shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:45:56 GMT -5
New Titans #65
"Dejavu" writer: Marv Wolfman pencils: Tom Grummett inks: Al Vey letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy associate editor: Jon Peterson editor: Mike Carlin
grade: D
Okay, so you're Marv Wolfman. You have been given the reigns to the most popular and lucrative character/franchise on the planet. Meanwhile, your true baby, a title that you've given a decade to, that was once at the top of everyone's lists but is now largely forgotten, has fallen into relative decline. What do you do?
Lots and lots and lots of crossovers.
Sure, O'Neil probably wasn't going to go for doing five part crossovers twice a year, but Wolfman still manages to put Batman on the cover of this issue, throw Tim Drake into this issue (and at the end of the previous one -- which isn't really worth reviewing since it's one panel), and ultimately teasing us with cover appearances by "The Joker" in coming months while he's supposed to be dead, or at least out of commission for the time being.
In short, this is a pretty shameless ploy.
Of course, Dick Grayson got to officially pass the reigns to the previous Robin back in the day, but that happened in the Batman title (truly, though Wolfman tries to make it work, this subplot has nothing to do with the Titans nor the four part "Plague" storyline culminating in this issue), and it meant something to Dick and his identity last time around (for those who actually pay attention to my endless rants and ravings, New Teen Titans #39 is still my favorite comic book ever written), whereas it's just something he's obligated to do for this next potential Robin here.
And please note that it's called into question whether Tim will even be "Robin" in this issue. Were Wolfman and O'Neil debating this issue, or were they just trying to have fun with the reader?
As always, Wolfman has a talent for writing Dick's dialogue. His playful banter in this issue is both enjoyable and surprisingly authentic. Wolfman writes Dick like a real person, and he should. He's been writing the character continuously for 8 years at this point. However, his characterizations of both Bruce and Tim are disappointing.
Regarding Bruce, Dick and Tim both agree in this issue that Bruce is a joyless man who hasn't "ever allowed himself to truly enjoy anything," a man who wasn't "EVER young. At least not after his parents were killed." Yet, just a few months back, we saw Wolfman exploring the life of the post-Crisis Bruce Wayne in greater detail and showed us a character who, while not clearly enjoying any specific moments, seemed happy and kind to those around him -- not some diligently focused grim warrior on a path. I suppose we're back to the Year 3 notion that Batman needs a Robin to keep him sane.
And then there's Tim. While initially portrayed as a perfect Gary Stu who could deduce Batman's identity as a child, Wolfman over-corrects by making Tim a bit stupid and pathetic in this issue, utterly unable to anticipate Dick's thought process to the point of sitting by a fair ground for 7 straight hours (as ordered) and making absolutely no use of that time nor even attempting to infer what he should be doing. Sure enough, when the final conflict comes around, Tim is less than useless, whereas he should have had enough training by this point not to have been taken by surprise from behind and remain knocked out for the duration.
Yes, Wolfman was handled a difficult job of trying to make sense out of a Batman who'd been handled so drastically differently by so many writers, as well as developing a side-kick so overly monitored by fans and management alike, but this issue doesn't do much to help. Both Batman and Tim seem...confused in their depictions at this point, and I find that frustrating two full years into the post-Crisis retcon.
Plot synopsis in one sentence:
Tim is sent by Bruce to learn how to be a good partner from Dick Grayson, Dick shows him around and makes it clear that he utterly sucks at being a partner while also telling him "you're one of the BEST I've ever seen," the Titans' "Plague" storyline comes to a climax with Tim knocked out on the sidelines, and that's pretty much it.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:46:57 GMT -5
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #6
Gothic, a Romance: Part 1, "Man Without a Shadow" writer: Grant Morrison art: Klaus Janson colors: Steve Buccellato letters: John Costanza editor: Andrew Helfer asst. editor: Kevin Dooley
grade: B-
Had I been an adult reading this in 1990, I think I would have been very impressed. Though DKR, "Shaman," and the Arkham Asylum graphic novel (also by Morrison) had already worked to portray Batman on a more adult level, this issue works vigorously to extract any sense of conventional kid superhero comics out of this plot and portray something more disturbing and sophisticated. However, Twenty three years later, having read an onslaught of these kinds of books, I look back and see this one trying too hard. The constant allusions to Don Giovani, the entirely irrelevant inclusion of a mob boss working to hide the fact that he's a homosexual, the suggestion that an underling who won't squeal to his mob superiors will be punished by having his wife and daughter forced to perform in pornographic home videos, it's all just screaming "This is adult stuff! Check it out! Adult!!!! Really!!!!!!!!!" Of course, that's also just Morrison's mind in a nutshell. Add the random song referencing church bells in Britain, and even if there'd been no name on the book, you'd know who wrote it.
Klaus Jenson, granted the freedom to ink his own art on this book, turns in some very nice work. As was done with the "Shaman" storyline, he inks the borders of pages depicting events at night in black, which feels perhaps a little too oppressive. Once again, a book trying very hard to be seen as mature for the first time may be trying just a bit too hard.
As for the story itself, it doesn't have much substance yet. This is far from the first time a presumed dead rival from the past returns to knock off mob bosses in a Batman story, and I've no idea where Morrison is going with the dream sequences about Bruce as a kid learning that his father is still alive. What's with Morrison and Thomas Wayne, anyway? In typical Morrison style, we've been left many hints of what's coming that don't mean anything to us yet, and we can only hope it will all pay off in the end (a crap shoot with the man, but perhaps we have better odds since this is an earlier work, before he got the idea that he could do no wrong).
Regarding continuity, LotDK was originally promoted as being a title outside of continuity, and yet the "Shaman" storyline worked hard to embed itself deeply into the most critical components of Batman's origin. In contrast, this story doesn't appear to have any interest in tying itself into continuity at this point. As will remain a tradition in this title, Batman is in his Year One (and possibly Year Two) costume, and there is no Robin, but otherwise this story could have occurred at any time. There is one reference made to there having been peace between the mob organizations for years now, but we haven't learned much about the post-crisis mobs of Gotham City outside of Tony Zucco at this point, so that doesn't really get us very far.
minor details:
- Who is the boyhood friend walking with Bruce in the dream sequence? Is Morrison introducing Thomas Elliot this early on? I doubt it.
- What is "the secret no one knows" that Bruce alludes to in the dream?
- Why is Jonathan Crane in the dream sequence, perceiving Bruce's becoming Batman as Bruce becoming a teacher? Was he a teacher to young Bruce Wayne? Or are we to infer that Batman has already fought the Scarecrow at this point?
- Interesting choice to have Bruce fill his father's study with clocks stopped at 8:25 (the time when the Waynes were murdered, I presume). Seems a bit too over the top though, though. I like a Bruce Wayne who is obsessed with his mission, but not one who is clinically unstable.
- Page 13 probably includes the most blood seen in a Batman story since the Moench/Colon/Newton Monk storyline back circa Batman #350.
- What's up with the kid who gets off the bus on page 18? Some trouble maker tries to entice the character by beckoning "here, kitty. Here, kitty kitty" and then looks freaked out and says :Ah...it's okay. Nevermind. No problem." I'm assuming it's because the character, who initially looks like a girl, looks more like a boy in that last panel, but it's really hard to tell. What the heck was the point of including this scene? How is this character going to play an important role later on?
- Mr. Graziano, presumably the head of a mob family, is drawn to look like Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
- Yes, I suppose anyone can make their own bat signal. Not really clever enough of an idea to warrant the final page of the issue.
plot synopsis in one long sentence:
two thugs are beating up an underling who clearly has no information to give them, a mysterious villain distracts them with a phonograph player playing a song personifying church bells, leaves them cryptic poetry on a card, and then kills them, Bruce dreams he's a boy again, talking with a boyhood friend about "the secret no one knows" before discussing what he's become with Jonathan Crane and then discovering that his father is still alive with a stitched up mouth and an enraged look on his face, Bruce wakes up and explains to Alfred that this dream has been recurring, a mob boss and his male prostitute (disguised as a woman) receive a poetry excerpt and are killed, more mob people are killed, we learn that the killer is named "Whisper" and was thought dead years ago (still not clear how they know it's him), a time capsule from the 18th Century is about to be opened in Gotham, (Boss) Graziano is killed while watching a performance of Don Giovani, a random person gets off a bus and may be a boy mistaken for a girl (where is this going?), Batman stops some hoodlums, and the remaining mob bosses use their own Bat signal to seek Batman's help in stopping Whisper.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:52:47 GMT -5
Batman #447
"Earth Day! Demon Night!" writer: Marv Wolfman pencils: Jim Aparo inks: Mike DeCarlo letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy assoc ed: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil creator: Bob Kane
grade: C-
Two years after introducing the idea of the multi-part mega event in this very title, one of its biggest negative qualities is beginning to become clear: the practice of selling the premise without actually having worked out how to end it. Looking at what we know of the development of Crisis on Infinite Earths, as well as the recent Lonely Place of Dying crossover, it's not hard to figure out that Wolfman is a pretty indecisive writer, often changing his mind about things mid-course. So we have this storyline that, based upon Nightwing's revelations back in Year Three, was originally intended to star the now still living KGBeast, that features a title that never ever actually ends up reflected in the events of the story ("When the World DIES!", conveniently dropped in this final installment), and has this final chapter that clumsily brings things to a close in a way that didn't feel carefully planned at all.
Probably my biggest problem here is the final confrontation between Batman and the NKVDemon. Wolfman has now clearly established that the Demon is a master of disguise and pretty much the best assassin who ever lived, as well as Batman's superior in hand to hand combat. By that logic, Batman doesn't have a prayer of stopping him without some brilliant plan. But Batman never concocts one. He simply waits around and hopes, and this only works because the NKVDemon MISSES TWICE when firing at Gorbachev at nearly point blank range and then inexplicably loses to Batman in combat even though Batman has been twice seriously injured by him in the past 24 hours and does nothing particularly special nor clever to stop him. Wolfman brings the story to an end because it's the fifth chapter, and it feels exactly as abrupt as that.
Additionally, the plot for this issue is just as unceremoniously direct. Wolfman takes no opportunities to explore anything more in regard to politics, Batman's ethics in working with a police agency that's less concerned with rights and which locks up potential targets against their will for their own "protection", gives no more characterization, motivation, or complexity to Nikita, the agent working with Batman against the wishes of most of his own government, paints Lenin and Communism in a disturbingly simple light ("Lenin began the process that separated our world into two, into them versus us"), makes absolutely no use of Vicki Vale and no meaning of her involvement in this story for three issues now, does nothing interesting with the character of the NKVDemon, and ultimately utterly fails to make a point about environmentalism, even though it's clear the title for this story ("When the Earth DIES!") suggests a deeper thematic connection between international cooperation and international environmental efforts that never really arrives by the climax beyond Lenin's birthday being on Earth Day.
And what was with that tacked on ending in which Bruce promises a promotion to the attache assigned to him in Moscow that he'd been ditching throughout the story? Wolfman and Aparo are clearly trying to play it for comedy, but it came out of nowhere and truly felt as such. This was a dark storyline, and this utterly saccharine ending depended upon our remembering an utterly minor subplot that hadn't been referenced at all in this issue.
The one real positive in this issue was the cover by Brian Bolland, featuring a Soviet newspaper with Batman photographed at a crime scene on the front page. I even enjoyed the random Batman logo on the paper under the issue number and price, exactly where the "cover box" for this issue should have been, featuring a Dick Sprang era Batman with a Soviet logo beneath him.
Truly, this wasn't a bad issue, but it really didn't do anything right either, and since it was supposed to be the pay-off of a mid-sized multi issue story arc, that makes it pretty darn disappointing. Wasting one issue is one thing; wasting the potential of a storyline that took up three issues is another.
minor details:
- This is the second issue in a row in which Tim has neither been shown or mentioned, a surprising move considering how heavily he was being featured prior to this.
- I'm still scratching my head on how Batman caught that flagpole to break his fall at the beginning of the issue if he was already holding both ends of his cape before hitting it. And did we really need a full page devoted to this?
- Wolfman makes too good a point about how the Soviets would be bothered by the amount of unwarranted wealth Bruce Wayne has compared to the average American and then goes nowhere with it, instead attacking Lenin and his principals on the next page. Now who's brainwashed?
- Again, how does the Demon rip off a human face and have a mask that is larger than a human face beneath it? And how did that face make expressions on page 18?
- What did Nikita shoot the Demon with to make him burn to a crisp like that at the end??
plot synopsis: Batman survives the fall from last issues' cliffhanger, the Demon kills the next three on his list leaving only Gorbachev, Batman figures out he'll strike on Lenin's birthday (also Earth Day), Batman defeats him without a plan by sheer luck, and Nikita kills him, knowing Batman won't.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:53:40 GMT -5
Detective Comics #614
"Street Demonz" writer: Alan Grant pencils: Norm Breyfogle inks: Steve Mitchell colors: Adrienne Roy letters: Todd Klein assoc. ed: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil creator: Bob Kane
grade: C
Intended or otherwise, this issue offers a nice contrast to the most recent issue of Batman, which brought up the point that the Soviets would see the amount of money Bruce Wayne has in comparison to the average person as a sort of injustice and then left the issue hanging. Instead, this issue attempts to take such an issue to heart, examining kids who, from an early age, are essentially given no options in life and are doomed to struggle to survive, most resorting to crime as a solution that only gets them dead or incarcerated faster. This is a social issues story, through and through, and such comics usually go one of two ways: amazing or hokey. This one straddled the line uncomfortably between the two.
I suspect part of the problem is that Alan Grant is a Brit attempting to portray the face of American poverty. Thus its odd when Batman stands up against an entire gang out on a rampage and challenges them to "Come on!" and yet not a single one has a gun to fire at him. I also suspect this is why Grant generally avoids depicting the four kids featured in this issue, instead allowing their principal to speak for them and their plight with a detached authority.
Additionally, this is not a strong issue for Breyfogle, who generally knocks my socks off. He does dark amazingly well; he does humor amazingly well; he seems....lost in portraying the tone of this issue, especially in that final panel that shows Batman enshrouded by darkness, drawn with hard lines and rigid angles, and offering a goofy smile with an American flag waving behind him.
And the addition of a partial back story for Bruce, having history with a random member of the gang featured in this issue who does not appear until the end and is randomly recognized by Bruce even while wearing glasses, feels absolutely tacked on. It has no place in this story.
At it's heart, this is a story with an important message, and I respect that message immensely, especially when we're given lines like this one:
"The rich get richer, the poor get poorer...and all the while the city goes on spewing out kids, chewing them up like so much fodder! We try to educate them, show them there's another world -- and even that's a mistake, because most of them could never afford to live in it!"
But the story falls flat in too many places, feeling goofy and even contrived though it's certainly offering a message we don't see addressed often enough. In the end, I respect the intent of this issue tremendously, but the execution is wanting.
Important details:
- Bruce was attending an exclusive private school at the age of 12, and presumably before and after. - Around that time, Bruce visited Crime Alley (presumably for the first time since the death of his parents), was attacked by the Demonz (including Skorp, a new initiate trying to make a name for himself by taking down Bruce), and was saved by a homeless "fairy godmother" who inspired him to be charitable to others. - Reiterated that Alfred was around during Bruce's childhood in the post Crisis.
Plot synopsis:
Batman tracks four accomplished twelve year old thieves back to the Demonz, a gang they are fencing to and one day hoping to join, the gang is attempting to get them to start selling drugs, Batman consults Gordon and attempts to talk sense into the kids, ultimately speaking with their principal about the plight of the impoverished instead, we learn that the Demonz attacked Bruce when he was the kids' age and visiting the scene of his parents' murder and that a homeless "fairy godmother" rescued him, The Demonz decide to go after the kids, presuming they are working with Batman, Batman saves them and decides to be a "fairy godmother" to them in offering free college to any kid at their school that graduates.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:57:15 GMT -5
The Post-Crisis Batman Continuity (as of Batman #472 [1991])Please note: Denny O'Neil was not the most vigilant of continuity editors, and so this list attempts to resolve a number of seeming contradictions, most notably made in Year 3, at which point O'Neil seemed to be intentionally making changes to continuity. ________________________________________________ 22-28 years prior to Year 1 -- Bruce Wayne is born to Thomas and Martha Wayne (Secret Origins tpb indicates he is 8 years old when his parents died, Detective Comics #578 and Batman #404 indicate his parents died 18 to 20 years prior to Year 1, Secret Origins tpb also includes the problematic detail that he is "in his early twenties" when he concludes his training and returns to Gotham prior to Year 1 -- thus the range of years in which this event could have occurred. Based on the other events shown/listed in the Secret Origins tpb, Bruce had to be at least 22 when he became Batman, having begun his training at 20, studied under Kirigi for almost a year, studied with Ducard for six months (Detective Comics #600) and sought out at least 16 other mentors in that time(various sources, all compiled here). 19-25 years prior to Year 1 -- A young Bruce Wayne falls through a hole into a cave on the Wayne Manor property (presumed, Bruce is at least three years old here and his parents have not yet died (Secret Origins tpb) (they die when he is 8, and that was 19 years prior to Year One, as stated in Batman #404). 19 years prior to Year 1 -- The Reaper retires after a career of protecting Gotham through murderous vigilantism (stated as having occurred 20 years prior to Year 2 in Detective Comics #575). 18-19 years prior to Year 1 -- Alfred Pennyworth's father dies; Alfred takes his place as butler to the Waynes (all immediately prior to the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Batman Annual #13). Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered (20 years prior to Year 2, as stated in Detective Comics #578, 18 years prior to Year 1, as stated in Batman #404). Bruce is 8 years old (Secret Origins tpb)( 1). Lewis Cord, a runner for the mob, had the ability to warn the Waynes that Joe Chill was in that alleyway, chose not to, and regretted it up to the moment he died (Detective Comics Annual #3). Bruce is taken in by Dr. Leslie Thompson. Alfred watches over Wayne manor and remains involved in Bruce's upbringing (Detective Comics #574 and Batman Annual #13). 14 to 15 Years prior to Year 1 -- Bruce attends an exclusive private school by the time he is twelve (Detective Comics #614). Grant Morrison's contradictory depiction of this school (which may or may not count since the story didn't come out of the Bat Office) indicates that Bruce and the other students were repeatedly abused (sexually and otherwise) by the staff, and that Bruce's friend, Robert, was killed by the headmaster, who was also the villain called "Whisper" (Legends of the Dark Knight #7). 12 to 14 Years prior to Year 1 -- Bruce revisits Crime Alley for the first time since his parents' death, is attacked by the Demonz gang (including "Skorp," a new initiate who is forced to fight Bruce one on one to prove himself) and is rescued by a homeless "fairy godmother" (Detective Comics #614: this happens sometime after we learn that he was attending private school at the age of 12, but presumably occurs while he is still there and before he begins attending college) 12 to 13 Years prior to Year 1 -- Bruce attends various colleges from ages 14 to 20, in search of information to aid him in his war against crime (Detective Comics #574 and Secret Origins tpb). 6 to 7 Years prior to Year 1 -- Bruce begins his training.( 2) Just prior to Year 1 -- Bruce studies under his final trainer (Willy Doggett), is nearly killed while pursuing a murderer in the Alaskan wilderness, and is saved by a Shaman who tells him the story of The Bat (Legends of the Dark Knight #1, Secret Origins tpb). Year 1 -- Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham. Jim Gordon moves to Gotham and rises to the rank of Captain. Batman begins his career. James Gordon Jr. is born. Catwoman begins her career. Batman forms informal partnerships/friendships with Gordon and Harvey Dent. (Batman #404-407). Between Year 1 and Year 2 -- The events of the "Shaman" storyline (Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5). Additionally, Batman briefly partners with an unstable Harvey Dent, ends up regretting it, and Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face (Batman Annual #14). Between Year 1 and Year 2, but after the above events -- Batman switches to the yellow chest symbol (Presumed since he has it in Detective Comics #575, the beginning of Year 2). The Joker begins his career (presumed from the end of Year One in Batman #408, though this jibes uneasily with the events of Year 2, which suggest the Reaper is Batman's first major villain) after falling into a vat of chemicals while pursued by Batman as The Red Hood (assuming the Joker is telling the truth in The Killing Joke, though even he casts doubts on this). Jim Gordon is promoted to commissioner (Batman #475). Sometime after Year 1 -- Jim Gordon begins to foster his niece, Barbara Gordon, after her parents die. Jim Gordon's wife divorces him and moves to Chicago with James Jr. at some point afterward (Secret Origins #20). Year 2 -- The Wayne Foundation building is constructed. Batman fights The Reaper, who is implied to be the first major villain he has fought (Detective Comics #575-578). Between Year 2 and 3 -- Batman returns to the original chest symbol, at least temporarily (as seen in flashback in Batman #436). Year 3 -- Dick Grayson's parents are murdered by Anthony Zucco. He is initially sent to St. Jude's orphanage under the care of Sister Mary Elizabeth (Batman #426). He is taken in by Bruce at age 12, becomes Robin at age 13 (presumed, working backwards from Batman #416). Tim Drake witnesses the death of Dick Grayson's parents at the age of 2 and follows Batman and Robin's adventures from that point forward (Batman #441). Year 3-8 -- Most of Batman's rogues gallery is active for some time prior to Dick's retirement, but presumably not until after the events of Year Two (since it's implied that Reaper is Batman's first majro villain), including Two Face, Penguin, and Joker (Batman #408 and Detective comics #575-578) Year 8 -- The first Robin is retired at age 19 and presumed dead by the general public (assuming Year 3 counts as a full first year when Dick tells Bruce he fought by his side for six years in Batman #416). Year 9 -- Bruce takes in Jason Todd. Dick attends one year of college, leads the Teen Titans, drops out, becomes Nightwing, and "started a new life as leader of" the New Teen Titans (presumed from the timeline provided in Batman #416, which seems to imply that Dick formed the New Teen Titans after becoming Nightwing and never led it as Robin, yet Batman Annual #13 indicates that he did initially lead it as Robin). Year 9.5 -- Jason becomes Robin six months after Bruce takes him in (Dick confronts Batman about Jason being the new Robin 18 months after his retirement in Batman #416; the preface for Death in the Family states that Jason became Robin 18 months after Dick retired). The general public believes it's the return of the same Robin (Batman Annual #13). Between Years 9.5 and 10.5 - The Mike W. Barr run, featuring a younger, less jaded/impulsive Jason Todd (Presumed, though it is debatable whether this run counts in Post-Crisis continuity at all, especially since it includes a clearly pre-crisis Catwoman) Year 10.5 -- the events of Batman #416 (takes place one year after the confrontation between Dick and Bruce over Jason becoming Robin, which occurred 18 months after Dick retired), the events of "The Cult" (indicates that Batman has been active for 10 years, presumably takes place after Batman #416). Year 10.75 -- Originally intended to be the present day of Post-Crisis Batman continuity (Batman #436 indicates that it has been two years since Dick Grayson was retired as Robin, and numerous behind-the-scenes comments indicated that Batman had been fighting crime for 10 years by this point, but a change was made sometime between Batman #437 and #441 which I explain here. What follows is in keeping with that revision to the timeline) Between Years 10.5 and 14 - Never fully revealed, presumed to occur between Batman #416 and #425 ( 3) Year 11 -- A flashback in Detective Comics #617 shows Batman and the Joker facing off at a conference on symbolism during this time. We have no other information about anything that transpired in Year 11. Year 12 -- A flashback in Batman #472 shows Batman saving The Queen of Hearts from death, even while she begs him to let her die because she will inevitably kill again. Year 14 - Batgirl retires and is paralyzed by the Joker (occurred in The Killing Joke prior to Jason Todd's death in Batman #426), Jason Todd is killed in Death in the Family, the present day events of Year 3 occur only a few weeks later (Batman #436 occurred ten years after Year 3, Nightwing indicates Jason has only been dead a few weeks). A Lonely Place of Dying. (Tim Drake is 13 and confirms he was 2 during Year 3 in Batman #441) Depending upon how you interpret some conflicting information provided in the Secret Origins tpb and Batman #404, Bruce is anywhere from 35 to 42 years old at this point. Year 14.5 - The events of Batman #450 (said to occur "several months" after Death in the Family) Year 14.5 or 15 - The Post-Crisis Batman finally encounters an updated and in-continuity Case of the Chemical Syndicate (originally the very first Batman story) in Detective Comics #627 (the version written by Marv Wolfman clearly establishes itself as existing within current continuity). __________________________________________________ _____ ( 1) According to the Secret Origins tpb, Bruce is 8 when his parents died. According to Batman #404, this occurred 18 years prior to year one (making Bruce 26 in Year One). Yet the Secret Origins tpb also shows that Bruce was "in his early twenties" when his training concluded, and we know from Legends of the Dark #1 that Bruce became Batman a very short time after. Thus, the idea that Bruce was 8 years old when his parents were murdered AND that this took place 18-19 years prior to Year 1 is up for debate. However, much of the timeline I have constructed is based upon this assumption. ( 2) Batman #431 stated that Bruce began his training ten years prior to Batman #431, and Batman #433-435 indicate that he'd done all of his training in one year, but Detective Comics #600 stated that he'd trained for more than ten years before becoming Batman. None of these statements appear to be correct. However, the final assertion is close to true if you count college. ( 3) At no point is it suggested that a gap of time has occurred between Batman #416 and #425. However, references to time in Year 3 indicate that an extra 3.5 years occurred somewhere, and this is pretty much the only place those 3.5 years could go without conflicting with previous references made to the post-crisis timeline. Meanwhile, "The Cult," written by Starlin at the same time, MUST occur in Year 10 because it mentions that Batman has been active for ten years within it. At the time, O'Neil had intended the present day to be Year 10, which is why this mention was made, but Year 3 later required the present day to be changed to Year 14; thus "The Cult" remains in Year 10 while Starlin's regular run advances to Year 14.
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:57:58 GMT -5
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #7
Gothic, A Romance: Volume 2, "The Death Ship" writer: Grant Morrison art: Klaus Janson colors: Steve Buccellato letters: John Costanza editor: Andrew Helfer ass't. editor: Kevin Dooley
grade: D+
I'm already beginning to lose my patience with this story, and I'm disappointed to be feeling that way considering how many of you have told me you really appreciated this work.
1. The "trying too hard to be adult" and intelligent/cultered bit is still there. What in the world does the title suggest, why call it a "romance," does it really need to be called a "volume" instead of a "part" or "chapter," and the quote that Whisper provides to his victim this time (from "Twelfth Night." Yes, I think I know my Shakespeare well enough to realize you're full of it, Grant) has only the loosest connection to the execution itself (music) and is extracted from a benign scene in a comedy that really isn't applicable here. The quote describes a passion for consuming art, not a desire for revenge or death.
2. Janson's art is feeling a lot clumsier. Many of the figures look like they were sketched quickly and then, rather than erase all the lines, Janson tried to pass them off as muscles or ripples of clothing. Even the figure of Batman on the cover has this quality. There's clearly a line running down his leg that can't be anything other than something Janson neglected to erase. And, speaking of the cover, where are those beams of light coming from, why depict them when the Bat signal itself is on but not casting a beam of light, and what the heck is lighting Batman up like that (apparently, it isn't a beam of light)?
3. Here comes the first (and sadly not the last) time Morrison decides to royally f*** with Bruce's past and put in shocking/twisted stuff that really doesn't seem to belong. In this case, Morrison describes Bruce's private school as a sado-masochistic prison run by abusive professors.
That final point presents us with a continuity dilemma. We just learned in Detective #614 that Bruce attended a private school (though we could have guessed as much) but Alan Grant depicted it as an ideal environment in which Bruce thrived. Morrison's depiction, offered in the same month (so it's hard to buy that Bruce was previously just in denial) outright contradicts this. Then there's the whole question of whether or not to count any piece of continuity offered in a story that's being edited out of another office. I really want to ignore this one, but I'll probably just include it in the continuity in italics or something.
And seriously, how many Batman stories can we be expected to read at one time in which he tries to stop a super assassin from killing his targets, one by one, and doesn't succeed until he gets to the last one?
So, all in all, I found this issue pretentious and felt it overstepped its right to contribute to the Batman mythos as well. There still isn't much of a story beyond bizarre dreams and the deaths of gang members (and, by the way, why make a big deal out of the gang members using the Bat signal to ask Batman for help if he was just going to say "No" and then leave at the beginning of the issue?), and I'm still finding it hard to swallow that this big ex gang member was also the headmaster of an elite private boarding school.
Important details:
- The private school Bruce attended was highly abusive, and Bruce's best friend was even killed there. Of course -- a boy so personally obsessed with justice and with waging war on crime in order to avenge the deaths of those closest to him would witness such an event and just black it out and move on. Take this addition with a grain of salt.
Minor details:
- Intended or otherwise, the cathedral on the ship depicted in Bruce's dream is highly evocative of Tom Sutton and Doug Moench's "Cathedraulus" from Planet of the Apes (vol. 1) #24.
- Intended or otherwise, Neil Gaiman appears to have borrowed significant aspects of this story for Sandman #24 (published two years later), in which the spirit of a boy risen from the dead recalls his treatment and murder at an abusive private boarding school.
- As a response to thwhtGuardian, is there a resemblance between this story and Fritz Lang's M beyond the idea of the criminal underworld coming together to take down a pedophile? "Whisper"'s confidence, and his prior standing as one of their peers, make it hard for me to connect him to Peter Lorre's character in the film.
plot synopsis in one long sentence:
Batman responds to the Bat Signal created by the mob bosses and refuses to help them, we learn that they killed "Whisper" because he was a pedophile, a nun, convinced that "God's not at home" is kicked out of the cathedral that Whisper is hiding out in while the place is supposedly being renovated, Bruce dreams of the Cathedral approaching on a ship with a sense of doom while his father tells him to "Unlock the rose," Bruce is reminded of the torture he underwent at private school and tried to forget, we learn "Whisper" was the headmaster and truly did not cast a shadow, "Whisper" killed Bruce's friend, Robert, Batman attempts to prevent Whisper from killing his next mob boss and fails, Whisper appears to be supernatural (can't be killed with bullets, does not die from a fall out of a high rise window) and Whisper acknowledges that he knows Bruce/Batman.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 10:58:23 GMT -5
Why Bruce Wayne Can't Be Socially Conscious (an opinion)
Bruce Wayne has been portrayed as a wealthy socialite from his very first appearance in 1939. Based upon the pulp hero The Shadow, Batman's wealthy man-about-town alter ego kept him above suspicion and also provided him with the limitless resources and time with which to fight crime.
Unfortunately, over the years, this wealthy alter ego has presented a problem to the Batman franchise, as people generally aren't fans of wealth inequality and generally don't feel entirely comfortable rooting for someone who is super rich without having earned it.
I'm not sure how long this sentiment has been wide-spread in America, but we certainly see writers making attempts to address it as early as in the 1960s when, amidst the counter culture phenomenon that the Batman TV show attempted to be responsive to, Bruce Wayne was presented, from his very first moment on camera in the first episode, as being socially conscious and generously donating to charity in order to make Gotham a better place where what happened to his parents would never happen again.
When Julie Schwartz initiated Batman's soft reboot at the end of the decade, he and his writers did even more to ditch the perception of Bruce being undeservedly wealthy, now having him leave Stately Wayne Manor and making his management of the family business a full time job that received adequate attention in the comic, all while his attention to social issues and commitment to charity was further emphasized. Ultimately, Doug Moench felt the need to point out how impractical it was to have Batman run a multi-million dollar company by day and fight crime by night, but the point was still evident: the perception of Bruce Wayne sitting on a ton of cash without having earned it and without explicitly working to give it away bugged people.
Now, in this post-Crisis continuity in which Bruce spends some time running his company (according to Marv Wolfman) but generally just happens to have gobs of cash lying around, we see Wolfman address the issue again briefly in Batman #447 and then see Alan Grant once again use social consciousness and charity to throw off the idea that Bruce is somehow a passive participant in wealth inequality in Detective #614, but this ultimately poses a larger problem than just having the guy sit back and be rich.
Truly, if Bruce Wayne's primary motivator in life is to eliminate crime and prevent what happened to his parents from happening to anyone else, and if he understands that poverty creates crime (so explicitly understanding in Detective #614 that the poor generally only become criminals because they've been given no other choice) then why keep devoting so much time and resources to fighting crime? Using his wealth and energy to fight poverty is a much more beneficial practice that is likely to yield greater results, whereas just punching people who have already fallen through the cracks while more continue to do so is just putting a very tiny band aid over a much larger problem.
A socially conscious billionaire understanding the root economic causes of criminal behavior who devotes his resources primarily to punching criminals at night makes even less sense than a flying invulnerable dude in a red cape. No one wants to read a comic about a wealthy person using their resources to combat poverty, but then if Bruce is going to remain primarily a vigilante, the social consciousness bit has got to go. Like it or not, he makes more sense as a guy sitting on a wad of undeserved cash who is obsessive and blind enough to believe that he can punch crime away. The moment that he understands the root cause of criminal behavior and perceives perpetrators as a byproduct of social injustice, his crime fighting crusade ceases to make any true sense. Sure, he could make Batman appearances intermittently to keep the fear out there that discourages some criminal behavior, but putting his efforts primarily into being Batman just doesn't make any sense in this context.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 11:30:16 GMT -5
Batman #448
"The Penguin Affair, Part 1: Pawns" co-plotters: Marv Wolfman and Alan Grant writer: Marv Wolfman pencils: Jim Aparo inks: Mike DeCarlo letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy assoc. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil creator: Bob Kane
grade: C
Nine months ago, The Penguin dominated the cover and content of the Secret Origins Special, four months ago he received a two parter in Detective Comics, and now here he is for a multi-part crossover dominating the Batman titles this month. Heck, only three months ago, Jeannette Kahn published an article in the back of Legends of the Dark Knight #3 explaining that she, Wolfman and Grant had met to align their visions for the coming year and, amongst other things, all spontaneously agreed that The Penguin was Batman's second greatest villain of all time and would therefore be getting at least five appearances this year.
The Penguin...right.
Of course, anyone who's been following these reviews knows that Warner Communications was holding Kahn and O'Neil on a tight leash in regard to how their now financially lucrative Batman property was being handled. Tim Drake was their idea and, of course, so is all this new exposure for The Penguin. Though Batman Returns, the sequel to the enormously profitable 1989 Batman film, is about to run into a mess of creative trouble and get delayed significantly (not being released for another two years), the early Sam Hamm drafts, starring Catwoman and The Penguin, had been written by this point, and shooting was supposed to begin next month. Catwoman had already received a generous amount of attention in the widely read and oft reprinted Year One storyline, as well as in her follow-up 1989 limited series, but The Penguin wasn't really on anyone's radar prior to 1990. I've therefore no doubt Kahn was told to give The Penguin as much promotion as possible ahead of the film, and that she told the same thing to Wolfman and Grant. Thus, 1990 is The Year of the Penguin.
And Grant and Wolfman have worked hard to reinvent the character. Largely consistent with how he was presented in the Secret Origins Special, Batman describes him as a villain who, "...plans his crimes with military precision. His thinking is brilliant--circuitous and multi-leveled. His appearance makes you want to understimate him, but don't fall into that trap. His major fault is a massive ego. He thinks he's as physically adept as he is intelligent. If he allowed able-bodied henchmen to commit his crimes rather than trying to do it himself...our job would be far more difficult."
Of course, The Penguin was surprisingly physically adept in The Secret Origins Special and in his previous appearance in Detective Comics #611, and I question what was precise, brilliant, circuitous, and/or multi-levelled about having someone else develop a gizmo that allows him to control birds and then winging (sorry for the pun) what to do with them from there. To be fair, as Batman ultimately surmises, there is more to The Penguin's plan than he lets on, but we don't see any of that here. He really appears to be making it up as he goes, based upon Harold the Hunchback's innovative work.
And if you want to show that someone is brilliant by having them play chess, don't have them consult a book to decide what move to make next.
Anyway, this story introduces Batman readers to Harold the Hunchback, a mute with a convenient genius-level ability to build things (which the Penguin did not appear to know when he decided to rescue him). This now makes the second technological assistant The Penguin has been given in two consecutive appearances across four months. "Otto," the former Nazi in hiding, was Penguin's assistant last time around. Perhaps The Penguin replaced him when he determined Harold was superior at doing the exact same work?
And seriously, Penguin appeared to randomly decide to take in Harold because he felt bad for him, yet he's planning to kill Harold once he finishes executing his plan. What gives? Perhaps Penguin was looking for Harold all along (we have no idea where Harold came from or what he'd done before), and we've merely been misdirected, but I doubt Wolfman is being that methodical.
I'm truly hoping Bruce knows he's playing chess with The Penguin. It would be embarrassing if the world's greatest detective had been playing against him for all these years, not realizing that their games correspond with Penguin's time out of prison, nor that the addresses he used to send his correspondences to were always in proximity to (or the same as) a Penguin base of operations. Surely, that must be why Bruce is playing chess when he should be trying to figure out how to stop The Penguin -- to study his style of tactics once again -- but then why not explain this to Alfred and Tim when they wonder why he is doing this?
Speaking of Tim, he's finally back in this issue after several months of being out of sight/out of mind. According to Raspler's response in the letters page of this issue, the fan base is approximately 50% in favor of Tim and 50% against at this point. Anyway, I can understand why Bruce is now taking him out on patrol with him, but to have Tim sitting in the car with no mask of any kind on? I guess the Batmobile's windows must be heavily tinted.
Important Details:
- First appearance of Harold, a mute hunchback with a genius-level aptitude for inventing. He is taken in by The Penguin and working for him in this issue.
Minor Details:
- Batman and Detective Comics have gone bi-monthly for the summer, just as they did last year. However, even though this was the "early June" issue, the "on sale" date was April 17.
- I have no idea what's going on in the final panel of this story. Why is Batman shocked that the birds are flying through the window of a jewelry shop? Are we supposed to infer that they are about to send the abducted actress crashing through the window as well?
plot synopsis:
Harold, a deformed hunchback, is being abused by random passerbys on a lonely road when the Penguin rescues him, time fast-forwards, and Harold (who has proven to be adept at inventing) has provided Penguin with a device that allows him to control birds, Penguin is testing the device by causing random acts of destruction and theft, Batman attempts to intervene several times, we discover that Penguin and Batman have been playing chess over the mail and (now) computer for years now without Penguin knowing that's who he has been playing with (uncertain that Bruce knows, but it seems probable), Bruce determines that Penguin is flaunting the technology either in order to sell his services or the technology itself, Penguin uses his birds to abduct a daytime actress he is obsessed with, his birds knock out the city's power while causing devastation everywhere, and Batman pursues.
Not a steller issue in any respect. Try as they may, Wolfman and Grant haven't helped me to warm up to The Penguin much (though, to be fair, he seems a lot less useless than he used to), Harold is a heavy-handed arch-type of innocence rather than an actual character, Bruce and Tim aren't given enough time to shine in this installment, and the plot isn't particularly compelling yet.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 19:36:29 GMT -5
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #8
"Gothic, a Romance: Volume Three: The Burning Nun" writer: Grant Morrison pencils: Klaus Janson colors: Steve Buccellato letters: John Costanza editor: Andrew Helfer Ass't Editor: Kevin Dooley
grade: B-
Each time I return to "Gothic," I'm immediately overwhelmed by two things: 1) How professional the book looks/feels, and 2) How batsh*t crazy Morrison is.
If I were Andy Helfer, and my mission was to attract a more mature readership and a new level of respect for both Batman and comic books in general, I probably would have chosen the exact same creative team here, and yet I'd be mildly disturbed by what Morrison was doing, kind of hoping I was the only one noticing.
No, it's not just the excessive need to try too hard to be adult -- the mass nun-raping, the unnecessary untranslated french quote that begins the issue and isn't actually appropriate to the story that follows, the need to refer to chapters as "volumes," etc. Instead, it's the problem that Morrison and Batman think in entirely opposite ways. Batman is the ultimate scientist -- logical, pragmatic, and constantly working under the assumption that proper investigation and preparation are all that is required to do his job. Morrison, on the other hand, is erratic and superstitious. He would believe that accidentally pulling out a tape of his father talking about a lake in Austria while he was investigating a villain from Austria is a sign from the beyond, he would stop to listen to a monk's prattling about the past while on a critical mission and assume the monk would inevitably have information that serendipitously relates to the case, and he would believe that a villain could live for three hundred years by making a deal with the devil (if this were true, why wouldn't more people have done this? And why only 300 years? Why not forever??). Oh, and of course, a line his father offered him in a dream is the ultimate key for unlocking Whisper's plan. But this is not the way Batman thinks, and this is not how a Batman story should unravel unless the writer wants to play to the idea that such an adventure would take Batman far out of his comfort zone and challenge his beliefs about the universe. Morrison isn't interested in doing any of that and, in fact, doesn't seem to understand that none of this is natural for Batman.
Again, the story is well written, but it is trying far too hard to be mature/serious, and it just isn't Batman.
Minor Details:
- The quote in the beginning, from Baudelaire's "The Bad Monk," roughly translates to " My soul is a tomb where, bad cenobite, I wander and dwell eternally; Nothing adorns the walls of that loathsome cloister." Considering that we have not been given any insight into Whisper's perspective in these pages yet, nor have we been invited to even wonder at his motives (the retelling of his origin outright glosses over his reasoning) -- he's really just a plot device thus far -- this quote isn't even appropriate to this issue, yet the obscure reference to a poem not widely studied in English, as well as providing the original French without a translation, all impede the reader from ever arriving at this conclusion. If Morrison drew inspiration from this quote in creating "Gothic," and that's why he wants to put it here, at least have the courtesy to translate it or even indicate the author so that someone can look it up (I never would have figured all this out in 1990 without the aid of the internet). Beginning the issue with this quote and intentionally leaving it so inaccessible just reeks of smugness. And, of course, when Morrison excludes his readers with the illusion of brilliance and elitism, he impresses them. Don't fall for it, folks.
- Though I LOVE Janson's depiction of the Batcave on the first page, it seems far too complete considering that Bruce just started building it in the previous storyline. Are we to assume that "Gothic" takes place a significant amount of time after "Shaman"? I suppose some of the difficulty I will encounter with trying to make any sense out of continuity in this title is that, while these stories are largely not written to follow any kind of continuity, they all feature a Batman who wears his Year One chest emblem. Of course, he did wear it in Year Three too, but not in Year Two. Oh, who am I kidding? NO ONE at DC is paying any attention to these details, so why am I?
- Is Morrison going to go anywhere with the symbolic meaning behind the roses? Probably not.
- If I ran a school that worked furiously to cover up a past scandal that nearly buried the school, and a rich and influential man came asking for a tape that might reveal some of this, I would not explain this concern to him, and I certainly would not give him the tape, no matter how much he offered to donate to the school. Of course, I'm not entirely sure why a recording of Mr. Winchester reading poetry would expose any aspect of his scandal in the first place, but then let's be consistent. Either the tape poses a risk to the school (in which case, it should be destroyed or, at the very least, NOT given to Bruce), or it's harmless and therefore of no concern to the headmaster.
- I also wouldn't admit to a wealthy and influential man who attended school during that time that there had been a scandal. Lawsuit, anyone?
- I understand that Bruce is extremely wealthy, but if he's still just getting the whole Batman gig started (which would take considerable wealth to do), how does he have enough to make a sizable donation to a private school every time he wants to follow an unlikely lead? If he's THAT loaded, then why isn't he doing something with that money -- either investing it or at least giving it to charities or something? Does he have billions budgeted each month to "discretionary purchasing of potential leads"? No billionaire has that much cash just sitting around. You wouldn't remain a billionaire very long if you did.
- I love Morgenstern's style in offing a snitch that was working for him. Morrison gives the guy a lot of finesse where some other writers would have just used a generic characterization in order to further the plot and move onto the core characters in the story.
- If I were Batman, I'd just started convincing the criminal element to fear me, and I was going to go to a different country for my investigation, I'd leave as Bruce Wayne on a private flight so that criminals everywhere in Gotham wouldn't see the Batplane leaving the city.
- For once, Morrison uses a quote correctly. His invocation of Faust's final plea while awaiting his damnation is a very appropriate line for Whisper to be reciting to the young nun. I was starting to think he was just looking through a book of quotes to find something that sounded impressive and vaguely touched upon the subject he was dealing with (last issue's quote from Twelfth Night about music seemed to suggest as much). Of course, I know this because I'm an English teacher and Renaissance Drama dork. To most readers, this is just another inaccessible reference.
- The ghost ship aspect of Whisper's past seems forcibly inserted and entirely unimportant to the story, like Grant just felt like using the image in the dream sequences of the previous issue and then tried to find a way to justify it later.
Plot synopsis in one sentence:
Morrison is more intelligent/cultured than you are, Morrison is more shocking and adult than you are, Morrison knows French (and won't translate it for you) and you don't, Morrison knows Baudelaire, Shakespeare and Marlowe and hopes that you don't, oh...and there was a plot here too, involving Batman visiting his old school to find a recording of the old headmaster indicating that he was Austrian, Bruce accidentally stumbling upon a recording of his father that made him think he should go to Lake Dess in Austria, Batman randomly running into a monk there who conveniently (or was it divinely engineered?) gave him the full back story on Whisper/Winchester who was a monk who sold his soul to the devil in order to live for 300 years and also gang-raped a nun who now haunts his flooded/abandoned monastery as a burning nun, we find out that Morgenstern, a crime boss, is responsible for at least one of the killings that has been attributed to Whisper, we know that Whisper is supposed to give his soul up to the Devil soon, he approaches the nun haunting his new cathedral and gives her a rose, and Batman finds hidden plans for the new cathedral in Whisper's old flooded monastery in a sealed compartment in the wall by remembering to "unlock the rose".
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 19:49:19 GMT -5
Detective Comics #615
"The Penguin Affair II: Bird of Ill Omen!" plot: Alan Grant & Marv Wolfman script: Alan Grant pencils: Norm Breyfogle inks: Steve Mitchell letters: Todd Klein colors: Adrienne Roy assoc. editor: Daniel Raspler (since when is he "Daniel"?) editor: Dennis O'Neil (back to being "Dennis," eh?) creator: Bob Kane
grade: C+
This should have been an impressive issue -- flocks of birds descending upon Gotham, crashing through store windows and killing dozens of people that Batman is helpless to save. A writer today could make a massively decompressed 10 part crossover series milking the premise with all of Gotham's heroes responding to the crisis.
And yet, somehow, this issue bored me.
Generally, my tendency in these reviews is to champion Breyfogle and go on at length about how Alan Grant continues to disappoint me, but I actually think the fault lies with Breyfogle this time. The art is, at many points, quite good, but it doesn't do what it needs to. The panels are too attracted to the action at the risk of missing the scope of the devastation, and they sometimes fail to capture the focus Grant is going for as well. An example of this would be when Batman comments, "That's the one! It's been there from the start -- but never taken any part!" on page 16. I had to look at that page at least four times before I realized he was focusing on a small bird, off on the opposite side of the panel towards the very edge. Absolutely no visual focus is given to it, but instead to Batman and the birds descending upon him.
Of course, Grant's work is clumsy on this issue, as well. The cliff-hanger to the previous chapter, in which Batman looks shocked to see birds flying into a jewelry store window, was exactly as arbitrary as it seemed and is quickly forgotten after four panels at the start of this issue. Further, Grant fails to make the Penguin in any way distinct or intriguing in this issue, even when he's given six pages worth of time to deliver dialogue and characterization. He's just cultured and a control freak; nothing more.
Most importantly though, Grant fails to treat the premise of this issue as anything more than an opportunity for action, clumsily borrowed out of the Alfred Hitchcock playbook. Shouldn't Batman be having some kind of reaction to watching so many people die that he is helpless to assist? Shouldn't Grant have offered some lines of dialogue for us while Batman watches an entire airliner go down? Breyfogle's art, at least, works to give attention to this, but even then the focus is on what the Batmobile is doing at the time -- not any specific expression or reaction on Bruce's face.
And what is with the twist at the end? A crashed plane somehow allows some sort of super villain to escape from its imprisonment from deep within The Earth? Hey, Wizard Magazine of 1992! Maybe this is the cameo first appearance of Doomsday. Let's say it's worth $50 now!
...okay. That was off-topic. Sorry.
Minor Details:
- That shopkeeper seems awfully casual about nearly being killed by a flock of birds and having his business ransacked and looted by them.
- I think Breyfogle needs to try using a few less panels sometimes. He crams so much into a given page, but sometimes (like in a story dealing with this kind of wide-spread devastation) you need to open it up a little and let a single frozen moment speak for itself without losing it in what came before and what's going to happen next. So many moments in this issue (the looters robbing the dead bodies, the dead air traffic control tower, etc) had the potential to be so much more haunting than they were.
- Batman can't figure out why The Penguin is attacking the city with birds on page 7, but he figured out exactly why last issue -- to show off and sell the technology that causes the birds to do this. Of course, the premise, itself, is stupid. Showing off the technology so many times just gives Batman more opportunities to figure out how to stop it. And, if all it takes to disrupt the signal is microwave rays, Penguin couldn't have expected it to take Batman too long to figure that out.
- No Harold this issue. No chess game either. Guess that was all Wolfman.
- Nice tease on page 15. REALLY looked like Tim was going to get into the Robin costume to save Batman's life. Of course, Wolfman will use the exact same cliche that Grant is poking fun at this time around to really put Tim in costume in only a few months' time.
- Batmania is kicking into an entirely new gear this month as Batman is about to cross-over into a bunch of other titles, including Suicide Squad and The Huntress, plus there's a Grendel/Batman mini on the way. I'm going to choose not to follow these since they are occurring outside of the Bat Office and appear to hold no particular importance for the continuity. I will, however, follow Batman's crossover into the Superman titles this month since it has a lasting impact upon their relationship with one another. It'll be a bit weird, though, since I'm only up to 1988 in the Superman Reviews Thread.
Plot synopsis in one sentence:
Penguin abducts the actress he is in love with, she pretends to go along with his plans out of fear for what he might do to her, Gotham is ravaged by birds to the point that there is no power and even the air traffic control tower is out of commission (everyone inside is dead), Batman loses a Batmobile in Gotham River while trying to escape a bird attack, the birds follow him back to the Batcave and get into the Manor when Tim opens the grandfather clock to make sure Batman is okay, Batman figures out the birds are controlled by microwaves, Penguin reveals what Batman already knew issue but somehow doesn't know now -- that he's going to auction off the bird-controlling technology, and some sort of monster escapes from the ground as a result of a plane crash.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 19:59:50 GMT -5
Superman (1987) #44, Adventures of Superman #467, and Action Comics #654
"Dark Knight over Metropolis" writers: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgen, and Roger Stern pencils: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, and Bob McLeod inks: Dennis Janke, Art Thibert, and Brett Breeding colors: Glenn Whitmore letters: John Costanza, Albert DeGuzman, and Bill Oakley associate editor: Jon Peterson editor: Mike Carlin
grade: n/a
While it's tempting to read and review this story in its entirety, I'm still two years away from these issues in my Superman Reviews Thread, so instead I'll simply be exploring how this storyline impacts the relationship between the Post-Crisis Superman and Batman.
The two have met at least three times before, in Man of Steel #3, Action Comics Annual #1, and Adventures of Superman #440. However, this is the storyline where their post-Crisis friendship is first established. In their Pre-Crisis first meeting, they accidentally learned each other's secret identities at the same time, thus forcing them to trust one another and become allies. As an interesting contrast, Ordway, Jurgens, and Stern emphasize that, in knowing each other's identities (as of Adventures of Superman #440), each clearly makes the other feel vulnerable by doing so.
In the conclusion to this storyline, in which Batman has come to Metropolis in search of the reason why a ring made out of a radioactive jewel (it's actually Lex Luthor's Kryptonite ring) has come to Gotham from Metropolis and what its purpose was (okay, this seems a little unimportant for Batman to pursue so vigorously, but anyway...), Bruce and Clark arrive at the beginning of some kind of kinship. After proving, by discovering and entering the Batcave, that Clark has as much ability to catch Bruce off-guard as Bruce has to Clark, Clark says the following:
"I'm not in the habit of barging in on friends unannounced. But then, we're not exactly friends...are we? You know, there are many who still think that The Batman is a psychotic vigilante, no better than the vermin he hunts down. I think they're wrong. I think The Batman is simply a very sane man who tries to bring justice to an often insane world. We are very different, you and I--but I like to think that we're working for a similar cause."
He then gives Batman the Kryptonite ring for safe keeping, trusting him to be the one to take him down should he ever become a danger to others -- a final sanity check and balance on his powers.
Okay, it all feels forced. DC was finally realizing that Batman had become DC's #1 selling property and that Superman wasn't doing anywhere near as well as they would have liked him to, so they created this three part marketing event designed to bring all the new Batman readers over to the Superman titles (note: it worked on ten year old me). Batman here is depicted more like his Year One and DKR self than anything Wolfman or Grant were writing over at the Bat Office because it was the characterization that sold to fanboys and because money was more important than consistent characterization across offices, and Batman and Superman arriving at an odd mutual appreciation at the close felt a bit unnatural (though Bruce clearly had Clark at his mercy in the final act and spared him, which, I suppose, was the beginning of trust). Still, Ordway, Jurgens, and Stern finally found common ground for two characters who were destined to become unlikely friends, no matter how much Frank Miller felt otherwise.
Continuity Alerts:
-- Superman and Batman become hesitant allies, respecting one another as a result of being forced to trust one another with their secret identities and vulnerabilities. Again, there's a possible nod in doing this to Superman (1939) #76: the very first meeting of Superman and Batman in the Pre-Crisis.
-- Superman entrusts Batman with Lex Luthor's Kryptonite ring in case he should ever become a danger to others. A kind of nod to DKR seems implied here, or maybe an intended inversion. In DKR, Miller set out to prove that Superman and Batman could never remain on the same side, and in that story, Batman synthesized Kryptonite after years of work. In this continuity, Superman entrusts Batman with Kryptonite, laying groundwork for a different future with such trust.
-- Bruce Wayne has been evading any dealings with Lex Luthor prior to this point. Adventures #467 marks their first meeting. Even Luthor points out how unlikely their not running into each other prior to this point has been. If Luthor's been the leading force in technological innovation since the '70s (see the Post-Crisis Superman Timeline), and Bruce has been back in Gotham and (presumably) running Wayne Enterprises for 14 years now (see the Post-Crisis Batman Timeline), then this is pretty hard to believe, especially since, if Bruce's reason for avoiding Luthor is that he believes he's crooked and harmful to society, then why hasn't Batman tried to take him down yet? He'll go all the way to Metropolis to find out why a radiation-filled ring has killed a bum, but not to stop a megalomaniac bent on world domination through corrupt business practices? Attending a meeting with Luthor or one of his parties would be a perfect opportunity to investigate his empire and its dealings. And, surely, in the right hands, some of Lexcorp's cutting edge technology would be immensely beneficial to Gotham, and wouldn't Wayne Enterprises need to keep up with innovators in the field? Sorry, Luthor, we're not going to use your 4x as fast microprocessor that every other company is now adopting. We'll proudly remain in the incorrupt stone age!
Minor Details:
- Ordway, in particular, draws one heck of a Batman!
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 20:00:03 GMT -5
Batman #449
"The Penguin Affair, Chapter Three: Winged Vengeance" co-plotters: Marv Wolfman & Alan Grant writer: Marv Wolfman pencils: Mark Bright inks: Randy Emberlin letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy assoc. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil creator: Bob Kane
grade: C
The third part of The Penguin Affair is pretty much just an ending. The Penguin holds his auction and Batman stops him; it's exactly what you'd expect for the final act and little more. Even Harold's breaking away from the Penguin isn't anything more than the basics of what you would have expected. He resists The Penguin and then runs away; nothing more. I know Bruce rescues him and has him living in the Batcave soon (perhaps next issue?) It would have made more sense as a resolution to this story which, otherwise, just sort of ends.
Minor Details
- The only aspect of this issue that I found memorable as a ten year old was the Breyfogle cover, in which he reveals that Batman's cowl utilizes mirrored lenses, one of which is cracked. It's certainly a believable way of explaining why his eyes are never visible, but I find it hard to believe Batman would use any kind of glass that could be cracked by a bird pecking it. Even as a kid, I thought that seemed silly. Why not go with a heavy plastic instead? Additionally, if using glass on a tightly fitting cowl, wouldn't he have issues with fogging?
- Fill-in artist Mark Bright steps in for Jim Aparo on this issue. I like his panel arrangements, and his Batman is visually striking, but he draws awkward faces.
- Minor continuity problem (but it bugs me) As Alfred complains that he didn't study butlering in order to clean up after dead birds, and what would his Alma Mater think? Batman Annual #13 established that Alfred had no interest in ever becoming a Butler and only became one at the last moment to respect his father's dying wish. We did learn in that issue that Alfred's father "trained him" before he went off to work in the theater, but I suppose Alfred may have attended a formal butlering school sometime after taking over as the Wayne family butler, especially since no one was living in the manor at the time (Thomas and Martha were dead; Bruce was living with Leslie Thompson -- which may or may not still be in continuity).
- Harold's weapon would have been a lot more impressive if it affected the minds of all birds with its microwaves instead of merely remote controlling chips surgically inserted into their brains. Incidentally, Penguin gets captured in the end, but what's to stop someone else from attempting to duplicate the invention? Just grab a bird and reverse engineer the chip later. It's not like there weren't dozens of criminals hanging around at the time who wanted that technology.
- On page 3, why does Tim appear so worried about what Batman's going to do to foil Penguin's plan? He stumbles over his words and Alfred puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but...why?
- First time we see Batman meditate as a means of working out his problems. Makes sense continuing how much training he received in the East, and Wolfman seems to enjoy exploring all the various means Bruce has of working through his thoughts (playing chess to do so in the previous issue, and hey -- he never went anywhere with that. I guess Bruce really DIDN'T know he'd been playing Penguin in chess for all these years). Still, the solution Bruce arrives at after meditating is so obvious -- track down the signal Penguin is broadcasting next time he uses it. The world's greatest detective needed to meditate before arriving at that conclusion?
- Bruce seems to have made up his mind to take Tim on as his partner, though he has not said as much to Tim yet.
- Further suggestion that Penguin may have done his research on Harold in advance and did not find him by accident: He reminds Harold (or, perhaps, correctly assumes that) "your own mother was repelled by you. Society treated you like pigeon droppings"
- Whatever happens to Lark, Penguin's assistant in this storyline?
- We learn that Alfred has a series of informants he calls on Batman's behalf from time to time. Eight were shown here. None appeared to be previously established characters. They include an African American male on the street, a female high school student with a punk look, a beat cop, a female call center operator, some older male who smokes and might be seated in a wheelchair(?), a female Latina(?) bartender, a semi-affluent man on a car phone (remember those?), and some sort of Middle Eastern diplomat or leader.
- Wolfman does too good a job of making Tim fit in as a behind-the-scenes accessory for Batman in this issue, having such great synergy with Alfred (who Wolfman is working hard to include in the action more and more), and a relaxed humor in assisting Bruce. I say it's too good a job, though, because he seems comfortable and in his correct element. There's no sign of a restlessness to do more, nor a sense that he's being held back by not putting on a Robin costume and swinging by Batman's side. Wolfman has clearly had a rough time of trying to figure out how to characterize the Warner-mandated Tim Drake, and this is certainly better than the initial Gary Stu approach; I suppose making Tim frustrated and overly eager to jump in would place his characterization too close to Jason Todd's. While I don't accept the general consensus that Jason Todd was despised by readers, Wolfman certainly needs to distinguish Tim as a different Robin than Jason was. Still, he fits just a little too well on the sidelines here. Wolfman needs to figure out what kind of a Robin Tim is ultimately going to be.
- Did Tim and Bruce's code names over the walky talky really need to be "Big Bat" and "Little Bat"? Perhaps a bit too obvious...
- In the previous installments, Penguin was broadcasting his signal to the birds using microwaves. Now we're told it's broadcast through sonics, and Batman is able to utilize Penguin's speaker system to enhance his own rival sonic frequency.
- If Penguin barely knows how to operate Harold's controls, then how is he aware that Batman is utilizing a localized rival sonic signal?
- The solicit on the letters page for the next issue gives away everything about the next story line in advance. As I recall (and I'm working from a very old memory here) we weren't supposed to initially realize "The Joker" in the next issue was an impersonator and, even once we did, we weren't supposed to initially be sure the real Joker was still alive and active after the evens of Batman #429 (Death in the Family p.4) until the conclusion of the coming story arc.
Plot synopsis in one sentence:
After cleaning up the mess in the Batcave from the previous issue, Bruce meditates, seems to reach his decision about making Tim his partner, and decides to trace Penguin's signal next time he broadcasts it to the birds, Harold becomes aware that Penguin is using him and intends to betray him, Alfred and Tim help Bruce learn that a large amount of criminals are flying into Gotham all at the same time, they do some espionage at the airport and place a tracker on one helicopter heading to The Penguin's meeting to auction off Harold's technology, Harold rescues the actress Penguin is holding against her will, Batman infiltrates The Penguin's final demonstration of the bird controlling technology Harold created and manages to over-power the signal with his own, Penguin is captured, and Harold vanishes for the moment.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 20:00:18 GMT -5
Detective Comics #616
“Stone Killer” writer: Alan Grant pencils: Norm Breyfogle inks: Steve Mitchell colors: Adrienne Roy letters: Todd Klein assoc. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Dennis O'Neil creator: Bob Kane
grade: C
It wasn't so long ago that Grant and Breyfogle were the red-headed step-children of the O'Neil Bat Office. Denny didn't much care what they were producing, and they weren't briefed on much of what his office was planning in the core Bat title either. That all changed with the summit amongst Jeannette Kahn, Denny O'Neil, Marv Wolfman, and Alan Grant to lay out what 1990 would look like for Batman. As a result, for the first time, O'Neil's office is tightly coordinated. It's the kind of oversight I've been wanting to see all along. Unfortunately, it's weighing on Grant's writing like an albatross.
This is one seriously confused issue. It should be about some undead satanic serial killer (though, honestly, it's not a particularly intriguing story, and it's held together by quite a few dramatic conveniences), but it also goes overboard in trying to connect itself to what's happening in the Batman title to the point that the story becomes a schizophrenic mess.
At first, the inter-title continuity references work quite well. Grant gives a lot of attention to describing the enormity of the destruction caused during The Penguin Affair, which was largely glossed over at the time. It's good to finally see a story that goes out of its way to depict such an aftermath – Gotham doesn't just return to normal immediately because the Penguin has been captured.
But then Grant apparently got the directive to lay groundwork for the coming Joker storyline and so, smack in the middle of Batman trying to track down a deadly killer who is two steps ahead of him, he overhears that there is a "red hooded gunman” on the loose, and suddenly the story spends an awkward amount of time with Batman considering that the Joker didn't really die at the end of A Death in the Family. It's a total disruption to the plot.
Worse yet, at the conclusion, when Batman has just unmasked C'th and discovered that he is, in fact, supernatural and terrifying, and then tricks him into flying out a window into the rocks and waters below, we expect there to be a part two to this story – this was just Batman's first confrontation with a foe who is obviously coming back. Falling on a rock shouldn't kill an undead fallen god who was buried under the Earth for countless eons. It sure seems that way as Batman reflects:
”There is a black cloud inside me. A portent of doom. Might just have been meeting that freak. He oozed bad feeling. But deep inside, I know the truth.”
We then flip to the last page and see that he's been referring to his concern that The Joker is back, the iconic clown face painted across the sky, as Batman proclaims, "He is alive." No further attention given to the super villain he just met who we have no reason to believe has been defeated.
sigh.
Minor Details
-Much attention is given to a piece of graffiti outside of an apartment where C'th does one of his killings. It reads, “Peter Roche lived here. I killed him.” This seems vaguely familiar. Did it appear in a previous Grant/Breyfogle story that I am not recalling?
-Awfully convenient that an expert on the C'th's flight path would stumble upon Batman at the exact right moment.
-Awful convenient that Wayne Manor is on that flight path
-Awfully convenient that the expert's house is on that flight path as well.
-Breyfogle's work on page 5 is positively breath-taking. His depiction of Batman almost suggests the Azrael Batman costume we'll be seeing in a few years' time.
-I always wondered what would happen if, just once, Batman told a thug to stay put and wait for him and the thug tried to take off. Well played, Grant.
plot synopsis in one sentence:
The villain unearthed when an airplane crashed into the Earth last issue during The Penguin Affair is now on the loose, committing ritualized serial sacrifices, Batman learns that a “red hooded gunman” is on the loose and immediately has Alfred take Tim out of town for safety, he somehow finds the site where the undead monster first emerged (this is never explained), an expert on the very energies that are attracting the killer stumbles upon Batman at that very moment, they quickly figure out its flight plan, which includes Wayne Manor and the expert's house, Batman stops the monster by making it dive after its magic rod, causing it to fall to its entirely too easy death, and Batman reflects that the Joker is out there, alive.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 20:01:00 GMT -5
Batman #450
"Wildcard!" writer: Marv Wolfman pencils: Jim Aparo inks: Mike DeCarlo letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy assoc. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil Batman created by: Bob Kane
grade: B
This was a critical story in 1990 for two reasons. The first is that this is the long-awaited return of the Joker after being presumed dead at the end of Death in the Family in 1988. Thus, this is the FIRST time the countless hordes of new readers that flocked to Batman in 1989 had the Joker appearing in a new issue, and as the post-Crisis Batman continuity first found its footing in Death in the Family, and Joker was more of a plot device than a character in that story, this is our first real post-Crisis characterization for the Joker as well. It's also nice to see The Joker's return penciled by Aparo once again, thus providing visual bookends to his departure and return.
Second, this was the beginning of Marv Wolfman's final Batman story. While the Batman post-Crisis continuity had already been in place for some time when Wolman began his run on Batman, it was a chaotic mess until Wolfman began aligning things in Year 3. His run (plus Death in the Family) is the basis for the post-Crisis Batman continuity, with nothing else that came previously (save a few memorable Wagner/Grant/Breyfogle stories) counting in the long term. I admit to being sad at losing Wolfman here, as well as his perspective/understanding of the characters and their universe. The Crimesmith storyline was clear evidence that he had the ability to create true gem stories for Batman. It's too bad we didn't get more of them.
It's interesting that the Tim Drake becoming Robin storyline really begins to progress immediately after Wolfman's departure, by the way. I wonder if Wolfman left because he didn't want to work with Tim. We already know the character was imposed upon the Bat Office by Warner Bros., and it's evident that Wolfman has been stuck with how to write the character and may have even been intentionally stalling the character's progress into a sidekick role.
As for the issue itself, I have such mixed feelings. It begins with tremendous power, forcing both Bruce and Gordon to dredge up tremendous pain and philosophical suffering as they wrestle with their desires to kill the Joker. That, contrasted with the subject of their hatred hiding out in a condemned building, eclipsed in shadows, and clutching at his chest, was damn powerful.
But then it all goes to hell.
The Joker impersonator story is far too simple. Having a purely evil, not-in-the-least-bit-complex Gordon Gekko wanna-be dress up as Joker to further his own agenda is not particularly exciting, and while it draws out the real Joker, I was even more disappointed by how Wolfman portrayed the real Joker's internal thoughts and struggles. With a character who holds SUCH power over Batman and Gordon simply by existing, less is more. Maintain the mystery; keep us isolated from his internal workings. I don't want to understand or sympathize with him. I want to be enraged by, terrified of, and repulsed by him. Asking us to sympathize with any aspect of the Joker's struggle to become himself again strips the character of the dramatic power he held so firmly at the start of this issue. I hate that.
Meanwhile, what's the story with Detective Hanrahan? Though introduced in Batman #444, this is the first issue to really put a spotlight on the character, and she comes across both visually and otherwise as just another Sarah Essen (who, herself, is coming back in a few short issues, if I recall correctly).
Important Details:
- According to a news report, it's been "several months" since the events of Death in the Family.
- Though the events of The Killing Joke were previously relayed in this title, this issue further solidifies the idea that The Killing Joke was in continuity (this was previously up to debate within the fanbase).
- Hanrahan refers to Barbara as Gordon's "daughter." Is the idea of Barbara being Jim's niece now discarded, or do the two just generally refer to each other as father and daughter now? I notice there are no pictures visible of James Gordon Jr. when Jim looks at his old pictures of Barbara. It sure seems like the post-Crisis origin is now being ignored (though not explicitly contradicted).
- Of course, Tim Drake's teacher also refers to Jason Todd as having been Bruce Wayne's "son." Wolfman may be trying to make a point here for both Jason and Barbara -- they were offspring in spirit.
- The Joker returns to action for the first time since Batman #429.
Minor Details:
- The question of how The Joker is still alive never gets answered. Much like his return after clearly dying in his second ever appearance back in 1940, Wolfman has now firmly established this as just being a part of the post-Crisis Joker mythos as well -- he inexplicably returns from the dead; no explanation required.
- Seriously, enough waffling back and forth about whether or not Bruce should take Tim on as a new Robin. It's getting very old.
- Curtis Base and The Joker imposter have completely different facial structures. Oops.
plot synopsis in one sentence:
The Joker appears to be executing a series of murders, Batman and Gordon are tormented by thoughts of his return, Batman has more doubts about letting Tim be Robin, so he sends Tim's class on a field trip to Japan, we meet Curtis Base, a wealthy venture capitalist, and learn that he is the one posing as The Joker in pursuit of further wealth, Gordon and Hanrahan are at one of his events when "The Joker" arrives and loots the place, threatening to kill Hanrahan in front of a helpless Gordon who is traumatized, feeling like it's The Killing Joke all over again, we learn that the true Joker is terrified to come out of hiding and resume his mantle, but he finally does so, and Gordon and Batman both have a gut feeling that this isn't the real Joker.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 20:06:46 GMT -5
Detective Comics #617
"A Clash of Symbols" writer: Alan Grant pencils: Norm Breyfogle inks: Steve Mitchell colors: Adrienne Roy letters: Todd Klein assoc. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil Batman: creator: Bob Kane
grade: B
Ever since the great summit of 1990s, O'Neil has been making a serious effort to align the continuities of his two Batman titles for the first time since the Crisis. At this particular point, the major event that should be affecting both titles is the imminent return of The Joker. However, for whatever reason, Grant and Breyfogle are still on the sidelines, left to do a tie-in story that doesn't really affect anything while Wolfman and Aparo take control of The Joker's return. As a result, we get this unusual story that succeeds at least as much as it fails.
One immediate problem at the very foundation of this story is its premise -- Batman is deeply concerned that The Joker is out there and is obsessed with finding him. Small problem, though -- when we last left Batman in Batman #450, he was convinced this WASN'T actually the Joker. Oops. Denny fails to manage his office properly once again.
Beyond that, this is an interesting story that tries, for the millionth time since at least the time of Doug Moench to make the relationship between Batman and Joker deeply personal and inherently self-destructive. It's nothing we didn't see as recently as in Moore's The Killing Joke, but it's perhaps a bit more eloquent and clever this time as it attempts to use symbolism to discuss what a Joker and a Bat really represent, both to various cultures and to each other. Would have made for one heck of a college lecture.
It's interesting, then, that the one group of cultures Grant noticably avoids discussing in their relationships to Bat symbolism is that of Native Americans. Was he intentonally trying to snub Denny O'Neil's attempt to embed his own work within the root of Batman's mythos (Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5)? We know from various interviews that Grant was not happy working under O'Neil, and it's not hard to guess why if you've read enough of these reviews. Still, this is a ballsy omission. And yet, I'm relatively sure it's O'Neil himself who adds the abrupt narration at the very end which does not seem to suit the story at all:
"In North American Indian mythos, the bat is a chivalrous hero and champion of mankind. In his form of the soaring bird, it symbolizes the striving of the human soul."
The lettering doesn't match the rest of the story, the narration seems completely inappropriate to the end of the story, and I suspect Grant is too learned to make the mistake of presuming there is a single North American Native American mythos. This has all the stink of O'Neil cutting in and trying to take back what he feels is rightfully his.
Or maybe I'm wrong...
Anyway, looking at the execution of the story itself, Grant and Breyfogle are given tremendous license in this issue -- write any Joker story you want; just set it safely back in the past where it won't interfere with current continuity. As is usual, Grant's writing doesn't really rise to the challenge. Nothing about the dialogue and characterization impress me, which is a shame considering how long readers had been waiting for the Joker to make a modern day appearance in the Bat titles. He's not himself (in more ways than one) in Batman #450, and he's not particularly well written here. Fortunately, as usual, Breyfogle rises to the occasion where Grant does not. His art is brilliant in capturing the Joker's manic mannerisms, as well as his silliness. You can tell he had a lot of fun drawing this, and so it's very fun to read as well.
Important Details:
- Assuming O'Neil is following anything close to the Post-Crisis timelines I've been weaving together, based upon all chronological references made since Batman #401, the flashback to Joker and Batman fighting three years ago is the ONLY thing we've ever been told about what happens between Year 11 and Year 14 of Batman's career. Jason Todd should have been his sidekick by this point (again, if my timeline and O'Neil's match), but it's absolutely plausible he left Jason behind on this one (after all, the Joker did nearly kill Dick in the flashback in Batman #408)
Minor details:
- The direct edition of this issue features the tarot card shown on the last page in the cover's barcode box.
plot synopsis in one sentence:
Batman saves a fortune teller from a mugging, ends up asking for her help in seeking out The Joker, he flashes back to an event three years earlier where the two faced off at a conference on symbolism, the issue extensively explores the symbolism of both a Joker and a Bat, the two end up nearly killing each other, and the fortune teller's crystal ball only ends up revealing two serpents biting at each other's tails, so the fortune teller warns Batman to watch out, and he leaves with the sense that this own fate is interlocked with The Joker's and that this next meeting may be their final one (yeah right).
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