Ra's al Ghul was at woodstock

[superfangirl1]

Batman: Birth of the Demon (1992)

Comments

[espanolbot]

Mwhaha, I'm right about her being in herbeing conceived at Woodstock!

Thanks for posting. :)

[superfangirl1]

No problem. :)

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Didn't another book say Talia's mom was killed by a terrorist who knocked her into a Lazarus pit? And I remember scans of Talia aging to an old woman, but Woodstock wasn't that long ago...

Continuity, confusing long befotre Crisis!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, this was originally supposed to be out of continuity, although it's been dragged back in, so it's not surprising that this version of things does not necessarily jibe with what others have said.

[yaseen101]

The first one would be 'Son of the Demon' which according to O'Neil is now out-of-continuity. Talia was originally 150 years old but here she's retconned to as being around Bruce's age.

[nezchan]

Batman's being quite the drama queen in that fourth panel. Is it really that shocking, Bruce?

[crinos]

Plus, Batman is one to talk about not letting shit go. Mr. "MY PARENTS ARE DEAAAAAD!"

[rordulum]

That's what's shocking him. The fact that someone could be so insensitive as to bring up their own dead parent in his presence.

I mean how could they? Don't they know what he went through?

[shadowpsykie]

i don;t think he's being a drama queen, without context im assuming, but i believe Ras may have said something to Bruce about burrying the past and looking to the future, however he is still un able to let go of that moment in his past (like himself) he might be infering that Ras is a hypocrite

[vervianroot]

"Rock and Roll is Death...and Crime...and The Rage of a Beast!"* It confirms how evil Ra's is.

*This is exactly why Batman: Fortunate Son is so forgettable.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, Batman is all about keeping his loved ones safe, on a certain level - after all, he only really exists because Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a crook, and while he can be a little heartless to his adopted family at times, he does care deeply about them - so I guess it IS shocking to him. After all, if he'd been in Ras's place, he obviously would have done everything possible to save her, so cavalierly letting her die like that is like a slap in the face to him.

[vervianroot]

BRB Laughing forever.

[nickfury90]

I can TOTALLY see Ra's Al Ghul getting high and partying his lungs out at Woodstock. Very fitting for would-be rulers of the world.

[psychopathicus_rex]

He was probably one of the organizers, or the secret owner of the land, or something.

[book-of-daniel.livejournal.com]

You're missing half the beauty of this...

Ra's wasnt just at Woodstock.

Ra's was at Woodstock and got some...

[terrykun]

First panel: Happiest Talia ever.

Last panel: Most ominous Batman ever.
I expect him to have a mustache to twirl and go "nyaah".

[kamino_neko]

I feel the need to point out the festival wasn't actually in Woodstock, but in Bethel, almost 50 miles from the town of Woodstock (which is also in a different county).

[halloweenjack]

Well, if you want to get nitpicky, she isn't saying that it was at the Woodstock Music Festival, just a music festival that was there.

[halloweenjack]

This just serves to remind us that Ra's could have brought back Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, but didn't. He is a bastard.

[ar_feiniel]

I'm willing to give comics a pretty wide latitude when it comes to stretching reality and logic, but I cannot accept Ra's al Ghul didn't get any action for 500 years. That's just pushing it.

[yaseen101]

Yeah, that hit me too. Maybe he had a lot of magazines with him or the Middles Ages variant thereof and LOTS of Lube?

[twigcollins]

Tapestries. Erotic tapestries.

[psychopathicus_rex]

They say that people like monks and so forth do that to preserve their focus on their mission - presumably, that's what he was doing. (Hey, the Lazarus Pit can't be the ONLY reason why he tends to snap sometimes...)

[thebigapricot]

Now Altamont I would have believed but Woodstock? No way. Ras would have never put up with the mud.

[anewchallenger]

Given that part of Ra's M.O. is wanting to cleanse the world of unfitting genetic filth, I'd hardly think to believe he could tolerate hippies. It's just apples and oranges.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'm not sure that's true. Environmentalism is very much a part of the hippie mindset, and Ras is basically the most extreme variety of environmentalist - he wants to wipe out humanity because they're ruining the planet. Sure, the violent parts of his beliefs are absolutely antithetical to hippie ideology, but I could see him having at least enough in common with them to hold a civil conversation - if nothing else, I can imagine them being fascinated by the Lazarus Pits, and what they imply about the basic nature of the earth.

[twigcollins]

Have Ra's and Ivy ever teamed up? Considering their goals are rather similar...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Good question - I'm not sure. I would guess not, because he generally prefers to work alone (well, except for the League of Assassins and so forth, but you know what I mean), but it certainly would be an interesting team-up.

[psychopathicus_rex]

"Preserved? Like a jar of pickles?" I love that line.

[yaseen101]

I like it as well. She was poking fun at him since Bruce was trying to find out whether she is in her 100's like Ras but trying to phrase it in a nice way.

[psychopathicus_rex]

It's rather charming as well because it sounds like the sort of thing that someone who WAS 'well-preserved' would say. It's almost like the sort of thing an old lady with a sense of humor would say, and it reads as both odd and interesting coming from someone younger.

[yaseen101]

Agreed. Also, sounds like the kind of thing O'Neill would write, he would have been in his 50's by the time he wrote this, I think.

[psychopathicus_rex]

That doesn't necessarily indicate anything in particular - a younger man can wrote a line about aging just as well as an older one, after all. One needn't necessarily personally identity with something in order to write about it well, after all.

[yaseen101]

All in all, I thought Birth of the Demon had one of the better interpretations of Talia. Not perfect, mind you but better than most.

Also, can I just say how awesome Norm Bregfoyle's art is? He's one of those artist that can capture the scariness of Batman. Whenever a criminal is around Batman just seems to morph into an angry mass of shadows, ala Alucard from Hellsing, it's a great way to show how criminals in Gotham sees Batman.

[pitseleh]

That is just... a hilarious face Bats makes, in the fourth panel. Priceless.