The following contains spoilers for Superman: Son of Kal-El #11, on sale now from DC Comics
The latest issue of DC's Superman: Son of Kal-El reveals that Batman and Superman have a connection that at least one of the characters had no prior knowledge of.
In Superman: Son of Kal-El #11, Batman takes Jon Kent and Lois Lane to a secret Justice League safehouse somewhere in the mountains after Lois publically humiliated notorious villain Lex Luthor at a press conference during the previous issue. Joining at the safehouse are Jonathan/Pa and Martha/Ma Kent, with Jonathan donning a pair of "World's Best Mom" and "World's Best Dad" coffee mugs.
Batman and Jon get into an argument after Bruce begins levying some accusations that Jon's boyfriend, Jay Nakamura, might be involved in a criminal organization. When Jon goes running off, Jonathan takes Batman outside to converse, which is when he reveals that he and Alfred, Bruce's butler, were good friends before Alfred was killed by Bane in Batman #77.
"We spoke almost every week," Jonathan tells Batman. "Alfred was one of the only people we could confide in. And Martha and I were the same for him. We'd call and talk about you and Clark. We shared our fears, our frustrations. But mostly, Alfred just boasted about you. And we did the same. I miss him. He was a great man and he loved you, dearly." Bruce appears to be completely caught off guard by the revelation, while Clark is off-planet for the majority of Superman: Son of Kal-El and it's not known whether or not he knew about his parents' relationship with Pennyworth.
Jonathan proceeds to offer Bruce some advice on how to handle things with Jon moving forward. While Batman is worried that Jon is making a huge mistake in putting his trust in Jay, Jonathan reminds him of what it's like to be in the early stages of becoming a superhero. "You made mistakes when you were starting out, and Alfred didn't get in your way, no matter how scared he was," Jonathan points out. "Jon needs to be able to make mistakes, too."
Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 comes from writer Tom Taylor, artist Cian Tormey, colorist Federico Blee and Matt Herms and letterer Dave Sharpe, with cover art by Travis Moore and Tamra Bonvillain and variant cover art by Roger Cruz, Norm Rapmund, Luis Guerrero, Dan Mora, Brian Ching and Rain Beredo. The issue is on sale now from DC.
Source: DC