Batman #432

"Dead Letter Office"
by: James Owsley (later Christopher Priest) and Jim Aparo
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane

Grade: C

Are the credits to this issue implying that Aparo co-created or finished this story? Maybe that would explain why it seems to fall so far short of the previous issue. There's a whole lot I didn't like about this issue.

For one thing, I don't like Maxine Kelly, P.I. Priest tries too hard to sell us on her, making her over-the-top tough in standing up to Batman and mocking his ears, yet forcing her tender/compassionate side on us as she works to reunite dying mother with son, and having Batman immediately and illogically trust her enough to bring her back in on the mission when he gets a new lead and even LEAD HER TO THE BATCAVE. Note to costumed crimefighters -- do not let a PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR into your secret lair located directly beneath the home of your alter ego unless you trust him/her completely or seriously doubt his/her detective skills. Batman just met her, yet Priest seems to be trying for the strategy of "If Batman likes/trusts her, then the reader will too." Sorry, Priest. The royalty checks won't be pouring in for this one.

For another, Priest's characterization of Batman in the FBI building was completely off. Yes, Batman isn't acting like himself, but suddenly he's depicted with a whimsical, self-aware attitude rather than a focused, business-like mentality. The two most drastic examples in this scene:


"Beating up on law enforcement people always depresses me."


"Got to go to Plan 'B'

Guess what?

Plan 'B' stinks, too."


This playfulness just isn't Batman, traumatized by Jason's death or not.


Additionally, Batman's means of figuring out the real solution to this mystery doesn't make sense. Sure, he notices the woman looking at the boy in the picture (lucky that it worked out that way), but he wouldn't have known she'd lost a little boy that looked just like the missing child without first checking the image files of missing boys, and he wouldn't have checked the image files of missing boys if he didn't already suspect that the missing boy looked like the son the woman in the picture had lost.

Going along those lines, people know a lot of random information in this issue that they shouldn't. Batman investigates an office break-in and magically knows what lawyer works there, what his clientele is like, and that the janitor always vacuums the floor at 6am sharp each morning. Additionally, all Batman has to tell Gordon is "Josh Winston" and Gordon instantly recalls all the details of a missing child case from 7 years earlier, even though he later tells Batman, "...kids get snatched off the face of the Earth everyday. This Winston kid is just one of hundreds!" So how in the world did Gordon remember all those details on cue?

The one saving grace of this issue (beyond the admittedly cool confrontation at the beginning between Batman and Maxine) was the promise that this juvenile cold case was going to end happily...

...and then the real mother dies minutes after being reunited with her son, her son never being told who she was. What the hell kind of an ending is that? So the kidnapper wins, and the mother who has committed the last seven years to tracking down her son gets a half-assed depressing win that really smells like a loss in the end?

And, speaking of that, according to Maxine, the mother is dying because:

"The stress of Josh's disappearance has taken its toll on her health. She no longer has the will to live."

I was not aware this was a diagnosable medical condition. Sure, stress can cause long-term health problems and exacerbate others, but you don't die from a combination of stress and losing the will to live. And, even if you did, wouldn't she regain that will to live once she saw her son was alive? This is garbage writing. Exert the energy to give her a damn disease.

Maybe her disease is long-term inhalation of laughing gas, cuz the other mother (the kidnapper) damn well looks like the Joker on page 20, panel 4. That's the second time in two issues that Aparo has drawn an average citizen with the Joker's facial dimensions.

Okay, so Batman is haunted by the loss of Jason and losing touch with where "the line" is in seeking justice. I get it. I don't think we really needed this story to drive that point home.


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman investigates an office break-in and comes face to face with Maxine Kelly, a private eye attempting to obtain information about a man who was charged with a kidnapping seven years earlier who was then released into the federal protection program, Batman decides to help find the boy and becomes obsessively distracted by it, clearly wanting save the boy because he could not save Jason, Gordon tells Batman it's hopeless and that only the FBI would even know the alleged kidnapper's whereabouts, Batman fakes a fire at the federal building, goes in disguised as a fire fighter, ends up fighting federal agents, angers Gordon but still gets the codes from Gordon needed to read the microfilm he stole, visits the alleged kidnapper who is now a reformed priest, realizes he genuinely didn't do it, randomly and inexplicably figures out the woman who kidnapped the boy and realizes she did so to replace her own son who had been kidnapped, he brings Maxine in to confront the woman (who breaks down and cries), they take the well-adjusted boy to meet his real dying mother (though no one ever explains who she is), she dies right after meeting him, Gordon asks Batman (for the second time) why he obsessed over a long-shot case like this one, Batman looks at a photograph of Jason he carries with him and swings away.


Also worth noting in this issue is an ad promising "Batman's Past is Catching up with Him" and talking about Blind Justice in Detective and the upcoming Many Deaths of the Batman in this title. Both of these stories, and the previous issue of this title, address this theme. O'Neil is finally coordinating his office, apparently.



One last point. Two quotes from O'Neil in this letter column that, I feel, accurately sum up where the comic industry is heading (only, where O'Neil sees hope, I see peril):

As I'm sure you can guess, huge sales and overwhelming acknowledgment by our audience makes our jobs all the more pleasant.

Only when it's late at night and I'm staring at a word processor and a deadline do I pause long enough to realize that I work in an arena that is in the process of remaking itself around me.

I'll go on record once more in saying that there's nothing wrong with wanting huge sales and overwhelming acknowledgment, but every issue isn't supposed to be a best seller and media event. There have to be some lows (or at least some mediums) in order to give the highs any legitimacy. And, furthermore, you can't sacrifice legacy for short-term sales. It comes back to haunt you in the long run and ultimately turns legacy characters like Batman into flavors of the month that lack substance and legitimacy. Everyone will buy a copy of the newest hyped issue, but no one will see any reason to stick with the character in the long run.

And that's what happened. Seven years of great sales, and then the bubble bursts.

Detective Comics #599

"Blind Justice, Chapter Four: Citizen Wayne"
writer: Sam Hamm
pencils: Denys Cowan
inks: Dick Giordano & Frank McLaughlin
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
Batman created by Bob Kane

Grade: C+

Whereas last issue was a precisely constructed series of twists and turns that excited the heck out of me, this single-length issue lost most of the momentum. It's easy to chalk the problem up to a lack of physical action (no bad guys to punch in this one, Bruce never even appears as Batman), but it's not that simple. Great character development always trumps great action in my book.

No, the larger problem for me is that the conflict is too basic. All that's at stake here is whether or not Bruce will be found guilty of spying for the soviets and lose his reputation. Honestly, that's not such a high stake. Bruce Wayne is just a facade to the post-crisis Batman, and besides, we know this is going to work out in the end, so what's really at stake here? The feds even grant him bail immediately after his arrest (would you really do that for a man suspected of being a part of the soviet espionage network?).

Hamm tries to dig a little deeper, giving Bruce the nightmare about Batman killing his parents again, and having him say, ""This dream's all too rational...my dual identity's finally caught up with me." But, while Bruce seems to understand what this means, the reader is left entirely clueless. There's even the cover, with a monstrous Batman wielding a gun and vomiting over a crouched Bruce Wayne, but none of this is ever explained in the issue. In what way is Bruce's dual identity "catching up" with him, and how does that relate to the rest of this plotline?

I guess Harbinger didn't transfer himself to either Bruce or his assistant. Darn.

As we see Bruce's random attorneys assisting him in this issue, it finally occurs to me that Lucius Fox doesn't exist in the post-crisis continuity. If he did, he surely would have popped up in this Wayne Tech centered story by this point. Bruce has no one in his corner at Wayne Tech. Even his attorneys don't trust him.

So we're finally given glimpses into Bruce's training to become Batman, though (as stated last issue) this feels like an obligatory, editorially-forced intrusion into a story that really isn't actually concerned with Bruce's past at all.

So we learn that Bruce learned some martial arts and pain management from Chu Chin Li, the ability to alter his body functions (I believe), his sense of time, and more martial arts from Tsunetomo, and something from Henri Ducard, whose introduction in this issue gets a lot of attention because it's the alias Ras Al Ghul uses in Batman Begins. Really, seems like a big deal over very little.

The only part of this story that intrigued me at all was the moment in which Gordon suggests, for the second time, that he knows Bruce is Batman (he first touched upon this in Batman #430, I believe), this time offering to share that knowledge in court in order to save him. Bruce claims ignorance of what Gordon is talking about, stating that he prefers to fight his own battles.

I could still care less about Jeannie and Roy, and I have a feeling Bruce is going to recover fine from the bullet he took at the end of this issue.

Yawn.

Side-note: Bruce is being tried for his alleged connections to Libya, China, Russia, and "Syraq". Just a few issues ago, Starlin had the Joker taking orders directly from Ayatolla Khomeini, and now DC is afraid to hurt a hostile nation's feelings by naming it?


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: The media circuit has convicted Bruce of being a communist traitor before his trial even begins, his lawyers distrust him and start questioning him about the unusual mentors he studied under in his past, Bruce decides that Dr. Harbinger's assistant is his only key to proving his innocence, but the assistant gets a letter from Harbinger asking for a meeting, and when the assistant shows up, Harbinger(?) kills him, Bruce has the repeating dream again and decides that his dual identity has finally caught up with him, Roy and Jeannie feel bad that they caused all this, The Cartel is unable to duplicate Dr. Harbinger's experiments without the log that Bruce possesses, Riordan boasts that they have something planned for Bruce in addition to all that's already happening to him, Bruce finds out that the feds have invited Henri Ducard to testify against him in exchange for full immunity (and Bruce believes he'll take the deal AND figure out he's Batman), Gordon offers to tell the courts who Bruce really is, but Bruce feigns ignorance and declines, Roy's former homeless friend pulls out a machine gun and mows down Bruce during a press conference, Riordan tells his partners that he didn't plan this, Bruce's lawyers are reported killed and Bruce is reported undergoing intensive surgery to save his life, Gordon tells the police to shut down the bat signal because "I don't think he's coming," and the chapter ends there without any indication of an ending or a "to be continued." Unsettling, but was it purposeful?

Tributes in this issue include a drawing by Bob Kane (he's still got it in 1989. Interestingly enough, he goes for a more modern look instead of using a vintage style) a drawing and semi-humorous dialogue between Batman and a waitress by Kyle Baker, a lengthy write-up by then DC Comics President and Publisher, Jenette Kahn, and a nice pin-up by Mike Mignola (I love when he draws and inks Batman!).

A few excerpts from Kahn's write-up that I enjoyed:

"...he is disciplined and swift to judge harshly, checking his moral outrage only by a higher sense of honor, that he should not stoop, like the criminals he pursues, to killing, too. In this way, he is something of a modern samurai, ruled by his own sense of bushido."


"[The Joker] is unquestionably Batman's match. One might wonder how this can be since the Joker has no physical prowess of his own. the answer lies not so much in his intellect, which is Machiavellian, incisive, abundantly intuitive, and madly creative. Rather it is in the Joker's perversity, his total unpredictability.

The Batman is an ideal of discipline, always in perfect control. The Joker is out of control, and in this way neither Batman's powerful mind or strength can surround him....Thus the Batman and the Joker form a Yin/Yang duality, the Joker needing the Batman (for who else could appreciate the bizarre genius of his acts?) and the Batman needing the Joker (for who else, truly, could test him?) It is a world of passionate, binding opposites."

Can't say I fully agree with her assessment, but I enjoyed it just the same.

Detective Comics #600

"Blind Justice, Chapter Five: Hidden Agendas"
writer: Sam Hamm
pencils: Denys Cowan
inks: Dick Giordano
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
Batman created by Bob Kane

grade: A-


After a relatively unexciting and arguably unimportant installment, Chapter 5 hits the ground running with tons of excitement in the air.

For one thing, Ducard gets fleshed out as a potentially worthwhile villain capable of destroying Bruce's reputation and (later) secret for his own gain. His picking up harmless trinkets at the gift shop to be used as weapons in an emergency was a nice touch.

For another, we discover that Harbinger has taken the body of Roy's old derelict friend who shot Bruce last issue. Should I have realized it was him then? Honestly, I found this revelation disappointing and didn't want to believe it. My suspicions about where Harbinger had transferred his mind were far more exciting choices.

And Harbinger's personality becomes far more fascinating this issue as we discover that he has created a device enabling him to make powerful suggestions to others, and he does so with glee, needlessly paralyzing one foe permanently (just by suggestion) without the slightest indication of remorse. Indeed the character who appeared so kindly at the beginning of this story reveals himself to be a twisted genius, entirely warped by his own physical condition -- constantly seeking to give himself more physical power and to take it away from others. Too bad later writers didn't choose to bring him back. His death in Chapter Seven certainly could have been undone a lot easier than some of the dramatic deaths we've seen Batman's other foes take, only to return again.

I also enjoyed Gordon's characterization in this issue, flashing the bat signal and asking his detectives to give Batman partial credit for their busts so that people would think Batman was still out there. This makes Gordon clever and also shows the loyalty he has toward Batman, wanting to maintain his legacy even when all appears to be lost.

Jeannie and Roy haven't been particularly interesting characters up to this point, so one would think that Roy's finding the Batcave would lead to interesting new developments. And, indeed, when Bruce attempts to swear him to secrecy, Roy goes off on him, angrily shouting "HOLD ON!"...immediately followed by an expression of sincere gratitude for all Bruce has done for them and a willingness to help him. When Bruce refuses this help, Roy again begins to sound interesting, summing up Bruce perfectly by surmising, "My God, you don't trust anyone." But before Roy can really get show any true depth or hit some new level of friendship with Bruce, he willingly offers his body to Bruce instead. It's a cool sci-fi concept, but it makes Roy into a more generic appendage for Bruce than ever before, his mind absent for most of the remainder of the story.

And it's weird just how willing Roy is to be used without any indication of reluctance at all...even after being so badly misused by Harbinger. Roy is waaay too excited to give people the chance to use, abuse, and possibly get his body killed:

Alfred (considering testing the mind control): What if the rewiring didn't work? What if I wind up...stuck in your body?

Roy: No offense, old buddy, but you'd be coming out ahead on the deal. Try 'er on!


Naturally, there's no discussion of what happens to Roy's mind when he's not controlling his own body. Roy is just a clever vehicle in this story (quite literally). Hamm has no interest in defining him as a believable character with thoughts and feelings. Ironically, Jeannie will condemn Bruce for this very same attitude toward Roy by Chapter Seven.


Now the minor details:

-Did we ever actually establish that Roy's homeless friend had been given a chip prior to this point? I know he was paranoid about messages being sent into his brain in Chapter One, but he still wasn't a very likely solution to the mystery of where Harbinger's mind had went.

-Bruce's revival happens awfully quickly. First, he's on the verge of death and not expected to recover, then he spontaneously wakes up, gets to hear three useless lines from Jeannie about how he's going to be okay, and then everyone is willingly shooed away, content to leave him.

-The doctors want to know why Bruce shows signs of having broken thirty-two bones and having a ton of scar tissue. Nice detail to include. Inevitably, any x-rays would have revealed this about Bruce.

-Just had to repost Ducard's lines about Batman on page 15:

...what interests me is the fact that he functions as a lightning rod for a certain breed of psychotic. They specialize in absurdly grandiose schemes, and whatever the ostensible rationale--greed, revenge, the seizure of power, their true agenda is always the same: to cast Batman in the role of nemesis. Hence the puns, the riddles, the flagrant clues they scatter in their collective wake--daring their foe to penetrate the obvious. He always triumphs. If he failed, they'd be berift. The pas de deux would have no point. Like naughty children, who tempt the wrath of a stern, demanding father, they seek only to shock him by the enormity of their transgressions. It's the moment of acknowledgement they crave. Thus "good" conquers "evil." True evil seldom announces itself so loudly."

True, but this otherwise amazing quote arrives about a year too late, as Grant has already been making that point in these pages, introducing truly "evil" villains who don't fit the traditional mold. And there's Ras Al Ghul...


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Ducard arrives in the US to testify against Bruce and discovers he is in critical condition, Dr. Harbinger (in his new body) learns the same, reveals that by using funds he put away a few months back to move into luxury, no one will find the derelict he possesses, Bruce wakes up but overhears that he will probably be paralyzed for life (sadly, no one takes an opportunity to have him reflect on Barbara Gordon here), Gordon asks an officer to give Batman partial credit for a case so that no one knows he's gone, Ducard negotiates with the Cartel to testify against Bruce, Bruce is discharged from the hospital, federal agents trash Wayne Manor for a third time, seeking evidence against Bruce, after they leave, Roy stumbles upon the Batcave just as Bruce and Alfred arrive there (okay, a little too convenient), Ducard figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, Roy volunteers to let Bruce use his body in order to keep Batman active, Harbinger uses a new "Aphasia" device to use the power of suggestion against his opponents, paralyzing some of Riordan's men, Alfred and Roy successfully test the mind transfer device against Bruce's wishes, suggesting that it will be an extreme but necessary solution to Bruce's problems.


Strong chapter overall. Much better than the last one.

Detective Comics #600 (continued again)

"Blind Justice, Chapter Seven: Ulterior Motives"
writer: Sam Hamm
pencils: Denys Cowan
inks: Dick Giordano
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
Batman created by Bob Kane

grade: A

A darned exciting final chapter, but I think it tries to resolve too much at one time. 19 pages isn't really enough to wrap up Harbinger, the Cartel, Ducard, Jeannie and Roy, and Batman's inner war with himself (which really got neglected until this chapter). In fact, Hamm desperately tries to finally earn the title of this story ("Blind Justice") in the final frame and, I think, fails miserably. For a writer who showed such brilliant and deliberate control over his pacing in the first three chapters, something went screwy by the time of Chapter Four (maybe it was O'Neil's interference, or maybe it was the writers' strike ending and Hamm returning to work as a screen writer at the same time that he was writing this?), and the story never really recovers from that fumble.

Still, there was a lot that was fantastic about this issue, including the climactic struggle with Bone Crusher (this time permanently Harbinger), Gordon's knowing chat with Bruce about whether or not Batman should retire at this point (Don't worry, commish. I have a feeling Batman will make an inexplicable full recovery by the time of next issue), and, of course, the final fate of Roy.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that Hamm would allow Roy to die in this story. It's a damn powerful moment, and Jeannie's reaction to the news just tears at your gut. Still, Hamm failed to connect the dots and make this relate to Bruce's nightmares about Batman, his war with himself. Somehow, a really amazing idea for an overarching theme got scrambled by this point, and so what comes through is merely really good instead of phenomenal.

Okay, so Roy is found dead in a Batman costume by the end of this issue. Again, this makes a very weird and (I'm sure) unintentionally confusing parallel to the events of this month's issue of Batman, in which "Batman" is found dead, and is revealed at the end, to be a blonde haired man who closely resembles Roy. Geez, O'Neil. Do some real editing here. You've even got an assistant to help you, for chrissake!

And someone please explain to me why Ducard decides to leave Bruce alone at the end? He's got the goods on him, I'm sure Bruce has resources he'd like (what master criminal wouldn't want a few million in the bank and his own Batmobile?), and he gives no real rationale for leaving at all, instead merely leaving a note behind to either warn or torment Bruce (I can't decide which). If you really think about it, Ducard's presence has zero impact upon this story. The only purpose Ducard serves is to help put more emphasis on Bruce's past (which, again, feels thoroughly imposed upon the script). Beyond that, he's a total nonsequitur.

Hamm's attempt to resolve Bruce's dreams and justify the title of this story make no real sense by the end:

"The world is full of evil. It needs a Batman--to help the weak, to mete out justice. Justice, yes. We get what we deserve. If there were justice in this world for Bruce, Batman would set him free. He'd make friends, fall in love, live his life--as normal people do. There'd be no more anguish. No more dreams. No more wracking guilt when he tries to do the right thing--and fails. Surely he deserves no less...but justice is blind. Blind as a bat."

I only half understand this passage, no matter how many times I read it, and I'm pretty sure it still doesn't explain why Bruce dreams that Batman is pulling the trigger that kills his parents. You could draw conjecture -- perhaps some higher fate needed Bruce's parents to die so that he could be Batman and enact justice, but I'm pretty sure the passage above isn't saying that. It does seem to be saying that Batman forces the memory upon Bruce so that he'll keep being Batman and bringing justice to the world, but then why is Batman pulling the trigger? Shouldn't he just be holding Bruce's head and neck -- making him watch the event repeatedly?


The minor details:

- I absolutely cannot keep track of Harbinger's devices by this point. At the beginning of this chapter, we see Harbinger with what I thought was his "harness" in plain sight, and yet he says:

"If I still had my synaptic disruptor, I could talk my way out. But I don't. And I can't abandon my harness. I stashed it in an alley. For later."

So...wait. His harness is stashed in an alley? And what DID happen to his synaptic disruptor (which he was still using at the end of the last issue)? And what device does he then rewire and put on to use for another permanent mind transfer if it wasn't the harness? And what is Bruce using if it isn't Harbinger's device (I think maybe the Cartel built a duplicate??) And since when does he have the sound frequency weapon back (he uses it in the climactic battle with Batman)? I can't keep this crap straight!

-Damn lucky that Harbinger chose to transfer his mind to the same Bone Crusher volunteer that Batman chose last issue instead of any one of the other five volunteers. The climax of this story would have worked out very differently if he hadn't.

-Does the Cartel's secret lab really have a giant red sign that flashes "Red Alert" when there's a break-in? Tacky.

-Elevated railroad tracks have become such a staple in Batman, Superman, and Spiderman stories in recent years. I wonder when this trend began? Was it that scene in Superman (or was it Superman II or III?) when he lies down so that the train goes over him where there is no track?

-This is the first time Jason Todd's death gets mentioned in the pages of Detective. In fact, it's the first time Jason gets mentioned at all since #582.


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Dr. Harbinger narrowly escapes the police, switching his mind to the body of the Bone Crusher volunteer Batman inhabited last issue, goes to the Cartel's secret labe to get the files from Riordan, Batman/Roy breaks in, the two fight, they end up on an elevated train track, Batman/Roy breaks his ankle and is about to get killed, Batman has Alfred switch his mind to the body Harbinger is inhabiting (what then happened to Harbinger??), Batman/Bone Crusher then tries to convince Roy that a train is coming and they must go, but Roy believes it's Harbinger and resists, the two jump too late and die, leaving Bruce intact back at the Bat Cave, but Roy and (presumably) Harbinger are dead, Gordon believes Batman is dead (at first) and is struck by grief, Bruce tells Jeannie and she tells him off quite well before leaving for good, Riordan (still under Harbinger's influence) is confessing everything to the authorities when Ducard assassinates him, Gordon confronts Bruce, asking if it's time for Batman to retire, nothing gets decided, Ducard is forced to leave America and leaves Bruce a note warning him that the best way to become your enemy is to remain yourself, Bruce has Alfred torch Harbinger's equipment, he reflects on his dreams and realizes that Batman makes him grieve and suffer so that he will continue to fight injustice (I think) as we are left with an image of young Bruce and Batman, walking away from their parents' murder, hand in hand.

Powerful yet flawed issue. Still, celebrating the 600th issue by having Bruce fail...it's powerful, especially just after having lost Jason. And I love that Hamm gives us a sorrowful Bruce rather than Starlin's half-psychotic enraged one; it's a much more heroic way for Bruce to be flawed and to struggle with his failures. Too bad this characterization doesn't last.



Tributes in this issue:

Drawings -- Berni Wrightson (not as good as you'd expect), Neal Adams (same here), Walt Simonson, Will Eisner (nice drawing of Batman and Robin with The Spirit), Dick Sprang (WOW!!!! Worth the $2.50 cover price all its own), Mike Zeck (another nice highlight), Keith Giffen and Al Gordon (very nice), and Sergio Aragones (always amusing),

written tributes -- Alan Brennert, Adam West (self-indulgent, useless), Eric Van Lustbader, Stan Lee (unimpressive silly poem), Samuel R. Delany (impressed they asked, and impressed he replied, but he has nothing substantial to say), Julius Schwartz (can't decide if this is a lame joke or the lame truth, but all he does is reveal that he's been planning for all these years to reveal in this issue that the only reason he gave Batman a yellow chest emblem was to mark the beginning of his editorship on Batman), and Penn and Teller (useless joke about the Jason 900 number).

The few excerpts that I found worthwhile this time around:

"Everyone whose life has ever been touched by random, tragic chance has come away from it changed, in some way. Some transfigured by rage, others by love, some by randomness itself. Bruce Wayne was touched by chance and transfigured by rage; but he's not crazy. And he never has been."
--Alan Brennert

Take THAT, Frank Miller!

"Despite some recent fleeting (and to me unnecessary) distortions, The Batman remains essentially the same."
--Eric Van Lustbader

And take THAT, Denny O'Neil!


(Sorry. I'm a little bitter...)

Batman Annual #13 (continued)

"Faces"
writer: James Owsley (later Christopher Priest)
pencils: Michael Bair
inks: Gray Morrow
letters: Agustiin Mas
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc. editor: Dan Raspler (looks like someone already got a promotion)
editor: Denny O'Neil
created by Bob Kane

Grade: B


There is so much I loved about this story and so much I didn't. Let's start with what I didn't and end on a positive note...

For one thing, nothing is specifically done with the contrast of having Barbara and Jason appear in the prologue and be out of commission at the time of this story. Clearly they are the reason Batman is "different" in this story, but this is never emphasized. When Barbara appears in her chair in this portion of the story, it isn't treated as anything special to either Batman or the penciler. She's just there. Jason never gets mentioned at all. So putting them in the prologue was arbitrary fun, and Owsley doesn't share any clear understanding of why Batman is darker here, even while we can all connect the dots for ourselves.

Secondly, so much of the first two pages of this portion of the story make absolutely no sense to me. Example:

Gordon calls Bruce. Bruce picks up to hear Gordon randomly talk about the anniversary of his wife's death and then ask, "What's on your mind?" even though he called Bruce. Bruce then tells him he's fired if he doesn't attend the benefit tonight. Was this a joke, or does Bruce actually pull this kind of power in Gotham?

Then Bruce is surprised to see that Jack Ryder "has a special on last night" (yes, dig the parallel structure error) even though Alfred just told him he taped it for him, as if Bruce had asked him to do so in advance. So...damn...confusing.

Then, Batman talks to Gordon at his wife's grave, and the narration says "For many years he's regarded the masked man as his friend, his ally in the war on crime. Recently, something has changed." That's nice and all, except that Owsley took pains to show them NOT getting along in the prologue that took place over a year earlier. What the heck?

On page 18, it's clear Gordon does not know Bruce Wayne is Batman, yet Sam Hamm did everything possible to let us know that Gordon absolutely does in the last three issues of Detective Comics. Pay attention, O'Neil!

Page 19 -- Owsley specifically draws attention to the concern that an imprisoned Two Face in the Batcave might recognize Alfred, so Robin's domino mask is the solution? Alfred still has a distinct face, he's still wearing the clothing of a butler and is referring to Batman as "sir" on the phone. And, by the way, wouldn't a Batman so disturbed by Jason's death as to become a darker and morally questionable hero have reservations about loaning out Jason's mask? Again, I'm not sure Owsley understands or cares why Batman has become darker in the story.

So O'Neil isn't paying attention to any of these problems, yet he was damn sure to make sure his fictional nation of Santa Prisca got inserted into this story.

Michael Bair's pencils -- seriously, I have almost no idea what's happening between pages 22 and 25. Who's the guy Batman's beating up on? It doesn't look like the guy in the video? What gyroscope in the coin? I don't see it. And I had to re-read page 25 several times to figure out that they were now outside and on the ground floor.

Apparently someone agreed with me, as a completely different uncredited artists appears to take over on page 31. Double check me, but this does not seem like the work of the same man.

So Barbara was close friends with a cop who ended up being on the take and in league with Two-Face? Indirectly, this speaks poorly of both her ability to judge character and her detective abilities. I don't think Owsley meant to imply any of this, but it comes off, just the same.

Two Face knocks Batman out, inspects his body to discover the body armor, yet never bothers to unmask him and discover his true identity. I HATE when villains do this.

Batman effortlessly pulls off the impossible escape of the century on page 29 without breaking a sweat, yet gets caught by surprise when Two Face clumsily runs up behind him with arms outstretched and his prisoner (a regular cop) kicks him on page 34.

What the hell is happening in those last two frames? I can figure it out, but they're both...weird.


Now the GOOD...

I truly like what Owsley is trying to show about the strain on the relationship between Bruce and Gordon, even if he blew it by having them be weird with each other in the prologue. I wish either one of them seemed to care more about what's happened to Barbara, but I still love what Owsley tries to depict between them in the graveyard and at the end.

Nice contrast between how Batman views Harvey in the prologue and in the main section. Whereas his concern about Harvey's progression in the prologue felt tired and repetitious of so many writers before him, he never once grieves for Harvey here, instead viewing him as some weird sort of comrade, remarking:

"Too bad we have to get old, Harvey. Too bad we can't go back to the way things used to be...to simpler days...before we plunged into the darkness."

Though Bruce has no doubt that he's the good guy and Harvey is the villain, he sees a parallel between their transformations and descents, and it's even more powerful when Harvey feels betrayed by Batman's duplicitous (sorry!) actions in this story, remarking:

"Cheating is beneath you, Batman. Contemptible. Clearly something has drastically changed within you. I miss the man you once were."

What a poignant and humiliating epitaph to have delivered by Two Face, of all villains.

Batman is scarily awesome in breaking Two Face out of Arkham, knowing Two Face is about to strangle him without even turning around, and knowing exactly how to play him...even if it proves to be a dark path to be treading.

Bruce's elaborate plans with Alfred to get out of the party are quite brilliant -- a fun glimpse of how Bruce manages to maintain two identities in his life.

It's also very powerful that, in contrast to the prologue, this story ends with a defeat for Batman, both practically and morally. I only wish Owsley would have included Jason and Barbara's absences in said contract, connecting the idea that they are the reason Batman has begun to slip.


Minor details:

I believe this is the first time it's mentioned that Gordon's wife died (apparently around Year 6 of Batman's career). I thought later continuity had them divorced and both alive in the current day.

Who the heck is "Irv," the pilot for Batman in this issue? Owsley gives him a reasonable amount of narrative attention on page 33 for no apparent reason. I had expected this to turn out to be Alfred, but apparently not.

Why did that random henchman for Two Face brag that he killed Tony if Tony wasn't actually dead -- especially since Tony was RIGHT THERE in the news crew's camera shot with him???

And why doesn't Batman reveal this knowledge to Two Face, instead pretending he simply put away the wrong killer? It's good for a dramatic twist for the reader at the end, but it's earned cheaply. There was no reason for Batman to lie.

Owsley clearly consulted Miller's work before writing this, as he steals both the idea of Batman being a soldier fighting a never-ending war on crime and excessive temperatures in Gotham as some sort of symbol for Bruce's inner-workings. Perhaps he's trying to imply that this is the beginning of the road that leads Bruce to the anti-hero he becomes in DKR.


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: It's the six year anniversary of the death of Gordon's wife, a henchman of Two Face's, enjoying asylum in Santa Prisca, claims he's the one who killed the cop that Batman thought he caught the murderer of in the prologue, that suspect is about to be executed, so Batman goes on a quest to prove his innocence, asking Gordon for permission to free Two Face, busting Two Face out anyway when Gordon says no, flying down to Santa Prisca, and ultimately figuring out that Tony never really died and was, in fact, in Two Face's pocket all along, but Two Face captures Batman after he goes too far and violates Two Face's trust, yet Batman is able to escape and captures Tony, though he is ultimately unable to recapture Two Face, leaving Gordon to scold Batman in the end, calling into question whether Batman did more harm than good in freeing a mass murderer in order to get justice for a criminal who was probably also a killer (even though he didn't kill Tony).


A highly flawed story, both in terms of writing and art, but it definitely had its moments.

Batman Annual #13 (continued again again)


The Who's Who Entries:
(credits unknown)

Batman
This is largely just a summary of the Year One and Year Two storylines, with Leslie Thompson and Dick Grayson inserted in when appropriate. The only important additions I see are that Batman still led the Outsiders and that they're suspiciously vague about when Dick retires (because the timeline is already convoluted and problematic at this point, though, by my calculations, it should have happened in Year 9). No mention is made of Batman ever having operated out of the Wayne Foundation, nor of Bruce having any known relatives outside of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Batman is credited as a master of disguise. This is nothing new, but it does make problematic Alfred's assertion in the previous story in this issue that he taught Bruce how to use make-up to conceal bruises.

Robin
- Wow. Aunt Harriet is still in continuity.

-Zucco's man weakened the Flying Graysons' ropes with acid. I could have sworn Year 3 will go on to show him using a knife.

-Dick still led the New Teen Titans as Robin before becoming Nightwing.

- The entry is clear to show that a prime reason Dick retired is that he felt Batman was becoming too obsessive, even before Batman dismissed him after nearly being killed by The Joker. I dislike this idea, particularly when I thought current continuity had FINALLY decided upon Batman not becoming overly obsessive and DKR-like until AFTER Jason died.


Robin II
- First appearance given as Batman #408. Ouch. Talk about taking a reboot to the extreme.

- Verifies that Batman took in Jason Todd within months of dismissing Dick.

- Asserts that the general public was not aware one Robin had been replaced with another. I still struggle with this since Dick was older and, according to these entries, a full foot taller!

- Asserts that Jason functioned "very effectively" as Robin, even after learning that Two Face had killed his dad. This is the depiction of Jason that we never got to see, since the post-crisis continuity jumped from his becoming Robin right to Starlin's run, in which Jason was never seen at first and later depicted as intensely troubled. Perhaps the writers of this entry are including Barr's depiction of Jason as part of continuity, even though that depiction really doesn't jibe with the character Starlin wrote.

- Asserts that Jason served as a member of the Titans on occasion. I thought this only happened once in pre-Crisis continuity.

- Attributes no specific reason to Jason's abrupt change of character under Starlin, but it does mention the death of Felipe Garzonas (which even Starlin had omitted from Jason's history by the time it was recounted in "A Death in the Family".

- Attributes Dr. Haywood's betrayal of Jason in "A Death in the Family" to fear that a police investigation would expose her as an embezzler.


Alfred Pennyworth
- Brother Wilfred (an actor) and niece Daphne. Interesting that these were added. Clearly, his daughter, Julia, has been deleted from history (and thankfully so).

- Native of England, but has lived most of his life in the US.

- Alfred "helped" Leslie Thompson take care of Bruce, though it is not explained how. He also remained at Wayne Manor and took care of it in the years before Bruce returned.

- "Alfred is responsible for keeping in perfect condition the Batman's vast array of weaponry, vehicles, communications devices, computers, and other specialized equipment." I would have liked to have seen "Waiting in the Wings" explain how he has the knowledge/experience to do this.


Commissioner Gordon
- Barbara Gordon is now Jim's ex-wife and is not deceased. I thought I remembered that being the case later on, but I'm amazed to see such an obvious contradiction of what we just read in "Faces" within the very same issue.

- Barbara (former Batgirl, not the ex-wife) is now his adopted daughter. I believe this was previously covered in the Batgirl Secret Origins story that I chose not to read. Not sure why this change needed to be made.

- Brother (Roger) and sister-in-law (Selma) are deceased.

- James Jr. lives with Jim's ex-wife.


Barbara Gordon
- Adopted by Jim Gordon at age 13 after her parents had died from a car accident (mother) and ensuing alcoholism (father).

- Initial Pre-Crisis appearance in Detective #359 is accurately recapped here.

- Career as a Congress-woman is maintained from Pre-Crisis.

- ALREADY reveals she is Oracle and working with the Suicide Squad, but this information isn't revealed until Suicide Squad #38, which will be released 10 months from now!

- has a photographic memory

- Olympic-class athletic prowess.


Vicki Vale
- Ummm...why? Couldn't we have given this to Leslie Thompson instead?

- Still the editor of Picture News Magazine

- Has "star status" and the media often believes she is dating Bruce Wayne, even though they are off and on.

- Vicki's going away, coming back to Gotham, and getting scarily into body building is still preserved from Doug Moench's run (WHY???)



...And that about does it for this long and important annual.

(boy am I tired!)

Detective Comics #601

"Tulpa, Part One: Monster Maker"
writer: Alan Grant
pencils: Norm Breyfogle
inks: Steve Mitchell
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc. editor: Daniel Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane

Grade: B

While my feelings about Grant's writing fluctuate, it's GREAT to see Breyfogle back on pencils with this issue. Whereas Grant and Breyfogle's abrupt departure after #597 was never explained, nor was their return in any way promised, O'Neil now refers to them as "our regular creative team" in the letters column in this issue. Apparently, he finally got around to reading the fan mail and taking note of how beloved this team is.

Of course, his new interest in their work may be responsible for the fact that "Tulpa" will be a three parter. Previously, Grant and Breyfogle largely did one and two issue stories, but Tulpa is a three parter, and the story after ("The Mud Pack") will be solicited as yet another of O'Neil's famous mega arcs. O'Neil writes the letters column as if a new reader who had just seen the Batman film (still not out in theaters yet, but this issue could still be on the racks when it is) had picked this up as their very first comic ("I'd like to welcome all our new readers to TEC..."), and he seems to be doing all he can to make those first comics darn interesting. I hate the guy's work, vision, and ethics as an editor, but I have to agree that this is an appropriate tactic at this particular point in time, with the Batman film only a matter of weeks away.

In fact, I would argue that O'Neil's only major error in planning for the Batman film release beyond failing to provide consistent continuity across his titles is in his choice of the new Detective Comics logo. Its relationship to Batman is far too subtle. I was one of the eager young fans to first start reading Batman right after the film, and it took me a few months to realize that Detective was another Batman title. I'd assumed from the title and logo that it was an anthology title that simply featured Batman from time to time.

Breyfogle's art truly returns with a vengeance in this issue. The art seems even more intense, the panels even more kinetic, than before. He also gives us a new Batmobile for (I believe) the fourth time in this run. This one happens to be one of my favorite Batmobiles of all time. I fondly recall tracing and (later) re-drawing it as a ten year old, right down to those amazing head beams that seemed to blaze up at the heavens like the light from a star. Breyfogle even flaunts the new design on the cover; arguably his best Detective cover to date:



As for Grant, he's back on the theme of fearing foreigners, particularly those from nations that were somehow wronged by larger nations. His use of "tulpa" is well researched and interesting (if not more than a little fantastic for the tone of this run), but it also feels a little too reminiscent of the Aboriginal shaman he faced less than a year earlier in Detective #591.

On top of that, you've got to ask yourself, why can't the central character of this story just raise a really strong Tulpa to protect him from the mob boss who comes to beat him up every night (or is that what he's finally planning to do next issue?) And don't these mob guys seems a little too-easy going? They come back EVERY night to beat him without breaking any bones or removing any fingers? What a waste of their own time. How can you possibly run a large organization if you're giving this level of attention to every one of your debtors?

Page 12 offers us our first glimpse of the entrance to the Bat Cave in a very long time (certainly since long before the Crisis). We don't see too many specifics, but I'm pretty sure those light beams over the entrance on the fourth panel are suggesting there's a hologram protecting the entrance. I did think the "Poison ivy: Keep Off" sign on the side of the road before the entrance was a bit excessive. I would think you're better off presenting the area as beyond anyone's notice as opposed to rigidly controlled/enforced by someone who shouldn't have that much interest in a random plot of land beside a mountain.

Alfred attempts to take down a burglar and cracks a darn good joke in the aftermath. On the one hand, this is fun and reminds us why Alfred is so awesome. On the other, I'm a bit amazed that a burglar could get that far into Wayne Manor and only have to deal with Alfred before escaping successfully. What if he'd broken in on one of those nights while Bruce was strewn across his bed, exhausted beyond waking, and still wearing the costume? Certainly, Wayne Manor HAS to have better security than this.

So why would a man made from the imagination of our very serious and goal-oriented antagonist have a problem with bravado and feel the need to challenge Batman to a race??


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence:

Batman pursues a dangerous driver racing through Gotham in a Ferrari, he stops the guy and watches him disintegrate before his eyes, Batman finds a lot of money on him, a guy from Tibet is waiting for his friend to arrive with $5,000, reflecting on his heritage and on all his father taught him, he is visited by a mob racketeer and his two enforcers who beat him for owing $5,000, the guy swears his friend is coming, but the friend never arrives (we can assume this is the guy Batman stopped), Batman visits the owner of the Ferrari (it was stolen) and receives no helpful info, the Tibetan guy collects himself after his beating apologizes to the memory of his father for having to use his family secrets in a corrupt fashion, and begins an incantation, he advises another "friend" to break into Wayne Manor and steal exactly $5,000, the friend breaks in, is confronted by Alfred, and escapes without the money, Alfred places a tracer on the friend and notifies Batman, Batman begins to pursue, but the friend returns to the Tibetan guy, explaining that he was discovered, and the Tibetan guy makes the friend dissolve, explaining that he was a "Tulpa", created from his own imagination, he also discovers the tracer and destroys it, Batman loses the signal but knows approximately where it was coming from, and the Tibetan guy decides to take this to the next level, summoning "a demon from hell" instead of just another Tulpa this time.


A pretty average issue, but Breyfogle's art and new Batmobile truly pushed it to the next level.