World’s Finest #153

It’s impossible to predict what will become a meme, including those from the Silver Age.
Sometimes, the meme makes sense when you know the backstory. Other times it makes the meme have LESS sense.
Which category applies to the “Batman slaps Robin” meme?

World’s Finest #153 (1965)
by Ed Hamilton & Curt Swan

We’re off to a great start: this is an out-of-continuity story, or as they used to call them an “imaginary story”.
As opposed to, you know, all those times Batman and Superman met in real life.

In this “imaginary day”, Thomas Wayne decides to make an antidote against Kryptonite.
In case you don’t know Batman’s father was a doctor (a surgeon in most incarnations), but I guess that in this timeline he has a PhD in Bulls##t Science.

Superboy is understandably eager to test the serum, but the doctor wants him to wait because it hasn’t been tested yet.
I’d be curious to know HOW he intends to test it without Superboy! Obviously we can’t rely too much on continuity here, but Supergirl can’t be around yet (otherwise it would surely come up)… so is he planning to test the serum on Krypto the super-dog or what?

It doesn’t take long before Thomas Wayne is murdered. Bruce barely gets a glimpse of Superboy’s costume, but most importantly he shows off his future detective skills.

Curt Swan is one of the all-time greatest comic book artists, but at this time he seems to have real trouble drawing someone crying.

“Thanks for reminding me that my mother is dead, Superboy, I tend to forget that.”

And that’s our setup for why Batman hates Superman in this timeline: he thinks he killed his father. Honestly, not a bad way to get these two to fight!

Could’ve been worse!

Batman adopts and trains Robin in this timeline as well, but he doesn’t tell him about the reason WHY he became Batman… until now.

And a million memes were born!

I’ve seen the meme SO many times that the fact it’s actually a mirrored image of the original genuinely upsets me.

I’ll go back to the meme later, but let’s continue the story right with some nonsense: Batman hypnotizing Robin into forgetting everything.

Superboy’s motive for murdering Thomas Wayne was supposedly to steal the Anti-Kryptonite serum, but Batman doesn’t even find it weird that Superman’s never actually used it.

Sounds legit.

WTF is Batman thinking here!? If the serum works, wouldn’t it make Superman immune to Kryptonite regardless of the emergency? Or does the serum only provide temporary immunity?
Come to think of it… how exactly does Batman know the serum works AT ALL, considering it was never tested?

As weird as the story is, Ed Hamilton still goes through the trouble of figuring out the logistics of Batman keeping a base in Metropolis. Nice touch!

Even though it’s just so that Batman can snipe Superman’s cape. (????)

And then Superman is randomly called to a South American country to deal with ants!!!

Uh-oh. We’ve seen how this could turn out.

But it’s just a red herring: once Superman gets back to Metropolis, everyone has been knocked out by a mysterious gas.
For a moment I was worried Batman was so deranged to do this, but nope!

This is explicitly the first time Batman and Superman meet (in this timeline), and he decides to give him a flying belt as a gift. Which is interesting because at the time flying belts were the norm in the Legion of Super-Heroes which has just a couple of Hamilton stories.

Batman is convinced that Superman keeps the Anti-Kryptonite serum in the Fortress of Solitude, and he’s found a way to trace its location. Again, solid detective work!

The Fortress of Solitude is supposed to be impregnable, but I find it really funny that Batman consistently manages to sneak inside.

Although it’s hilarious that Superman reacts as if he was a guard in a videogame.

Batman doesn’t find the serum, so he decides that since he’ll never be able to prove Superman is guilty he might as well murder him. Wait, WHAT!?

Yes Batman, sneaking out the same way you entered would be far more suspicious than blowing a hole in the building. (WTF!?)

Batman is so out of his mind that not only he strikes an alliance with Luthor, he reveals his secret identity!!!

And that takes us all the way back to the cover scene.

Not once during this whole thing has Batman found it weird that Superman doesn’t actually have the serum.

Now don’t be shocked, but the actual villain of the story turns out to be the only supervillain shown to exist in this timeline.

The logical explanation would be that Luthor murdered Thomas Wayne to stop him from creating the serum, but nope! Turns out it was all just an accident.
Or at least that’s what Luthor’s lawyers would say, I’m not convinced he’s not making this up.

This proves Superman’s innocence, and Batman ends up sacrificing his life to save him.
Because I guess knocking out Luthor first was not an option? WTF!?

And so we end with Batman’s death, his last thoughts being the Superman team-ups he’ll never have.

So I guess Robin is still sitting in the batcave?

Historical significance: 0/10

Silver Age-ness: 10/10

Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
It’s not a complete waste: Batman’s detective skills are surprisingly believable… until you think for two seconds about Superman never using the serum, or Batman immediately trusting Luthor, or him never telling anything to Robin, or…

Did Robin actually do anything? NOPE!!!

Did Superman really need Batman? NO COMMENT.

MEME GALLERY

It’s easy to see why the meme took off, considering how extremely easy it is to manipulate it.
First of all, here’s the original meme that started it all.