3. The Dark Knight Returns
OK. Before you get your knickers in a twist dear readers we're perfectly aware that this is a Batman story. In fact we're perfectly aware that it is probably the greatest Batman story of all time. However no other comic book has done more to define the character of Superman than Frank Miller's holy grail of the graphic novel world. Some fans argue that when he wrote this opus Frank Miller intended to damage the character of Superman by making him the antithesis of everything the popular Batman was - but let's be totally honest, wasn't he always the antithesis of the Dark Knight? If anything the only thing The Dark Knight Returns did for the Superman character was take a stale, boring immortal and transform him into a three dimensional hero who became the poster boy for everything that was good in the world of comics. Sure people still get sick of how goody goody he actually can be but at least that gave the character his own shtick in the crowded world of the superheroes. The majority of the book concentrates on an old, over weight, out of shape Bruce Wayne returning to action as the Batman. Without his once muscular physique and quick wits to help him he instead is forced to wear a damn near impregnable suit to protect himself against the ever evolving criminals in the dystopian Gotham of the future. So where does Superman fit in to this you ask? You see Superman had been hired by Gotham's men in power to remove Batman from the streets as he is seen as not only a pest but a trigger for all the chaos that is erupting in the city. Towards the end of the book the half dead Batman wages war on the half dead Superman (he's just been at the centre of a nuclear blast and thus is severely weakened) in the alley where Wayne's parents were killed years earlier in a smash mouth battle for the ages that comic book fans have wanted to see for years.