With so much of the new Batman status quo established in June's Batman Reborn event, and Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne now firmly established as the new dynamic duo, DC's Batman panel was relatively short on shocking revelations. The last great Bat-related mystery of the moment (well, other than the whole "how is Bruce Wayne coming back?" thing), the identity of the new Batgirl, remained unsolved, with incoming Batgirl writer Brian Q. Miller limited to only the tiniest of tidbits. There was only one concrete statement about her identity: Batgirl will not be Bette Kane, the Silver Age Batgirl who has since become Flamebird.

No matter who the new Batgirl will be - whether it's the incumbent Cassandra Cain, the iconic Barbara Gordon, or the Spoiler-ish Stephanie Brown - the book will feature lots of characters that haven't appeared recently, whom readers will be happy to see return. There are also big plans for Batgirl's costume, which will initially be the Barbara Gordon version but then change into a newer, sexier costume in the third issue. Finally, according to a prepared statement: "There are waffles in the first issue."

Elsewhere in the Batman books, Greg Rucka offered up a number of details on the future of Detective Comics. He promised that J.H. Williams's art will only get better with each passing issue, and he genuinely believes that Williams is redefining the language of drawing comics. Perhaps most interesting, there will be a massive change in art style in #858, and the comic will actually look as though a different artist drew it. The Question is set to take on an even bigger role in the book, as her second feature will expand to twenty pages and be the lead story during a break in the middle of Rucka and Williams's run.

Paul Dini, currently writing both Batman: Streets of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens, promised that the villainous Hush, now impersonating the otherwise dead Bruce Wayne, will continue his "one man stimulus plan", giving away Bruce's entire fortune and wreaking financial havoc on the Batman family. Hush is also out for revenge on the Gotham City Sirens characters, making him a key player in both books. Dini will also feature another villain, as he will be featuring the serial killer Mr. Zsasz (who makes the Joker look almost reasonable by comparison) in Streets of Gotham. Mr. Zsasz - newly redesigned to look even more horrific - is out to realize his truly disgusting vision of Gotham City.

We didn't hear as much about Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin book, although artist Philip Tan, who will take over art duties from Frank Quitely starting with issue four, did reveal that he's got a "crazy, crazy script" to work from. He hopes that his three issues will provide something a little different from the rest of Morrison's run on the book, although it will still be consistent with the overall gonzo tone of Batman & Robin. Batman group editor Mike Marts also confirmed that Morrison is still working on his masterplan for the character, and he mentioned that we haven't seen the last of the future Damien Wayne from Batman #666.

Batgirl isn't the only new book that will be joining the already crowded Batman franchise. Sterling Gates has written the four-part World's Finest miniseries, which will start in October. The story will explore the relationship between Dick Grayson and Clark Kent (or, as he is now, Commander El of New Krypton) in light of all the massive changes Batman and Superman have seen over the past year. Fabian Nicieza is writing the Batman and Detective Annuals, both of which will feature the new Azrael and help launch the character in his upcoming monthly series.

Finally, senior executive editor Ian Sattler let slip one intriguing (if cryptic) detail that may or may not amount to anything. When asked about DC's plans to bring in the Batman Beyond characters into the comics continuity, something that has been rumored for years, he replied, "You might see more Batman Beyond than you expect." I'm calling it - Terry McGinnis is going to join the Legion of Superheroes. Somehow.

First, a little bit of history of the Superman/Batman teamups. The two first joined together in 1952, and quickly learned each other's secret identities. Their monthly teamup comic, World's Finest, lasted until the mid-1980s. They were best friends, and their stories often had a sort of boys' clubhouse feel, with Robin along for the ride. Occasionally a girl like Supergirl or Batgirl would want to join the club. Or either Superman would get a new "best friend," leaving Batman to feel sad and rejected. Or some mean boys, like the Composite Superman or Anti-Batman and Anti-Superman, would show up and ruin everything. But the stories would always end with the club intact again.

And then in the mid-1980s, Frank Miller and John Byrne came up with the idea of making Superman and Batman uneasy allies, who didn't trust each other. Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns ends with the two slugging it out, and Byrne's Superman: The Man Of Steel has the young Superman meeting the unsavory vigilante Batman for the first time. Batman thinks Superman's a callow boy scout, and Superman disapproves of Batman's violent methods. This is the one where Batman tells Superman that he's implanted a deadly bomb in "an innocent" that will go off if Superman tries to grab Batman... and then it turns out the bomb is actually in Batman himself, which means Batman is an innocent. I keep waiting for Superman to pat Batman on the back or brush against him accidentally. (Why couldn't Batman have just implanted the bomb in a chihuahua? Chihuahuas are people too. But maybe Batman doesn't believe chihuahuas are ever innocent.) In fact, there are approximately 1,000 DC comics from the late 1980s where Superman says that he disapproves of Batman's methods, before teaming up with him.

Now, the two are back to being friends, more or less, although Superman/Batman always shows that they have very different perspectives by giving us thought captions from both of them. Superman is bright and optimistic, Batman is dark and brooding. So occasionally, Superman will think to himself, "Wow, Bruce is so dark and brooding." And Batman will think, "Oh Clark, I could never be as optimistic and bright as you are." (It's all about the first names nowadays.) And now DC is working on a weekly Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman team-up comic, written by Kurt Busiek.

So in a nutshell, the dynamic between Batman and Superman has always been a tad cartoonish and oversimplified, based on whatever the prevailing version of Batman has been at the time. (Fun caped crusader, grim 'n' gritty avenger, or paranoid-but-brilliant member of the superhero family.) Superman hasn't changed nearly as much as Batman has.

So here's how I'd make the dynamic between Superman and Batman more interesting: I'd turn them into Lethal Weapon.

Superman is the cautious one, the straight arrow who does everything by the book despite (or because of) his almost limitless power. Batman is the crazy, out-of-control risktaker who keeps dragging Superman into situations he's not equipped for. Batman is the guy who sends Superman and himself diving into a black hole on a spaceship with one dud engine. He's the one who drags Superman and himself into a nest of trolls, whose magic weapons can hack Superman to pieces. He seems to make impulsive, rash decisions, but always turns out to have a plan. Sort of.

And yes, I know that since Grant Morrison's JLA Batman has been portrayed as the uber-control freak who always plans twenty steps ahead in every situation. But he's also the non-powered guy who dresses up in a bat costume, with his face unprotected, and jumps off rooftops into gunfire every night of the week. He's the crazed, half-suicidal Mel Gibson to Superman's Danny Glover.

Every Superman/Batman storyline should start with Superman being totally on top of things as usual, crushing a rogue giant robot with one hand while using his heat vision to stop a falling satellite from crashing on a populated area. And maybe using his super-breath to avert a tsunami at the same time. And then suddenly, Batman comes zipping up in his Bat-plane and is like, "time to go, boy scout!" Superman starts to protest, but he knows Batman only resorts to asking for his help when it's a serious problem. The next thing he knows, he's lost control over his superpowers and Batman is sending the two of them in a tailspin into a magical soul-eating volcano. "This volcano is connected to a crime that happened in Gotham City, which means it's MINE," Batman explains helpfully.

Instead of looking at Batman and thinking, "I don't approve of his methods," or "He's my pal," or "Bruce, why are you so grim and dark?" Superman should be shouting "Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce! What have you gotten me into this time?" at the top of his super-lungs, while Batman cackles.