Killer Clown? Ghost? Must be Halloween in Gotham City

[skjam]

Let's catch up with All Star Western #13.



"Dangit! I thought I wasn't in thet goldurned Joker crossover!"



We open in a Catholic church, where a fleeing priest slips on blood and sees the body of another priest.



Jingles kills the second priest.

Some time later, the police have called in the investigative team of Arkham, Black and Hex. While these deaths are horrific enough to be caused by Dr. Jekyll's formula, which apparently has been duplicated, Gotham City is bad enough that it might not be connected. The priests' faces being marked like clowns does bring up that there's a circus in town.





The Barbary Ghost gets to show off her fighting skills until one of the Dragons gets in a lucky kick. Before the tong members can take advantage, however, Hex and Black intervene. In the confusion, Yanmei vanishes. We will no doubt catch up with her later.

Mr. Haly admits that there's something odd going on with his circus--four of their prize performers have vanished in the last few days. Jingles, the animal tamer, the knife-thrower's assistant and the Human Pincushion. Jingles has never shown an inclination to violence before.

In short order, we see both Jingles and Gunther the animal trainer, both gone violently insane.

Meanwhile, over in Gotham Harbor, a ship has arrived with a mystery guest...who is connected to a certain black diamond.....

Backup feature is Tomahawk, who is very much reimagined for the New 52.



Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!

Comments

[superfangirl1]

The art very pretty and awesome. Creepy clown is creepy.

[icon_uk]

Sigh... Did we HAVE to go straight to the "Victim of paedophilic abuse by a Catholic priest" trope?

In no way denying it's a vile horror and one of the biggest stains on the Catholic church's reputation, but NOT every priest is guilty of it, and not every altar server is a victim.

Also not struck on the clown themed killer in Gotham before the Joker, it dilutes the Joker concept a bit, or suggests some sort of supernatural element to the Joker (along the lines of "Gotham will always have a white faced, green haired killer") which I don't think we need.

On the other hand, I like the Barbary Ghost.

[shadur]

I'd have more sympathy if it weren't for the fact that the Catholic Church has been engaged in a conspiracy to keep the abuse scandals under wraps and covered up right from the top down.

No, not every catholic priest is personally guilty of raping their altar boys, but every single one that isn't *is* guilty of not walking away from an organization that they KNOW is covering for child rapists in order to protect their precious reputation -- or what's left of it.

All that's needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. They're -- or at least want to think of themselves as -- good men, and they're doing nothing.

[icon_uk]

Yes, the cover-up is in many respects more repellant than the crimes (and they're more than bad enough in and of themselves), but I can't agree that walking out is the only way to change things. Does an entire Police Force quit because of corruption in a few (even high ranking) officers? Does an entire Government quit because of a corrupt politician?

There are good men (and women) in the Church, working at the ground level, dealing with people on a day to day basis. They are the ones seeking to repair things from the inside, so that the crimes of a few don't poison the entire well.

Does there need to be change? Hell yes, and the sooner the better IMHO (and I say that as a Catholic, just so any bias is made clear), but those who could make the change leaving aren't going to be able to help with anything.

[shadur]

I realize you mean well, but that kind of change isn't going to happen until and unless someone all but literally burns down the vatican and pretty much everyone currently in the top three or four layers of the hierarchy.

Even the ones that aren't guilty of actively committing child abuse have either been directly complicit in covering it up at one point or another of their careers, and they're not likely to elevate anyone who smells like the kind of firebrand who'd go on a crusade to clear out the rot and destroy their careers and reputation.

I realize that as a Catholic or a Christian in general you by definition need to have faith, but are you confusing faith in God with faith in the Catholic Church?

[icon_uk]

Fair questions, and ones I have had to confront from time to time myself (I mean about the faith bit, I've never had to deal with a case of abuse, and if I did I can safely say, sod the Church, they're getting reported to the Police immediately and, if guilty, may they rot in jail until such time as a wiser judge than I deals with them appropriately) and I agree it needs to be a top down housecleaning.

As a gay Catholic I also have to deal with the knowledge that the Church, if it were relevant and I bothered to tell them, would disapprove of me being in a relationship with someone I love.

Like many Catholics not living in an 18th Century mindset, I feel I have to sort of... cherry pick (How many Catholics use birth control these days? More than a few I suspect). I can't accept the concept of a God of love who rejects the love of two consenting adults just because they're not heteronormative and trust that when my time comes, the aforementioned wiser judge will see things in a broader scope than some of their more temporal representatives.

Is that ideal, absolutely not, but my faith is (mostly) the faith of the Catholic Church and it has seen me through some fairly shitty times. Will that always be the case? Based on the current leaders, I'm not sure but they're not helping much, but based on the priests and religious "in the field" have a much more practical and accepting view of the world, that gives me some hope.

Boy, this turned into quite the confessional didn't it (no pun intended)

[lieut_kettch]

No, not every catholic priest is personally guilty of raping their altar boys, but every single one that isn't *is* guilty of not walking away from an organization that they KNOW is covering for child rapists in order to protect their precious reputation -- or what's left of it.

So should every American serviceman should leave the military for the sins committed (and covered up) by the institution he or she serves? Because there's a pretty long list from Wounded Knee to My Lai to Abu Ghraib.

[shadur]

Either demand -- loudly, if need be -- that those excesses are acknowledged and ended and those responsible held accountable, or conclude that the institution they swore to serve is no longer worthy of their oath and request a discharge, yes.

Given that lately the trend seems to be to want to punish whistleblowers for "endangering national security" rather than doing something about the atrocity until and unless the media makes it impossible to hide it under the carpet...

[skjam]

Yeah, I found both the "molested by priest" and green haired killer clown" bits overdone myself. Which is why I used three of the available four pages on the Barbary Ghost subplot.

[icon_uk]

Ahem, sorry to have focussed on the bits that irked me rather than the cool shit!

[pyynk]

The Gotham City stuff has been a mixed bag for me. Issue 0 of All Star Western reminded me of how much I missed him being out West.

[pyynk]

That said, the sequence with the Barbary Ghost was fun. Moritat can draw the hell out of some action.