Justice League Beyond #18: Return of the Joker Flashback

[superfangirl1]

Terry discovers a mystery rooted in the aftermath of the original Joker's death.







Jim says he's heading back to the gotham police department and told Batman he will cover everything up as best he can about what happen that night.

Comments

[alan_smithee]

So Gordon is connected to the Speed Force?

[theflames]

Was there ever any doubt?

[cainofdreaming]

When it comes to preventing himself from facing the fact that your daughter goes around risking her life in skintight spandex then I think most fathers are Speed Force incarnate.

[big_daddy_d]

When you think about it, this is Death of the Family before the current arc of the same name.

[icon_uk]

Heh, many years ago (many, MANY years as I look back at it now) I wrote my own fanfic about the aftermath of the flashback in "Return of the Joker". If anyone is interested, it can be found here

[superfangirl1]

That is a very nice and awesome story. Thanks for sharing. :)

[twospirit.blogspot.com]

Great story! I really like the brother dynamic you laid out, and explaining where Nightwing was during the search. And Superman! :D

[espanolbot]

It's kind of weird they reference the continuity of BTAS in this, considering they kind of ignored or obliterated it in the first BB comic storyline. ^^;

For instance, they mention that Nightwing is still active as a hero in Batman Beyond, and that Return of the Joker occured when he left Gotham for Bludhaven, but in the first storyline they had the Joker forcibly retire Dick by machinegunning him half to death.

[darth_cloudo]

BB and BTAS are different continuities? It's been a while since I've seen either of them, but I always assumed that BB was kind of a sequel to BTAS (and that JL and JLU happened in the same universe as both).

[chrisdv]

Nope, same continuity.

[espanolbot]

The SHOW is in the same continuity, but this comic takes parts of both the main comic continuity and combines it with parts of the show. It isn't a completely DCAU thing like the cartoon, I mean.

[chrisdv]

Was it the Joker? Can't remember. I don't remember anything about Nightwing still being active in the cartoon either, other than a "You wanna hear stories about Bruce? You should ask Nightwing." reference.

But they've been referencing the DCAU continuity quite a bit - Warhawk's parents are John & Shayera, & there's been numerous references to ROTJ in the Batman Beyond series.

[filthysize]

It was during Old Babs' narration of the flashback. She started by saying that "Nightwing has left to establish himself in another city," and that it was just Batman, her and Tim Drake left.

[icon_uk]

Though I agree that the BB comic royally screwed up with their ghastly Dick Grayson fate, Dick's status is never elaborated on in any of BB episode beyond a casual aside from Barbara and a mention he'd moved to Bludhaven before the events of the flashback scene.

[filthysize]

I think espanolbot's point is that in Return of the Joker, it's said that Dick was still active as Nightwing when Joker died, yet in the BB comic, Joker was the one who forced Nightwing to retire by paralyzing him. Those two things don't match up.

[jeyl]

Aww, so the Joker didn't electrocute himself? Ripoff.

[icon_uk]

Just in case you're not being ironic there (I suspect you are, but it's late here and I'm not at my most perceptive), the Joker electrocuting himself was never the original intent by the creators, but the "soft option" replacement scene they were forced to insert to replace the originally intended scene (nixed by the studio, but later restored in the "Directors Cut" version) that it was Tim who shot him dead after the Joker ordered him to shoot Batman, and what was left of Tim's sanity more or less snapped.

[jeyl]

I think film makers should stick with the final product. They're reaching an all time low when they resort to George Lucas' standards of changing the final product to fit their vision. It's disrespectful and insulting to the audience who watched the original.

[mishalak]

Yeah, biggest ripoff ever! There should only be one version ever and it should totally be the one we saw first because our your childhood should be the center of a fictional universe. And Han shot first. Han shot first, damnit!!! Do you also sit up at night worried that someone might like the Han shot second version better too? And Tolkein should never have revised The Hobbit! Eleventy!!! Ditto Roald Dahl and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

[cyberghostface]

Was whatever happened to Two-Face revealed in any of the Beyond stuff?

[kingofmadcows]

I really wonder if the writers of Justice League Beyond actually saw the DCAU shows or if they just read some summaries and watched a couple of clips.

At the end of "Over the Edge," Jim pretty much tells Barbara that he knows about her secret, that he can't admit to it, but he's proud of her and loves her nonetheless.

[arbre_rieur]

How does that contradict this?

[icon_uk]

A little surprised at Gordon referring to Robin/Tim as a "thing", despite everything else this is still a young boy (Also the son of his best friend) who has been tortured beyond even Gordon's ability to imagine, and who is very much a victim of the Joker and Harley. He deserves sympathy and compassion, not classification as a non-human object.

[jeyl]

This is Batman Beyond. I don't think you'll get anything good from any of the characters who aren't Terry or Bruce. It's one thing to call Tim a "thing", it's another to quit in two different ways in one comic.

[glprime]

"I understand..."

He said making the most disapproving face and posture combination possible (short of donning a giant foam finger and wagging it in her face).