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scans_dailyIssue #1069'd ended under Gotham - the Cheshire Cat (amnesiac Lian Harper living another life) had escaped those gathering up " strays " like herself, only to run into Solomon Grundy.
Issue #1070 opened on the Cat's captors, chasing her, running into the two. They turned their weapons on Grundy, and found them ineffective.
They had two other things going for them, though - numbers, and cumulative weight.
(" Azmers " are the spirits used by those men's employers, the antagonists of this run, the Orgham family.
Harvey Dent had one inflicted on him in issue #1063 - and Victor Fries, in issue #1066, froze one sent his way.
Solomon Grundy here is avoiding the azmer by punching it out of himself. Mixing " existing villain is made subordinate to the newer ones " with " other existing villains are able to counter said newer ones' capabilities out of hand " is neatly evenhanded.)
The azmer failed, and the Orgham men fell after, leaving Grundy and the Cat.
" Easy now.. I'm not one of them. "
Above ground, Bruce Wayne was visiting his parents' grave and thinking about his life.
He turned to leave, thoughts still heavy - and was greeted by " Arzen? "
Arzen Orgham, scion of the Orghams of Svatrstal - the public face on their aboveground charitable work, cognizant of their underground work - had " [n]oticed you were coming in earlier, so I just wanted to see how you were doing. "
(" lean " should be " lien ".
The " financials " are a side effect of the Joker War.)
(The first issue of this run had Arzen given Gotham as his charge.)
After Arzen left, Bruce checked in with Oracle and her recon of the activity under Gotham.
He then turned to ground-level activity - to Gotham's waterfront, and curiously organized men.
To Talia al Ghul, hiding after the events of issue #1065.
She invited Batman into her incongruous parlor (" You seem to have made yourself at home. ") and asked how he'd found her.
He answered.
" The attack on the Orghams.. you meant to stop this, didn't you? "
Batman's suspicion that the Orghams were connected to the recent criminal goings-on in Gotham crystallized.
" Tell me, Talia. Tell me what history I need to know. "
" It is a history that reaches long past my own lifetime..
Arzen's father had set out with four aides, three of whom were introduced in this run.
(There's room and ambiguity enough in Ra's' history for this to work.
As in issue #1064, " after Toppi " is after Sergio Toppi.)
As Talia told her story, Oracle was trying to put together that of the activity under Gotham.
" All these puzzle pieces.. and I still can't see the bigger picture. "
(This is one of the Vigil, a team with a six-issue mini starting in May 2023.
They're the black ops kind of superteam - the high-level pitch for them is " The idea is that there are conspiracy theories in this world, some of them true and some of them largely not true. But we exist in a world with superheroes in this universe.
What if we existed in a world where all these absurd technologies were true and there was a group out there somewhere whose job was to ensure they never went beyond the conspiracy theories. That becomes the defining moment of The Vigil, who themselves are a conspiracy theory and vigilante group. "
It's the kind of pitch that interests, but not enough to hook the reader then and there - at least one complete story is needed to spark further interest.
Their first appearance, a teaser in Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution, did that. It had the Red Hood, on the trail of some Lazarus resin, cross paths with them.
As " fantastic concept in an already fantastic setting " goes, " engine powered by previously established vague do-whatever substance " is OK.
Their next appearance, of course, is Detective Comics #1070.)
Oracle's two questions received two answers - respectively " Arclight ", and " Arclight's colleague, Castle ".
Castle clarified the movements Oracle'd been tracking:
He went on to explain the agenda of those moving:
(This device as the key to the Orghams' work in Gotham - and Batman's tie to it - was established in 2022's Detective Comics Annual.)
Arclight left in that flash, ending the issue on Oracle and her thoughts.
(Castle's the kid in the rightmost panel in the middle row.
Pagecount's 7 and a little more than 3/20ths of 22 from March 2023's Detective Comics #1070, plus 1 and a little above 7/20ths of 10 from a story in February 2023's Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution.
Writing on the former's Ram V. Art's Stefano Raffaele, colors're Adriano Lucas, and letters're Ariana Maher.
On the latter, writing's also Ram V - art's Lalit Kumar Sharma, colors're Rain Beredo, and letters're Dave Sharpe.
Publisher's DC.
The use of the Vigil as exposition dump, telling Oracle things she doesn't immediately know and would probably otherwise have to spend time learning, is obvious but not obnoxious.
Giving them a role in a Batman story at the same time a mini introducing them in detail is coming out is likewise, because they're not being introduced as some " greater " force - they just have knowledge from a different context.)
Issue #1070 opened on the Cat's captors, chasing her, running into the two. They turned their weapons on Grundy, and found them ineffective.
They had two other things going for them, though - numbers, and cumulative weight.
(" Azmers " are the spirits used by those men's employers, the antagonists of this run, the Orgham family.
Harvey Dent had one inflicted on him in issue #1063 - and Victor Fries, in issue #1066, froze one sent his way.
Solomon Grundy here is avoiding the azmer by punching it out of himself. Mixing " existing villain is made subordinate to the newer ones " with " other existing villains are able to counter said newer ones' capabilities out of hand " is neatly evenhanded.)
The azmer failed, and the Orgham men fell after, leaving Grundy and the Cat.
" Easy now.. I'm not one of them. "
Above ground, Bruce Wayne was visiting his parents' grave and thinking about his life.
He turned to leave, thoughts still heavy - and was greeted by " Arzen? "
Arzen Orgham, scion of the Orghams of Svatrstal - the public face on their aboveground charitable work, cognizant of their underground work - had " [n]oticed you were coming in earlier, so I just wanted to see how you were doing. "
(" lean " should be " lien ".
The " financials " are a side effect of the Joker War.)
(The first issue of this run had Arzen given Gotham as his charge.)
After Arzen left, Bruce checked in with Oracle and her recon of the activity under Gotham.
He then turned to ground-level activity - to Gotham's waterfront, and curiously organized men.
To Talia al Ghul, hiding after the events of issue #1065.
She invited Batman into her incongruous parlor (" You seem to have made yourself at home. ") and asked how he'd found her.
He answered.
" The attack on the Orghams.. you meant to stop this, didn't you? "
Batman's suspicion that the Orghams were connected to the recent criminal goings-on in Gotham crystallized.
" Tell me, Talia. Tell me what history I need to know. "
" It is a history that reaches long past my own lifetime..
Arzen's father had set out with four aides, three of whom were introduced in this run.
(There's room and ambiguity enough in Ra's' history for this to work.
As in issue #1064, " after Toppi " is after Sergio Toppi.)
As Talia told her story, Oracle was trying to put together that of the activity under Gotham.
" All these puzzle pieces.. and I still can't see the bigger picture. "
(This is one of the Vigil, a team with a six-issue mini starting in May 2023.
They're the black ops kind of superteam - the high-level pitch for them is " The idea is that there are conspiracy theories in this world, some of them true and some of them largely not true. But we exist in a world with superheroes in this universe.
What if we existed in a world where all these absurd technologies were true and there was a group out there somewhere whose job was to ensure they never went beyond the conspiracy theories. That becomes the defining moment of The Vigil, who themselves are a conspiracy theory and vigilante group. "
It's the kind of pitch that interests, but not enough to hook the reader then and there - at least one complete story is needed to spark further interest.
Their first appearance, a teaser in Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution, did that. It had the Red Hood, on the trail of some Lazarus resin, cross paths with them.
As " fantastic concept in an already fantastic setting " goes, " engine powered by previously established vague do-whatever substance " is OK.
Their next appearance, of course, is Detective Comics #1070.)
Oracle's two questions received two answers - respectively " Arclight ", and " Arclight's colleague, Castle ".
Castle clarified the movements Oracle'd been tracking:
He went on to explain the agenda of those moving:
(This device as the key to the Orghams' work in Gotham - and Batman's tie to it - was established in 2022's Detective Comics Annual.)
Arclight left in that flash, ending the issue on Oracle and her thoughts.
(Castle's the kid in the rightmost panel in the middle row.
Pagecount's 7 and a little more than 3/20ths of 22 from March 2023's Detective Comics #1070, plus 1 and a little above 7/20ths of 10 from a story in February 2023's Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution.
Writing on the former's Ram V. Art's Stefano Raffaele, colors're Adriano Lucas, and letters're Ariana Maher.
On the latter, writing's also Ram V - art's Lalit Kumar Sharma, colors're Rain Beredo, and letters're Dave Sharpe.
Publisher's DC.
The use of the Vigil as exposition dump, telling Oracle things she doesn't immediately know and would probably otherwise have to spend time learning, is obvious but not obnoxious.
Giving them a role in a Batman story at the same time a mini introducing them in detail is coming out is likewise, because they're not being introduced as some " greater " force - they just have knowledge from a different context.)
no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 01:50 am (UTC)Clearly, I seem to be mistaken, but I'm not sure by how much.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 12:26 pm (UTC)As for Cassandra and Stephanie, they're both Batgirl again.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-02 03:13 am (UTC)