Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

New %27Batman/Superman%27 issue features the duo meeting relatives from an alternate reality

Huntress is Batman%27s daughter by way of Catwoman

Power Girl is the Kryptonian cousin of Earth 2%27s Superman

Batman and Superman are getting ready for the world's finest of family reunions.

The Dark Knight meets Huntress, a daughter his Earth 2 counterpart had with Catwoman, and the Man of Steel is introduced to his alternate-universe Kryptonian cousin Power Girl in DC Comics' Batman/Superman issue 8, out Wednesday from writer Greg Pak and artist Jae Lee.

The "First Contact" crossover with Paul Levitz's Worlds Finest series, which stars the two parallel-world heroines who are stuck on an Earth other than their own, boils down to trust for Pak.

"Who do you trust if the dangerous intruder you catch breaking into your secret headquarters claims to be your daughter from an alternate universe?" the writer says. "Conversely, how much can you trust the younger, rasher alternative-universe version of your father to do the right thing in your time of great crisis?

"And finally, how much can you trust the judgment of your own alternate-universe self?"

In the history of Earth 2, Huntress and Power Girl watched their famous relatives perish in a war with Darkseid before being transported to Earth 1. (There's a new Batman in town in Tom Taylor's Earth 2 series, and Superman is still alive but being controlled by Darkseid.)

Huntress turns to Batman and Superman when the extremely strong Power Girl begins to get out of control, but she's met with skepticism. Plus, even among Batman and Superman, the two heroes have been working together for some time yet still don't trust each other and see the other guy as potentially the most dangerous dude on the planet.

There is some humor in the mix, though, Pak says. "It's always fun, for example, when someone's actually able to surprise Batman. I'll say no more.

"Whenever you have a chance to push your main characters out of their comfort zone, you've got a good chance for a fun, involving story," the writer adds. "I also love the contrast between the men and the women, the older characters and the younger characters, and the Bat Family and the Super Family. Lots of great buttons to push and last nerves to get on."

Lee feels he does his best work if he has something deeper to connect with than two guys punching each other. So he was inspired in crafting the emotionally resonant scenes of Batman and Superman meeting their long-lost loved ones from another reality.

That's a mind-numbing experience, "but characters in comics tend to let stuff like that wash over them like everyday occurrences. It shouldn't be treated so nonchalantly," Lee explains. "So when Batman meets a daughter he never knew he had, it's our job to make you feel something."

One of Lee's favorite scenes so far in working on Batman/Superman was in issue 2 where Pak gave him a scene where the Superman of our world was consoled by his mother from Earth 2 about the death of his parents from his reality.

"I chose to handle that scene entirely in silhouettes, because I wanted the reader to create the details in their own heads, which would have much more of an emotional impact than anything I could draw," Lee says.

"Showing a tear falling from Superman's cheek would look too melodramatic and silly. But if I cast him in shadow and he simply has his head down, you don't see anything, but you feel even more than if I had shown it."

On the page, Lee's also focused on giving each of the heroines their own body language.

"Power Girl will always be in an upright pose showing strength and confidence that someone with her powers will have," he says. "Huntress will be more graceful and animalistic, because she's what happens when a bat and a cat have babies."

While Batman and Superman are continuing to work on their bromance, Huntress and Power Girl have a different dynamic because they're such good friends, according to Pak.

"They talk more, they communicate better, and they trust each other more," he says. "The interesting question might be whether Batman and Superman's attitudes are going to rub off on Huntress and Power Girl, or vice versa. And in a dangerous world, which is the smarter attitude to take?"

A new supervillain rears his head in the crossover, too. Kaizan Gamorra is the leader of a small Pacific Rim nation with a skyrocketing economy and nefarious plans. Even more interesting for Pak: His Earth 2 self used to date Power Girl. "So yes, complications may ensue," says the writer.

Pak and Lee have a team-up between Lois Lane and Catwoman that begins in Batman/Superman No. 11 — "He draws them both so well, with such grace and guts and humor and danger," Pak says of Lee's art — and the conclusion of the "First Contact" story line leaves the two A-list superheroes in a certain state that sets up their next big adventure.

Some of the themes will also carry over into the Batman/Superman annual (out March 5), especially in regard to how the heroes lost their parents, and Batman even recently watching his son die.

"I think both men have learned through hard experience just how dangerous their jobs are," Pak says, "and if they had the choice, they wouldn't have any loved ones take on the same risks and responsibilities."