Batman #47

When we last saw the Commissioner Gordon Batman he was in the clutches of Mr. Bloom and dealing with the forced betrayal of his armored sidekick, "Rookie."

So what does the nefarious Bloom do when he has his most formidable opponent at his mercy?

He lets him go!

When your main protagonist and hero finds himself at his lowest point and in an impossible situation you want to see how he could possibly work his way out of his encounter with the Scylla and Charybdis. 

Ah well.  Bloom falls prey to one of the most annoying tropes we find in comics and other media.  He lets his enemy go.

Nice butt shot Jim.

Like any good Caped Crusader, the Gordon Batman manages to go from the frying pan into the fire (see the whirling blades of the helicopter above) but also quickly extricates himself from impending doom.

The price to pay was the destruction of his beloved "Rookie" armor.

In keeping with tried and true comic book tropes our story quickly changes.

 Not that I am complaining.  This B plot actually steers closer to the main theme of the overall arc of Bruce Wayne dealing with his amnesia and the "theft" of his youth.

In his stead, Gordon serves as an able substitute while Bloom preys on the youth of Gotham and threatens any sense of community left in the city.  And I suppose community should be seen as a larger metaphor for family.

The Duke "Robin" seen above also acts as a substitute for the missing Batman but does double duty as a youth in search for his place in a community bereft of its moral compass.  Duke seeks to recapture what is lost while at times not really knowing what he is looking for.

At least in that he has an edge on Bruce Wayne.  Duke and Bruce know what doing the right thing is.  It's Duke that sees the larger picture.  Bruce knows to look out for the youth of Gotham but Duke knows to look out for everyone.

This is where I should use the "and a child will lead them" quote.

And a child shall lead them.

There, I said it.

Duke takes Bruce on his journey of rediscovery by bringing into the depths of Gotham.  Into the depths of darkness.

Duke may be a bit of a neophyte in the crime fighting game but he knows a thing or two about basic psychology.

By bringing Bruce into the darkness he forces Wayne to confront his fears.  In a "fight or flight" moment Bruce has to act instinctively and react to the threat at hand.  Not just the immediacy of the moment but the larger threat deep within.

And what a threat it is.

Bruce is threatened with the enormity of his repressed psyche and the onrushing train transforms into a hideous bat.


Is being the Batman really that hideous?

Well, I suppose it is when it is rooted in the death of his parents and his never ending struggle to avenge them and bring about justice.

I suppose that is weighty enough.


Back to the B plot!  I mean the A plot.

The Gordon Batman has defeated Bloom but like any good infestation, the roots of the weed go a lot further.

And they are beginning to sprout.  

It looks like Bloom is blooming and no amount of weed killer can stop him.  Where is the real Batman???


As the Jethro Tull band would say, "Sitting on a park bench!"

 

Ah, ah, ahhh, not yet Bruce!

There is one piece of the family puzzle left.  You can't fully realize you're Batman until you come face to face with his dark side too.

Look who has joined the party.

We finally see The Joker again and it seems he's spied Bruce before too.

Mr. J looks to be in the dark as much as Bruce is but like moths to the flame they are inextricably drawn together.

So what does this mean?  They complete each other?  In a way yes.  Yin and Yang.  The endless struggle.  Two sides of the same coin.  Yes and yes.

Will they ever stop trying to defeat the other?  It seems not.

But as Snyder seems to be telling us we can't have one without the other and Batman is not complete until he has his Joker.

I'm looking forward to their "reconciliation" in issue #48.

Batman #44 and #45

I'm doing a little double duty with this review.  Since I am late with Batman #44, I thought I might throw in a review of Batman #45 while I am at it.

Batman #44

I do my best to avoid reviews of comics that I am also reviewing lest they prejudice my own opinions.  That being said, sometimes it hard to avoid the digital leviathan that is the internet.

I had read that issue #44 of Batman was a rewind of sorts that take a break from the lost Bruce Wayne and Mr. Bloom story line.

That's fine, I'm sure Snyder and DC want to prolong this particular script as Wayne adopts his new life outside the cowl and pursue the fate of Gotham as the Gordon Batman struggles to keep the city in one piece.

In doing so we make a brief return to the Bruce Wayne Batman as he gets embroiled in street level crime that leads him down a darker and larger path.

A good portion of the story involve the fate of one Peter Duggio.

Duggio is just a kid trying to make it right on the streets of Gotham that even that city has forgotten.  That, my friends, is as about as low as even Gotham can go.

 
The internet was quick to point out the topical nature of a portion of this story and how it deals with "Black Lives Matter."  Indeed, kudos should go out to Scott Snyder for including something so relevant that it sadly appears on almost a daily basis.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where violence is the first option  and the police feel so besieged that they reflexively turn to the gun.  It is left to the bereaved, media and the courts to sort things out.

Frankly, it is a sad epidemic mess.

Where Snyder goes wrong is his introduction of Mr. Bloom into the story.

 As Snyder would have it, Bloom already exists in the Batman universe.  He is not the Joker reincarnated (as I had predicted) but someone trying to make a name for himself as a low life peddler  of some bizarre addictive chemical concoction.

This isn't strictly a ret-con but more a reverse introduction of a character that has always been in the Batman universe.  It's just that we the readers never knew of him.

Sorry, but I find this annoying.  I'd prefer Batman's world be expanded as we grow to know him and as time progresses.  Not as part of a rewind.  It just seems less inventive to me to insert parts to a mythology that we are already steeped in just to find out we don't know as much as we thought.

Our story takes a freakish turn when the afflicted Peter, in his zeal to escape the mean streets of Gotham, grows Bat-wings (ironic symbolism?) and finds himself nearly vaulted outside the city limits.

I thought it ludicrous.

Yes, I get it.  He wanted to fly and he nearly made out of the hell that Gotham was to him.

But Bat-wings?  That's a bit too on the nose.

Surely Snyder is showing us the new menace that is Mr. Bloom's concoction but the "re-invention timeline" and the wings threw me for a loop.

In the end Batman learned a hard lesson.  He used this experience to connect with the forgotten youth of Gotham and it drew a through line between what happened here and the amnesiac Bruce Wayne working at the home for disadvantageous youth we saw in Batman #43.  And, yes, that through line connect it all to Mr. Bloom.

But, really, bat-wings?


Batman #45

As we continue our journey into the rediscovery of Batman I get the impression Scott Snyder wants us to see Batman as something elemental, something born of youth.  

Of course, the foundation of what was to become Batman started with Bruce Wayne as a youth and the murder of his parents.  But I think Snyder wants to change the perspective on this old tale and see Batman through a new lens.

Bruce Wayne is an adult now with his slate wiped clean.  Yet he is constantly surrounded by youth and one could say he has a naivete unfettered by his tragic past.  

It's as if Snyder wants to see what Batman would be like without his youth yet have the mantle of Batman forced upon him.

That should be interesting.

Our story returns to the present with the Jim Gordon Batman battling for his life.  He is nearly consumed by flames and the message seems to be Batman is, or can be, forged by the elemental nature of fire or at least the flames of combat.

While Gordon is adept at getting himself in and out of trouble it is the remotely controlled empty suit that comes to his rescue.  Here Snyder may be saying the new Batman may be as much suit as the man inside it.  (See my examination of the mind of Batman and his costume at the link.)

Gordon narrowly escapes death with the help of Daryl and our tale reverts back to Bruce Wayne.

Has Batman become a dinosaur?    A thing of the distant past?  Extinct?  The amnesiac Bruce Wayne ponders the past he knows little of.   Again, Snyder positions Wayne as someone looking at himself from the outside instead of within.

He knows nothing of Batman but he is aware of attack on Gotham by the Joker and the detritus left behind.  Wayne looks upon the artifacts as curiosities and is at first dismissive of them.

What were once trophies are now some much garbage.  Relics of a bygone era with little meaning aside from their obvious extinct nature.

However, the reach of evil is never too far away in Gotham.  

As Wayne ponders the meaning of his existence his stand-in, Jim Gordon, is getting a rude lesson into the elemental nature of what it is to be Batman.

Quite literally.

The movers and shakers pf Gotham know their city is in constant danger but sadly can't see the forest for the trees.

In their quest to find the ultimate protector for Gotham they've broken down what it is to be Batman to the minutest detail. 

They are so convinced of their findings they can't see that Batman is much greater than the some of his parts even at the atomic level they have distilled him down to.

As a counterpoint, Wayne believes Gotham can be saved by serving its youth.

He's taken the remnants of the battlefield and turned them into object of amusement.  Why dwell on the past and be consumed by it when you can transform it into something much more benign and less threatening?

Because, as I said, evil is never that far away in Gotham.

As Gotham congratulates itself in it's reinvention of Batman, Mr. Bloom makes his grand and murderous entry.

Gotham is fortunate Gordon has a much better understanding of what it is to be Batman than the arrogant city he serves.

Batman is not just an empty suit.  Nor is he something that can be reinvented by by people on the outside trying to look in.  

Snyder's lens wants to discover Batman in a new way.  There is something elemental about Batman.  But it is organic, something found within, not recreated from without.  

Wayne will have to discover what it is to be Batman again and he'll have to do it without the benefit of his youth.  Instead, he'll have to see it through the eyes of the children he's surrounded himself with.  Snyder's exploration into what it is to be Batman is an interesting tact.  


Batman #46 should be very compelling indeed.

New Bat Art GIF Style!

I often try to give a plug to aspiring Bat artists out there and here is one that is worthy your attention.  There is a tumblr page called Made By AVBH which you can check out by using the link.  The above GIF is from the cover of Batman #17 which wraps up the "Death of the Family" saga featuring the return of the Joker.

It's a great piece of art by Greg Capullo, the original artist, and it is given startling life by AVBH. The issue itself is a bit of a disappointment as was the entire series.  It was certainly no match for the "Court of the Owls" series than ran previous to it.  If you want to read a great Batman comic please see "Batman and Robin #17" as that issues deals with the perils and tragedy of PTSD and I will be definitely blogging on that book.

I'm going to also blog on the "Face of the Joker" given by the various artists connected with the Death of the Family series.  I thought it interesting the different takes that each of the contributing artists gave to the Joker and how they used their art to reveal the madness that is the Joker.  Look forward to that series soon.

Below are a couple more of "AVBH's" creations and they are some of my favorites.  Don't forget to check out the tumblr page!

The Return of the Joker

On July 2nd DC Comics announced the return of the Joker in "Batman" issue #13 due out October 10.  The Joker's storyline will be referred to as "Death of the Family" and it marks the return of the most infamous of all of Batman's arch enemies.  (To read more of this announcement check out the DC Blog: The Source.)

The significance of this announcement is not just the return of the "Crown Prince of Crime" after a long and mysterious absence but the success of the Batman comic without him.  Scott Snyder and his artist/penciller, Greg Capullo have brought us the mesmerizing "Court of the Owls" series and with it they have opened a whole new chapter in the Bat family legacy.  One scarcely missed the Joker!  But you can't keep a good fiend down and with the resolution of the Owl series nigh it was only a matter of time before "Mr. J" made his nefarious return.

What intrigues me is what take will Scott and Capullo have on the Joker?   The last time these two gave us the Joker it turned out to be Dick Grayson in disguise and Batman was using this charade as means to quelling an Arkham Prison riot.  (See above illustration.)

We should make no mistake now that the real Joker is making his return and below is the teaser to issue number 13 of Batman.

Capullo likes to feature his Joker with an aquiline nose that accentuates the overly toothy grin that accompanies his Joker's maniacal eyes.  It seems Scott and Capullo prefer their Joker with a frothy bit of over the top instability.  In the above illustration the Joker is no less unhinged as despite his evil machinations he takes the time to adjust his lip gloss.  Perhaps this has something to do with whatever happened to the Joker in the pages of "Detective Comics" this year as seen below.

We've heard of "Two Face" in Batman lore but "No Face"? There is nothing worse than an angry Joker and no doubt whatever happened to him in the Detective series must carry over to the Batman series.  Or will it?  Scott and Capullo have their own book and they have the success of the "Owls" series behind them.  The question is,can they top it?  Now that they have the Joker to play with they can vent any criminal lunacy they care to and I'm guessing there will be no restraint.

As for the very top illustration, it was taken from an old silent film era character that is often cited as the inspiration to the Joker.  It's a little quiz for the readers of my Fringe blog.  So the query is, what is the relation to the "Man Who Laughs" and Fringe?

The Iconic Batman: Art of the New 52 #4

In this ongoing series of examining the art of the Iconic Batman we return to the work of Greg Capullo as it appeared in Batman number 4 of the "New 52" written by Scott Snyder.  To provide a little context, Batman goes beneath the streets of Gotham City in search of more clues to the Court of the Owls.  As Bruce Wayne, Batman's great, great grandfather, Alan Wayne had built most of the great towers to Gotham City.  Alan Wayne's lifeless body was found in the sewers that Batman now searches for answers.

The above panel reminds me of another man that was always searching for answers by the light of a lamp and he was the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes.  Diogenes often walked the streets of Athens in broad daylight with a lamp.  When asked what he was doing Diogenes would reply, "looking for an honest man".  The implication of which was there was never one to be found.  Batman seems to share the same obsession as Diogenes.  Batman's relentless pursuit of truth and justice mirrors that of Diogenes search for honesty in men. 

Both men share a cynical nature.  Diogenes was in fact a leading proponent of Cynicism and is widely regarded as one of its founders.  The philosophy of Cynicism dictates that men should pursue a life of virtue in harmony with Nature.  Batman's quest for justice fits nicely into this conception.  Ironically, the Cynics of ancient Greece rejected "wealth, power and fame" while as Bruce Wayne, Batman embraces these tenets as a vehicle to enable his search for justice.  I'd like to think Diogenes would excuse Batman's extravagant lifestyle as long as honesty, truth and justice were the end result.

There are some salient attributes we can derive from Capullo's illustration.  Batman is shown walking through a large sewage tunnel made of granite stones.  His light stick providing the only brightness far below the surface of the city.  With his cape hanging limply about his shoulders, Batman takes on the look of a monk on his way to cloisters.  The life of a monk is a solitary and often lonely pursuit.  Something Batman is quite accustomed to.

The water at Batman's feet flows past him symbolic of Batman constantly working against the stream and the difficult nature of his work.  The large shadow of Batman's cowl looms behind him.  It seems to signify Batman's larger than life stature and the impact he has on the forces of evil despite his solitary approach.  It also interesting to see Batman move at such a measured pace.  Most often we see the Caped Crusader at a full run, cape whipping about him as he thunders towards the scene of a crime brandishing his own version of shock and awe.  In this quiet purposeful approach by Batman we get to share in his intellectual reticence as he works his way through the crime scene.  A pleasant break from the overwrought clamor he is often involved in. 

Capullo's art and Snyder's writing afford us a look at Batman at his most isolated and reserved.   He is remote and reclusive and we get a glimpse of the lonely nature of his endeavor.  An endeavor that often demands a moment of quietude to divine the nature of evil and the pursuit of justice, truth and honesty.

I think Diogenes would approve.