INCORPORATED

[arbre_rieur]

A little over three pages from the latest issue...

This issue's largely set-up, as Bruce Wayne builds up the ranks of the franchise.





I doubt the "low maintenance" line was a dig at DiDio, but who wants to bet the internet smart alecs are going to interpret it is as such?





Some people think Wingman might be the original Wingman, back from the dead, but I don't think that's at all likely. Firstly, if it was him, there would be no need for the mystery game. Why obscure the character's face at all if he's exactly who he appears to be? Secondly, Morrison wrote the guy as petty, evil, and an all-around punk. He wasn't the sort suited for a redemption arc.

Also, David, the African Batman's look seems to be based on this guy...



...from the story "The Batman Nobody Knows," in BATMAN 250. icon_uk did a post on the issue here, from which I took the above pic.


I love this series.

Comments

[batzarmy]

Wingman = Jason

[janegray]

That's my guess too, but I don't know how I'd feel about that if it turns out to be true.

I love Jason as a mix of punk and woobie, and "Morrison wrote the guy as petty, evil, and an all-around punk" doesn't exactly inspire much confidence >_>

[arbre_rieur]

I was talking about Wingman, not Jason Todd.

[janegray]

Yes, I know. But if Wingman is Jason, then Jason is the guy Morrison has been writing as a 100% evil punk, and I wouldn't like that at all.

[guilty_as_changed]

I believe you have misunderstood, the OP was saying that the original Wingman was a 100% evil punk, not the new one. The new one, the one some are suggesting may be Jason, only appears on the panel in the page above.

[janegray]

Ah, I see. That's reassuring, thank you :D

[whitesycamore]

It's a theory. I'd be overjoyed if it was, particularly if it means he'll get a chance to go off and do his own thing without too much interference with/from the batclan.

It would give him a chance to establish an identity besides that of a reoccurring nuisance for Dick and Tim, and it would make it easy for his fans to collect his appearances and his haters to ignore them.

[benicio127]

Yes! Same here. I really don't want to get my hopes up because I feel like Morrison will just go with some obscure character or maybe bring back the original Wingman.

But... question (to whoever is able to answer): did the original Wingman know Bruce as Bruce? (Like I know Batman trained him, but did he know that Batman = Bruce Wayne??) And would he have called him Bruce???

[cloud_wolf]

Nah, he didn't know.He basically hated Batman's guts because he was a jealous asshole.

But seriously, Morrison KILLED the original Wingman.Like, shot through the head, drawn in gory detail by JH Williams III. Maybe I'll have to eat my words but I'm pretty sure he ain't coming back. I get that people think that Morrison is all about bringing back old obscure characters, but he does change them (or even kill them off). Knight and Squire are totally different from how they were when they first showed up (it being Cyril and Beryl instead of Cyril and his dad).

[benicio127]

And Beryl is awesome, too :D

I reallllly hope you don't have to eat your words, either :D

[cloud_wolf]

Beryl is the cuuuutest. ILHer and Cyril.

[misterbug]

The changes made to the Club of Heroes all had a specific purpose, <a HREF="http://www.4thletter.net/2007/11/batman-is-bruce-wayne-many-troubles-in-your-brain/> it has been argued</a>.

[cloud_wolf]

Oooh, that's a really cool link! THANK YOU! I didn't know 4th letter had posts on Morrison's Batman run.

[mrstatham]

To be fair, Cyril and Beryl was more of a generational thing - A homage to Batman and Robin and the notion of Robin becoming Batman - Than Morrison outright replacing the characters.

[whitesycamore]

Or if it *is* Jason that might even cement him as Morrison's red-headed Jason, who's a perfectly fine character but not the one I love.

Although tbh I have a sneaking suspicion that DC are going to stick with the red hair anyway, although they'll probably let his general look drift back towards hotness.

[benicio127]

I kind of think he might be a red-head too, given the cover of B&R #25. Though covers can never actually be believed, BUT. :/ (I don't know why Morrison's take is suddenly the authorial one, though, I think that's what bugs me more than anything. Plus, the absurdity of the retcon)

Would it cement him as Morrison's? Winick said he'll be amalgammating his and Morrison's (riffing on Morrison's riff on his character) Jason in B&R. So, I don't know! :O

[whitesycamore]

Yeah... it's the combination of the mystery guy addressing him as "Bruce," the attitude, and the hand on the shoulder (quite intimate and paternal for the usually stand-offish Batman) that makes me think Jason is a very real possibility.

[benicio127]

As soon as I read it, that was my immediate thought. Good point about the hand on the shoulder. And given the fact that DC constantly seems to be changing his costume (which is actually a lot of D: to me) and that in the majority of his post-resurrection appearances, there has been a "mystery" surrounding his masked identity (Hush, Red Hood, Red Robin, Gatman, nu!Red Hood)

Could you imagine though if this is Jason (which we're obviously not sure of), and he went to work for the Outsiders, eventually (which is what some people had suggested they wanted in the past)

Yeaaaah I don't see that as being as possibility now, not with Tim leading the Outsiders now oooops :O

[icon_uk]

Doesn't seem to fit with plans in Batman and Robin. There's another suggestion I read elsewhere on s_d that he might be Jean-Paul Valley.

[damianwayne]

I've read that quite a few places too, yet I don't for the life of me understand why anyone would want for it to be that 'roidhead choirboy instead of JToddz.

It's not as though we all miss Azrael - there's a pretty cool new one nd nobody gives a damn about the poor guy.

[icon_uk]

Oh personally, I really don't care if JPV never shows his face again; never liked him then, can't imagine liking him now, but he does seem to be a possibility.

[mrstatham]

I think if JPV were alive again, DC would've inevitably made some noise about it, given it was nearly impossible for them to shut up about Swamp Thing and whatever.

[ebailey140]

I've read that quite a few places too, yet I don't for the life of me understand why anyone would want for it to be that 'roidhead choirboy instead of JToddz.

Not so much a matter of "want" as a matter of what's most likely. I'd like Jason back in the family, but... We've already seen the solicits for that upcoming Batman & Robin story.

Meanwhile, with Jean-Paul, we've got the whole lack of a memorial case in the Batcave thing, which would mean (following the Steph Rule) Bruce suspects he isn't dead.

I'd rather it'd be Jason, but the B&R solicits make that seem unlikely. It's the same reason I was expecting Cass not only to appear, but in the costume she appeared in. We already saw her wearing it on the upcoming Red Robin cover.

[pepperspray101]

I thought one of the main reasons JPV hasn't been brought back is not so much story/character reasons, but because of who created him...(editor in chief of rival company Marvel anyone?)

then again, Joe Quesada's no longer the editor in chief now...what's the guy up to now? Maybe?

[twomasks]

I'm hoping against hope that it's Jean-Paul.