A new preview of coming comic Batman & The Outsiders shows Batman pontificating in his cave about why a shady corporation manufactures “quantities of Berkelium and Californium”.

“Two highly radioactive substances with no practical industrial applications,”

muses the crimefighter, adding that “[the corporation] has contacts with the European Space Administration.”

The writer of the series, Chuck Dixon, is well-known as one of the handful of dyed-in-the-wool Republicans that somehow manage to find jobs in the entertainment industry, so it’s not surprising that he’d be the one to slip in a jab at the other end of the political spectrum. What is also not surprising is that, having suffered all my reading life through similar little apropos-of-nothing comments from the 90% of writers out there who are Democrats, I find I’m really no more amused when the shoe’s on the other foot.