Batman and Robin: Odd Games. Alternate Title: Role Reversal Can Be Fun!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

From Untold Legends of the Batman, by Len Wein, Jim Aparo, Colorist Glynis Wein. I wanted to post Babs' origin as told by Jim Gordon, plus the first meeting of the Commissioner and Batman, but I got distracted by this.











Batman: Does it matter?

Dick: Um, yeah. It kind of matters a lot.

Bruce: No. No it doesn't. End of discussion, pal.

PS: This is weird stuff, but I did really like the rest of the story very much and the writer's last story: Superman/Batman Annual #3. (The one with Composite Superman.)

Comments

HOLY CRAP!

[peur_evol.insanejournal.com]

I have this in paperback (http://www.alldiscountbooks.net/SearchBook/defaultBrowse-Fm/i/0812520424.html-dirPage.jsp)
I was just reading it the other day.
Small world.

Re: HOLY CRAP!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I have this in comic form, of which there were several, but do not yet have the matching available audiotapes. For listening to in my Honda Hybrid. Question: Did you think it was just a tiny bit odd or just another day in the batcave?

[ar_feiniel_.insanejournal.com]

I'm not really seeing Robin's logic of "I'll dress up just like Batman and THAT will snap Bruce out of it!"

Hmmm.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

You're crazy! What are you thinking?

*nods*

All I know is that my adopted child, when dressed as my father for a costume party thirty years ago, will fix my manic state. Hooray!

*plans ahead for easy out*

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Batman: "What the fuck is that guy doing dressed in a ridiculous Bat costume? I--hey wait."

We call it intervention.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

More "I'll dress up like Bruce's Dad on the night he inadvertantly inspired Bruce to adopt a Bat-theme to snap him out of it"

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

It's funny, in modern comics I generally dislike third-person narration, unless it's a short "the next day..." kind of thing. But because these were written decades ago, I can forgive the practice, and I absolutely love how thoughtful and pretty--I might even say tender--the narration can sometimes come across. "A shadow gliding past other shadows"

And oh my god, itty bitty Bruce is so adorable I want to cry. Actually, this whole thing is so lovely I could cry. (How is it that the Bronze Age is so awesome?)

"Go on, son--Get out of here! I can hold the walls open until you're safe!" is *such* a loving-parent thing to say, regardless of whether or not the perceived threat is real or imaginary. And yet, it works just as well that it's Dick saying it to Bruce. In some ways, Dick really is the caretaker of Batman's emotions.

And I love it when Bruce calls him "chum". *sniffle*

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Motto. Motto motto motto.

Yes. *sniffles with you*

And yes. Dick saying it. Yes.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Also...

How is it that the Bronze Age is so awesome?

I am not sure at all how, but agreed that it is. I am trying to figure out, though, How/Why the Bronze Age Is So Awesome, and welcome any input.

What I've come up with so far?

Batman: Adult, flawed but competent, not misogynistic. (Yay!)
Batgirl: Adult, competent. Takes care of business.
Dick: Competent. Charming and competent. *am sleepy, will add more later*

But I am so trying to understand, and understand what went wrong. Any help is appreciated in this endeavor...

[sailorlibra.insanejournal.com]

This was the first Batman story in comics that I ever read. For a very long time, I believed that Joe Cook had killed Batman's parents. It was weird to find that that had been retconned out of history.

Despite, the failure of logic in this scene, I really loved the story.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Joe Chill? I think he did, right? *Is confused* That's gone now?
Despite, the failure of logic in this scene, I really loved the story.
Yes! I did too. Really, really.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Also, it's cool and interesting that this is the first Batman story in comics that you ever read.

[perletwo.insanejournal.com]

...so Robin wore a mask overa mask? Oh, Dick.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I know. What won't he do? Oh Dick.

Is right.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Even though he was only going to be seeing Bruce, who knows who Robin is. There's probably a whole protocol in everybody's mind about when and how much costume is appropriate at all times and for all situations.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Whats the context of Bruce's dad dressing up as a bat????

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Gotham costume party.

...As Gothamites do.

[jkcarrier.insanejournal.com]

Thomas Wayne wore the bat outfit to a costume party. At one point, a couple of thugs broke in to the party and kidnapped Wayne at gunpoint. Their boss, a mobster named Lew Moxon, had been injured in a gunfight and they wanted Dr. Wayne to operate and remove the bullet. Instead, Wayne managed to overpower the crooks and turned them in to the police. Moxon swore he'd get even, and later he hired Joe Chill to kill the Waynes and make it look like a random mugging.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

This and the GLC one like it(in which they fought Krona--amazing how many references there are now to a miniseries unavailable so long) were pretty effin' cool, and a good way at the time to bring new or younger readers up to speed. I wonder why they never do stuff like this anymore.

And omigod what nice Aparo. This was what was wrong with his later inkers: Aparo needs generous and well-placed amounts of black to really kick.

BUT though--

First thing I'm wondering is how an explosion can cause schizophrenia, and if so, maybe he should have the physiological damage to his brain looked at. And if that was a sufficient head trauma to cause that, he's still walking around with nary a headache? It only took a tiny fall on a bunny slope to cause a hemorrhage in Natasha Richardson's poor noggin.

Second, in any event: Bruce, look at yourself. You're only now worried about going mad?

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I think it's best not to think about the schizophrenia. Batman SO does not need to have his brain looked at. Neither he or the brain looker would be pleased.

Aparo looks gorgeous. There was a moderate amount of dispute over the art in this series, but Aparo got the credit. It's on wikipedia. Disputes. Over art. Things were said. Looks like Aparo to me.

GLC is what, again?

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

That was like a Venture brothers episode...

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

LOL.

Yes. Yes it does.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Has it occurred to anyone just what the hell Bruce is doing in the last panel?

BATMAN CAN'T FLY.

And I doubt there's much useful to attach his Bat-line to near his mansion.

And if it's his copter, why not just get in on the ground?

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

BATMAN CAN'T FLY.

LIES. Why do you lie like that?

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

Wow, Thomas Wayne being a huggable, affectionate father. That should be a lot more present in current comics the Thomas Wayne who gets his son to call him 'yes, sir'.

Also, Dick acting out as Bruce's father and Bruce accepting it: so apparently Bruce being emotionally eight-years-old isn't just a Post-Crisis concept. Oh Bruce. Oh Dick.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I hear you and love 'em either way, but To Be Fair, since I only posted a segment of this story, Bruce has been struggling with his sanity for three issues (due to: Warehouse Explosion) and is a bit of a wreck by now. He's been leaving creepy notes to himself and thinking it's someone out to get him. Batman sabotaged the Batmobile, even. Then... forgot.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

"Whose your daddy NOW Bruce? Hunh? Whose your Daddy... Say it... SAY IT!!!"

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Heh:)

Now I'm Soooo disappointed that I didn't include that panel. Damn posting limits!

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Oh my god, this is FANTASTIC! Other Batfamily members just can't begin to understand how Bruce and Dick are so tied to each other. Because they don't see things like this.

Seriously, think for a second about just what this says about these two "pals" and Dick's role as Bruce's son. And how Bruce trusts him--if this was done in the modern day it would probably be Bruce ordering Alfred to dress up like Jack Drake and...or make that, Bruce ordering Alfred to dress up like he's from the future and tell Tim somebody went evil and he has to figure out who. But instead in the Bronze Age they were at the point where they made the characters more psychologically complex but celebrated the trust between them and showed how the family loved and helped each other because they understood how things can get weird when you dress up in a costume and fight crime obsessively every night.

Now it's like the only time people get to do that is when they're ghosts in dream sequences.

Although okay, Dick still demands that he be able to do it sometimes, especially if it's for Tim.

Yes. A million times, yes.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I am so glad you liked! Thank you for appreciating it with me!

Hahaha on your modern scenario. Sad but true.

But instead in the Bronze Age they were at the point where they made the characters more psychologically complex but celebrated the trust between them and showed how the family loved and helped each other because they understood how things can get weird when you dress up in a costume and fight crime obsessively every night.

Very well said!

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

So robin got a "if bruce ever goes crazy from hunted demons dad issues, wear a look alike costume to snap him out of it" plan? Fantastic sotry between them that not often explore and how much having dick around keeps bruce sanity in check with caring.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Aww! Great points, Superfan1!

It's true.