Preview/Spoilers: Batman #693

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

More preview pages up at The Source.
(There are fight pages and plot pages and fighty plot pages but I went with this page, s_d.)

Re: the last page up at The Source. I'm excited to find out who the 'wingman' is.

Comments

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Awww. It's a shame to get him out of that bed so soon...

I'm nervous about who his wingman will be.

Also I have to laugh at the idea of Dick worrying about hobnobbing with the elite. I know he easily makes friends amongst people from his own original background (perhaps more than Bruce) but he's been in this world since he was a child and has been dragged to plenty of parties. He'd have his own act that made him lovable to these guys. It's not like Bruce particularly liked it either. I would think Dick would have some fun with it. Like in that story where he's teaching Tim about dealing with money and the rich in Monte Carlo.

Is this the same comic that suggested that Dick couldn't listen to Lucius' concerns about something weird going on with the finances because numbers weren't his thing? I know they're trying to play up the differences between Dick and Bruce but it's just not canon that Dick's a working glass guy who's not good with money and the trappings that come with it.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I'm nervous about who his wingman will be.

I know! It could completely go either way. Now I shall be nervous, too. It could go very badly.

Is this the same comic that suggested that Dick couldn't listen to Lucius' concerns about something weird going on with the finances because numbers weren't his thing?

No, not the same comic. That was Batman and Robin who suddenly told us Dick wasn't good with numbers. I know, the society deal kind of got me, too. He's very used to hanging out with those people. But I agree, they are trying to play up the differences in Bruce and Dick. I fanwanked it in my own mind to mean that Dick doesn't want to put on a specific to Bruce false 'Bruce Wayne, socialite front.

Don't know if I think it works or not.

But so true that it's not canon that Dick is a working class guy who's no good with money or its trappings.

[tanetris.insanejournal.com]

Is this the same comic that suggested that Dick couldn't listen to Lucius' concerns about something weird going on with the finances because numbers weren't his thing?

I believe that was actually in Batman and Robin.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Ah! Thanks.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

Could be a female "wing-man"?

I'm curious (along with Dick apparently) exactly how they plan to end this Tommy Elliot thing too which I find tedious. So a bit of plastic surgery (and presumably changing his voice) is all it takes to convince people Elliot is Bruce? Doesn't that short-change Bruce a bit? Sure playboy Bruce is an act but not all of "Bruce Wayne" is. Elliot shouldn't be able to fool anyone who knows Bruce i.e. Vicki Vale or Lucius Fox but apparently he has.

And considering Elliot's crimes, against Harold, against Catwoman, against his own parents, against who knows how many sick innocents isn't a bit of bad taste to have the keepers of Bruce's legacy, the two people he trusted the most (Dick and Alfred) be so blase about Elliot just stepping into Bruce's shoes (as long as he has a keeper, the fact he's a mass murderer is OK?). WTF?

Combine this with the fact that neither Alfred or Dick seems at all interested in the whereabouts of Bruce's missing daughter (Cassandra) despite all the urgency about Tim and then there's Alfred just letting Barbara using the Batcave under Wayne Manor to keep an eye on Stephanie Brown, who Bruce wouldn't trust for a moment post-War Games to be Batgirl,(and this the same Batcave Dick himself just cleaned out for "security reasons" and which Alfred himself locked the Outsiders out of when Bruce "died") and you get a whole lot of not exactly respecting Bruce's memory IMO. I'm really interested in seeing the reaction when Tim turns out to be right all along and how they are going to explain to Bruce letting Elliot spend his money and pose as him for months.

[ladymirth.insanejournal.com]

Batgirl is Barbara's legacy, and Barbara's the one who gets any say in who gets the costume. Steph convinced Babs she was up for the job. If Bruce had been alive and had a problem with it, Babs would have made her one of her agents and told Bruce where to stick it, the way she did with Helena.

And yes, I am also peeved as hell about how everybody seems to have forgotten Cassandra ever existed.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

True that about Babs getting the say who is Batgirl but there is no way Bruce would want her operating with Stephanie Brown out of HIS Batcave. I mean seriously the guy made dozens of smaller BatCaves all around Gotham (he even gave one to Cass if anyone remembers that) and Babs has to operate out of the first one, the one Bruce discovered as a child, the one beneath Wayne Manor herself, the one that was closed entirely to the Outsiders (some of whom had worked with Bruce for years) when he died, the one Dick just cleaned out and closed up for security reasons (and for reasons of respect) in Winnick's just concluded run. This is the only place Babs (who can millions from crime lords accounts to fund a new clock tower or whatever) can think of to use as her HQ? That's what I mean by disrespectful. If Babs wants Steph to be Batgirl they should get a whole new lair.

But yes, yes, yes, on Cassandra. It's not only that she's never seen. She's never even MENTIONED. Is she a part of the Family or not?

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

Did bruce actually say somwhere that he didn't trust Steph to be Batgirl or anything else? Then what was that whole thing in Robin upon her return to Gotham City? Where he pretty much welcomes her back (and then in a contrived but still canon plot thread leaves it up to Steph to make sure Tim is ready to deal with the aftermath of Batman's disappearance?)

Yeah...either you missed or I missed something, but far as I know, stephanie received Bruce's blessing to fight crime with them. It was Tim in the end who didn't want her to continue being a crime fighter.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

To be clear, I don't think Bruce would have a problem with Steph fighting crime as Spoiler (thats mostly Tim's problem) or as Batgirl if Babs wanted it but I really don't think he'd want someone who was not "Family" operating out of the cave beneath his house. And despite the fact that Steph was a Robin I don't think Bruce thinks of her like that (the closest analogy would be Huntress operating out of his cave) and even though its Babs who took over, Bruce and Babs were not like that either in the sense of her being in the cave. Oracle hardly ever (once, twice?) operated out of the Batcave. She always had her own place. It's not like he didn't build a dozens of mini-caves throughout Gotham (including the one he gave Cass that's now vacant and the home-made version Jason made for himself) they could use instead and it's not like Babs can't just launder millions of dollars from some crime lord's bank accounts to buy/build a new lair for herself.

Dick closed the cave (and cleaned it out) for security reasons and out of respect for Bruce and literally one month later (publishing time) Babs and Steph move in? I don't think Bruce will like it when he comes back (and when he does they will definitely have to move out anyway if the Batgirl title is still going by then).

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

*sighs* I wish I had a scan on hand, but he did welcome her to the batcave. That was where he welcomed Steph back and in front of Alfred to boot. So, no. I don't think it's a stretch to think Steph is allowed to work in the batcave with or without him there.

Granted, I'm not sure which batcave is being used, not denying that Barbara couldn't have come up with a better "batgirl cave" herself, but in this case I'll have to blame editorial for this fuck up. You're not the only one wondering how that lapse in continuity happened. I'm mostly frustrated that DC editorial once more forgot to connect their books and let their writers know what's going on in the other books.

That said, I don't believe the analogy with Huntress works. Oracle may not have been there often or physically, but she still assisted Batman more than enough in the past (much more than Huntress did). So much that he saw the need to wean himself off her help when she and the BOP left Gotham City. Meaning, it's not a stretch to think Babs can have access to the tools his batcave offers, because to not do so would make him all kinds of a selfish ungrateful bastard.

And seriously...if they have Bruce have a bitchfest because Steph and Babs are operating out of his batcave when he comes back, I'm going to have a bitchfest on DC editorial for not doing their goddamn job and keeping the writers updated to what's "kosher" for each character to do or not do. How petty. Babs and Steph are fighting crime, they're not having a slumber party. As long as they aren't endangering Bruce's identity or his other toys which supposedly Dick stored away...and doesn't seem to be the case, I don't see what the problem is. (unless this is going to be a plotpoint in the future...ugh)

I do believe they have just as much as right as Dick Grayson does to use or NOT use the batcave...mostly because Batman NEVER prohibited Steph from the batcave and mostly because Babs helped him tons in the past, probably just as much as Dick Grayson did.

By the time Bruce comes back, Babs and Steph probably will have another place to operate out of, because DC's gotta keep all their books fresh when the big guy returns.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It's 'the' batcave. Bryan Q Miller made that very clear in the last two issues of Batgirl itself.

I don't think that it's going to be Bruce who's upset about the women in the batcave. And that's something that I really dislike about it--the women versus men fake feminism focus that I believe may be upcoming. Hopefully, I'm wrong about that, and that it won't be a women against the men deal. For Dick's own home.

[thokstar.insanejournal.com]

Let's see, the wingman needs to be somebody who is a trusted superhero, enjoys hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and somebody Alfred knows?

Obviously it's Booster Gold. (OK, it's likely not, but there are worse ideas for a wingman.)

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

Considering this is Daniel and he introduced a boat-load of character in his first issue, I wouldn't be surprised if the "wingman" to keep Elliot in line is Selina who Alfred obviously still keeps in touch with.

[specialagentm.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Or Kate Kane, society girl.

[jamspread.insanejournal.com]

Am I a terrible person for thinking the wingman is going to be Jimmy Olsen?

[lots42.insanejournal.com]

Alfred is putting make-up on Dick. Tee-hee.

[megami.insanejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking!

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

Must be Clark.

[3goodtimes.insanejournal.com]

I want that to be true so hard.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

The wingman could be Babs, which is why Alfred hasn't mentioned her by name.

Then thanks to Alfreds connections with the Outsiders, it could the Tatsuo (as a "woman of mystery"), Gabby (as apparently bubbleheaded fluff) or Jeff (as someone more than capable of dealing with the elite)

[ladymirth.insanejournal.com]

Oh, I really really hope it IS Babs! I LOVE seeing those two interacting, romance or not.

[greatest_zatara.insanejournal.com]

I'm betting on Jack Ryder for the wingman. He should be famous enough. (:

[comicoz.insanejournal.com]

[i]Let's see, the wingman needs to be somebody who is a trusted superhero, enjoys hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and somebody Alfred knows?[/i]

Going with Green Arrow.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

I took a look at the first page, and I saw a black cowl and what looked like a red cape on the bed and thought "Wow, the writers finally did it."

[ladymirth.insanejournal.com]

*laughs ass off*

[megami.insanejournal.com]

Oh, if only someone would photoshop an "S" on that blanket...

[jelly_ace.insanejournal.com]

*snort* You, my dear, are a certified S_Der.
And Supes and Bats already spent a night together in bed. Well, Bruce and Clark, anyway. And well, it was half a night, since a dimensional wrinkle wrecked havoc before things got interesting. It's all in the crack known as Superman/Batman.

[nezchan.insanejournal.com]

"I'm excited to find out who the 'wingman' is."

It's Rip Haywire (http://riphaywire.com/?p=828), of course!

[kingrockwell]

Well, I think it's pretty clear that Alfred called Hawkman. :D

[jelly_ace.insanejournal.com]

Nah, I think it's Roy/Arsenal/Red Arrow.

[naebler.insanejournal.com]

This.

[jelly_ace.insanejournal.com]

Awwww, I never got a chance to make my "Because he's a wings man joke!

[kingrockwell]

But he doesn't have wings, just feathers!

[jelly_ace.insanejournal.com]

You know how men are like "Oh, I'm a legs man"?...
Yeah, my joke's kinda lame.

[schala_kid.insanejournal.com]

Most likely it will be Selina but I hope it's not because I want t be surprised.

[jelly_ace.insanejournal.com]

Damn, I got excited too, and this is not even in my pull list. Should I be picking this up?

[kingrockwell]

It's Tony Daniel on story and art. Take that as you will.

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

I don't care, just as long as someone tells me where the hell they keep Damian during the day. I swear, does that kid get home-schooling or is he just training all day like some ninja kid?

[lucky_sometimes.insanejournal.com]

This is a silly thing to take pleasure in, but I love that he sleeps under red sheets/blankets.

[thirdblindmouse.insanejournal.com]

There are fight pages and plot pages and fighty plot pages but I went with this page, s_d.

ALFRED!!! and a half-naked Dick Grayson? C'mon, who would be enticed by that? ... *goes to look up comicbook shop's hours*