causes as an alternative. Each Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are teenagers now, the latter often called the internationally beloved hero Superboy.

Bruce’s dad, a medical physician, was within the technique of researching an anti-Kryptonite serum to assist Superboy towards his enemies, however he was murdered by a prowler on the identical day that he refused handy the serum over to Superboy, saying that it wanted extra testing. Thankfully, Bruce managed to catch a glimpse of the killer earlier than they fled by way of an open window, and he got here to some conclusions.

Picture: Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan/DC Comics

Bruce is an orphan, however no one will imagine that the nice Superboy might commit such a horrible crime with out proof. You may most likely guess what comes subsequent. Bruce swears to change into the world’s best detective so as to crack The Case of How Superboy Positively Killed My Dad.

He takes on a costumed id “in order that Superman received’t suspect me.” Why a bat-themed id particularly? Author Edmond Hamilton declines to clarify this, and many of the story proceeds as in the principle universe.

That is the half the place Batman slaps Robin

Similar to in the principle universe, Bruce Wayne finally witnessed the loss of life of the Flying Graysons, adopted Dick as his ward, and skilled him to change into Robin. The issue is that Dick Grayson is a reasonably large fan of Superman, and when he came upon that Batman’s complete deal is that he needs to smash Superman’s life, battle erupts.

“You should be improper, Batman,” Robin insists, “It couldn’t have been Superboy! He might by no means … kill anybody!”

For the pretty affordable suggestion that possibly Batman jumped to conclusions about Superboy, we get the slap heard spherical the web world:

Picture: Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan/DC Comics

After Robin refuses to change into a part of Batman’s large Superman Revenge plan, Batman wipes his reminiscence of ever being Robin and sends him to an orphanage. Jesus Christ, Batman, that’s tousled.

Afterward, Batman by accident turns into pals with Superman, who seems to be very nice. He even provides Batman a flight belt to allow them to zoom round collectively. And when Batman lastly realizes that it’s unimaginable to show Superman’s guilt, he makes amends and the 2 reside fortunately ever after.

Simply kidding. He really decides that if he can’t get justice he’ll have revenge and groups up with Lex Luthor. However after the BatLex workforce captures Superman in a loss of life lure, Lex by accident lets slip that HE killed Batman’s dad all these years in the past when HE was a teen, utilizing one among Superboy’s personal robotic doubles, which he had reprogrammed to steal the anti-kryptonite serum so Superboy might by no means change into proof against his one weak point.

Batman frees Superman, takes a super-bullet for him, and dies tragically, gasping an apology along with his final breath.

Picture: Edmund Hamilton, Curt Swan/DC Comics

What have we realized

It’s arduous to say.

The story behind Batman Slapping Robin is actually not the weirdest backstory to a comics meme. And World’s Best #153 is under no circumstances among the many weirdest tales of its period.

If something, it jogs my memory of one thing very trendy: a Dark Multiverse story. The idea of a shadow multiverse of damaged worlds was first launched in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s 2017 occasion collection, Dark Nights: Metallic. The Dark Multiverse worlds are all in a state of decay, dissolving all the way down to atoms so as to be reforged into extra purposeful cosmoses.

Nominally, every universe within the Dark Multiverse represents somebody’s (OK, normally Batman’s) best concern. In observe, the Dark Multiverse has morphed into a spot to place Dark Alternate Histories, treating them as momentary enjoyable slightly than superior storytelling than the eternally hopeful foremost DCU.

Today, we are likely to see the parallel universe story as a trope so commonplace to comics as to be a bit performed out. However as any Star Trek fan will inform you that there’s a whole lot of grist within the mirror-verse. The parallel universe story can interrogate the principle universe, or add to it in important methods. How does World’s Best #153 stack up towards the nice parallel universes of recent media?

OK, not effectively. However it does have a kryptonite batarang in it, and that ain’t nothing.