'Tec 861 featuring The Question!

[kingrockwell]

So, to my supreme disappointment, it looks like Question #37 was delayed until next week. So, while this means we won't get two Question books this week, it does mean a couple other things.
~ Next week gets two Rucka-penned Blackest Night tie-ins, one which serves the event that I'm just dreading, and another which serves the characters that I'm really excited for!
~ Next Wednesday being just two days prior to it, Question #37 now officially counts as DC's birthday present to me. Thanks guys!

But enough of that. We still have 'Tec for no-faced goodness!
About three and a quarter pages from ten.

When last we left our heroes, they'd been followed back to the lighthouse by a bad guy!

hahaha Tot
The guy says his name is Zeiss and he's been tracking them for a while, so he knows what they'll do before they do it. That doesn't seem to include the way they pull the table over to catch some of the bullets he proceeds to feed them.

Renee has Hel get Tot to safety while she takes Zeiss. (hmm, Renee doesn't have a simple three-letter nickname like the others (Vic included), maybe i should start calling her Nee?)

Unexpected? Okay, maybe he was just talking a lot of hot air when he said he could anticipate their moves. Just illustrating how closely he'd been watching, maybe?

Well, anyway, he does turn the tables on this fight, and Nee takes a nasty spill into the desk, which well...

oh you guys already know how much of a sucker i am

Zeiss closes in for the kill, but!


So Zeiss is just an assassin, so they play dead for a photo he can use to get paid, and hire him for information on his employer. This costs them two million and Hel's Lamborghini, much to her consternation.
And what do they get out of the deal?


But that's not all! And if you caught it in the previous page, you know what's coming.


Rucka's made a lot out of it in interviews that Nee and Tot don't really get along, but so far all we've seen since Crime Bible #4 is a not-all-that-grudging partnership. There isn't a lot of tension, but little camaraderie either. Perhaps thin ice waiting to crack, and it just did. Question #37 is supposed to feature this topic centrally, so I guess we can consider this a lead-in for next week.

And as a special bonus, one panel from Batman & Robin #7, introducing Kate's new role in the Batfamily!


One last thing, this is the final reminder for the folks who've claimed lines on the Scans_Daily Boom De Yada! Monday I'm gonna clear all the claimed lines that haven't been recorded and open them to another round of claims!
So if you've claimed a line you want to record, you have till the 1st!
If you hadn't claimed a line but want to contribute, keep an eye open on Monday, and you might be able to have a line for your very own!
Let's make it the best, scans_daily!

tags
char: huntress/helena bertinelli, char: question/renee montoya, char: tot/aristotle rodor, creator: greg rucka, creator: cully hamner, title: detective comics,
char: batwoman/kate kane, char: batman/dick grayson, creator: grant morrison, creator: cameron stewart, title: batman and robin, in-joke: context is for the weak,
publisher: dc comics

Comments

[mistersandman]

I didn't want to be a chump and start picking up Batman and Robin just because Kate was in it. But my first thought after reading that panel was "Oh hell yeah" and now I am so conflicted.

It's such a shame that she's going to get shoved out of 'Tec once Bruce gets back in a few months....

[darkknightjrk]

It actually was a great issue--I'd recommend getting it. :)

Have they confirmed that it's going to be Bruce in Detective? I just assumed that it would be Dick in detective stories.

[kingrockwell]

It's worth considering that a printer error ended with Dick and Kate's lines switched in that panel, which leads to a troubling habit of Morrison never being able to bring Kate in as anything but a victim (see also: Final Crisis).
That said, how tolerable B&R has proven to be is directly related to how good the art is, so Kate still running from the Dark Faith types notwithstanding, this wasn't a bad issue.

[darkknightjrk]

The whole panel is switched in that B&R #7 panel, which was pretty funny, but still--yeesh. You'd think with an extra month to prepare that they'd fix all fuck-ups.

[icon_uk]

Ah, that DOES make it less annoying then...

[kingrockwell]

Somehow I expected that might be readily apparent, but out of context I guess not. It should have a context-for-the-weak tag, come to think of it!

[darkknightjrk]

If it was I'm sure we could have had fun with it. Like:

Honey, I know you're butch, but just because you muff dive don't make you no man! *snaps fingers*

[ashleyera.livejournal.com]

I think my heartstrings just got pulled. :(

[icon_uk]

Zeiss isn't a new character BTW, he fought Batman and Cass/Batgirl a few years back.

[espanolbot]

And Catwoman. Selina chained him to the ceiling of a dockside warehouse during War Games I think.

[cainofdreaming]

He also appeared in Bloodhound.

Dang, I miss that series.

[kingrockwell]

Did not realize, thanks!

[hyperactivator]

I'm reminded of the comic where supergirl dresses like a cheerleader,threatens half of Gotham's thugs and proclaims herself Batman.

[uadlika]

that happened? I demand scans!

[pyrotwilight]

Sadly that was in a PAD story.

[uadlika]

series? issue number? I have a comic shop and am not afraid to use it!

[pyrotwilight]

I'll let you know when I get a chance to look it up. Been quite a while.

[pyrotwilight]

Found it. Issue 62 of PAD's run.

[taggerung301]

if you can find and post that comic, that would be amazing

[darkknightjrk]

I need to see this as well.

[team_mummy]

GO KATE!!
aw, wish i could pick this up after work but i are home, wooo sick day!

[scottyquick]

Helena's never really looked like that before, but it's absolutely how I always want her to look out of costume.

[icon_uk]

You mean "Hispanic", because that's what I see her as in these pics.

[scottyquick]

I was actually talking about her clothes and hair. I'm no fashion expert, but they look stylish and Italian, and her hair's thick and the ponytail looks cool.

Also, I really hate the coloring in Batman and Robin.

[kenn_el]

Italian. Hispanic isn't all that different ethnically. Or linguistically.

[kingrockwell]

Cully's just cool like that!

[box_in_the_box]

Even though I'm not Objectivist myself (quite the opposite, in fact), I love seeing the original Question's Objectivist philosophy being acknowledged.

[adonca]

Not to mention that it's something that is often lacking in both DC and Marvel lately, namely someone being called out on a "What the Hell Hero?!" moment. I'm not even saying that it's a clear case of Tot right, Renee wrong here, but I do like it when questionable decisions get called out in a manner that is not half-assed. Now, if Montoya and Helena can give a genuinely reasonable response, I'm all for it. Emphasis on reasonable.

[box_in_the_box]

Seriously. I'd welcome genuinely intelligent and nuanced debates on philosophy and politics among my superheroes, which means that Bendis, Millar, Winnick and Willingham should be banned from attempting to write such scenes until death and beyond.

[adonca]

I do have some hope since it's Rucka writing, and in his WW run at least he proved very proficient in avoiding strawman arguments on one side of an issue or the other. He's not completely consistent though. Still, if I can see both sides presented in a mature manner (and I do think that both could make valid points), I would be a very happy panda.

Agreed on your points regarding other writers. Bendis has a really bad habit of ignoring characterization for the sake of whatever plot he wants to happen, and Millar does both that and just doesn't do balanced or nuanced at all. That makes the decision to put him in charge of Civil War back when more baffling... something that COULD have been a great case of character building in a tragic scenario where friends found themselves opposing each other in a situation that had snowballed horribly out of control instead became a case of two camps of unsympathetic dicks who were able to toss aside years of friendship with zero reflection and hesitation. Ah, what might have been.

[jlbarnett]

in comic book universe guys like Weiss don't even officially exist most of the time. No one would have anything to hold him on.

[thanekos]

... why does Zeiss have assembler in his HUD?

I can't see LDA and STA helping you analyze people's movements- did he just forget to turn the debug console off?

[jeyl]

Kate: I'm the new Batman.

O.O

/bow, /bow, /bow, /bow, /bow

[kenn_el]

Kate's gender confused.

[jeyl]

No she's not.

[octopusgirl.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've mentioned this before. But, I ADORE Detective Comic's art. Personally, I don't think Helena's ever looked this good.

Also, harsh Tot. He went there.

[kingrockwell]

Oh, Tot needs so many hugs these days.

[bluefall]

Oh, my girls. Why are you so awesome?

[kingrockwell]

Awesome enough to inspire me to bring back one of my best icons, even! oh happy Babs, never leave us again
though i'm getting another Vic icon soon, and i like to keep some kind of balance between my favorite redheads

Of course, Morrison wouldn't write Kate this cool except by accident, rather keeping her a victim to the Dark Failth. Maybe next issue'll treat her better, seeing good art on that title has me strangely hopeful for it (where i was on the verge of dropping it after the last issue!)

[bluefall]

Maybe next issue'll treat her better

Ahah right. Because the "Kate being choked" pic in the preview, as contrasted with laughing evil!Bats and grim facing-off-as-equals Bat heads, is so terribly promising. (I only picked this one up because it had Kate and didn't have Quietly. Don't know what the hell I was thinking expecting the Kate to be good.)

Rucka can keep writing Helena forever, though.

[kingrockwell]

Well, I did say it was a strange hope!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Wait - 'Question #37'? I thought the only place we were getting any Question stuff was in Detective Comics. How long has Renee had her own book?

[kingrockwell]

She doesn't, unfortunately. As a part of Blackest Night, a handful of old titles are being "resurrected" this month for a single one-shot which picks up on the old numbering. Among them is Suicide Squad, Atom and Hawkman, Weird Western Tales, Catwoman, and The Question.
It's co-written by Greg Rucka and Denny O'Neil, penciled by Denys Cowan and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz. It's gonna be great!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh-hh. Well, that could get confusing. I'm picturing an eager, uninformed Question collector eagerly snapping up the original Denny O'Neil Question issue by issue, going purely by an online numbering guide or something, until one day they get to the end of it, and... But wait! There's another issue - #37! Happily, the collector snaps it up, and... wait, what's going on? Vic... is dead? And a ghost? And who's this new girl wearing the mask? What's going on?!

[the_newcatwoman]

I just have to say it: Martha Kane Wayne's son Bruce Wayne...Kate Kane...(distant) cousins. Old lovers or even just daters? That's a wee bit too old-school blue blood, even for me.

tNC

[thebigapricot]

I like Renee and Helena together. Very similar temperaments and styles. Can't wait to see next week's Question issue.

[shadowpsykie]

can some one explain the Batman and batwoman panel, its confusing

[kingrockwell]

Lettering error. Their balloons have been switched.