Batman #90

[brerrabbit]

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

I thought this was The Designer?

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah. I mean, that guy had a cape.

[full_metal_ox]

And just look what happened to him.

[chalicother]

This designer is obviously a legacy hero.

Sadly like most legacy heroes...had to be removed from the board...

[numeronone]

...that first page does tug on my heartstrings a little. I miss the old gang, back when they were the old gang, recognisably.

Guess that means I'm getting older, too.

[huntleyhaverstock]

You name a character The Designer ... and then he has an absolutely incoherent and ugly sense of personal style?

[full_metal_ox]

The only underlying concept I can think of that would unify camo, pirate boots, football shoulder pads, gangsta bling, medals I seriously doubt he legitimately earned, a falchion, a fur collar, a cape, and a necktie is “preschool kid ransacking the dressup chest.”

(And here we have a demonstration of how artists frequently fail to consider the practical applicability of their costume designs. I’m thinking specifically of the protesting-too-much dangling line of his lower belt pouch and YES, WE GET IT, TYNION. In melee, or even were he to run, wouldn’t that go flapping between his legs and risk entanglement?)

[thanekos]

The Designer's " super master planner criminal reaching out to Gotham criminals to help with their plans " concept is interesting, the execution is above-average - and then it all turns to be setup for another " The Joker is absolutely the most evil! ", and the Riddler's " What a waste. " sums it all up.

[tcampbell1000]

I liked this loads better than the story a few years later wherein Daniel Captio supposedly trained both Batman and the Joker...but I suspect both ideas are unlikely to get follow-up. Partly that's because the "super-consultants" are dead (and the Joker would never allow anyone to live who claimed credit for his genius). But mostly it's because "The Joker became an icon of dark, violent madness once some guy with a PhD told him how" just isn't as compelling a story as the version that leaves out the last 50% of that sentence. And the same holds for the Riddler, Batman, Catwoman, and the Penguin.

(Is this some kind of metaphor for Bill Finger? One guy has the ideas that turn a rough sketch into something unforgettable, but he gets little attention and is quickly discarded?)

That said, this was an interesting interlude and an effective way to get to Tynion's real plot twist: the Joker stealing all Bruce Wayne's money.

[superfangirl1]

Did the Joker steal The Designer's " super master plans" to start the Joker War? Or did Joker just modify bits and pieces of it to make it his own plan?

Also how does Catwoman get to high places like Batman?

Bruce: Selina meet me at the highest building north of Gotham. Hooks shot away.

Selina: How do you want me to do that? I got no gadgets to take me to those heights?

Bruce: (Yelling from far distance. ) Figure out something. I'm Batman.

[panthyr]

"It was a different time. A simpler time..."

A time when Catwoman's outfit didn't even have enough of a fucking POCKET to put a BUSINESS CARD in...

[remial]

sounds like standard women's clothing to me

[full_metal_ox]

Except that the single layer of Catwoman’s outfit is at least decently opaque; Women’s Wear Enshittification Technology has progressed even further since.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Ah, to hear that conversation...

[blues32]

The Designer, desperately trying to keep Joker a fun and engaging character, even if he had to kill him. Alas, it failed.

[huntleyhaverstock]

The Joker would work so much better, I think, if he were 90% unpredictable, dangerous, but genuinely funny and playful weirdo, and 10% all-consuming chaos god of death, instead of the other way around. I feel like you'd get more mileage out of his darkest side if we only momentarily glimpsed it here and there, instead of knowing that we could expect it at literally every moment. Like how B:TAS made him a hammy, singsong clown who would only occasionally -- but chillingly! -- drop into a cold-blooded growl.

[huntleyhaverstock]

Also: Hey, Tynion, nice house on the lake you got there!

[shakalooloo]

And the Designer turns out to be Bruce Wayne in disguise just to gain insight into the villains' plans and mindsets.