"Interlude on Earth-Two": a Bronze Age epic by Alan Brennert and Jim Aparo

[thehefner]

With "Interlude on Earth-Two," Alan Brennert was the first DC Comics writer to ask the questions, "If you go to a world where an alternate version of yourself got older, married, had a full life, and died... wouldn't that be kinda upsetting? Not just for you, but the people who knew and loved your alternate self?"

They're questions that no DC writer had considered by 1982, and Brennert answered them by throwing in an additional question: "What if that alternate Earth's Hugo Strange didn't escape unscathed from his final Golden Age adventure?"

This is one of the finest comics by Alan Brennert, who wrote only about nine DC stories over twenty years, including the wonderful Batman classic, To Kill A Legend, the great Deadman christmas story, and the post-Crisis origin of the Black Canary.

It is a testament to his abilities that I've had an insanely hard time editing these scans, so forgive this insufficient cut of a fine story. At least, until such time as DC reprints it someday (probably in a theoretical fourth or fifth volume of DC Showcase Presents the Brave and the Bold).









The story from The Brave and the Bold #182 opens on Earth-Two, where the adult Dick Grayson investigates a mysterious thunderstorm which astronomer Ted Knight believes to be man-made.

Changing into their costumes as Starman (JSA member and wielder of the cosmic rod) and Robin (the grown-up ex-Boy Wonder), the heroes investigate, but are attacked and struck down by a thunderbolt, and a mysterious force snatches Starman's rod.

Cue evil laughter.









Looking for answers and allies, Batman heads to the JSA headquarters, where he's mistaken as a villain by Robin, who attacks. Realizing his first mistake, Robin is shocked, thinking that he must be seeing a ghost.

"... Bruce?!"





Robin catches Batman up to speed, recounting how Hugo was thought to have died in his fall off the cliffs (as recounted in the third and final Golden Age Hugo Strange story). As there was no Strange Apparitions storyline in Earth-Two, this was the first time anybody had heard of Hugo in twenty years.





They proceed to get attacked by several recreated objects from Earth-Two Batman's past, including Catwoman's PantherJet and the Spinner's giant tops, until they get a helping hand from Batwoman, who came out of retirement to save the city.

Now, here's where things get a bit sketchy, continuity-wise. Apparently, there never was an Earth-Two Batwoman. The Kathy Kane Batwoman was still in Earth-One, but had recently been murdered by the Bronze Tiger from the League of Assassins.

Did you check out that link? God, how lame and exploitative was that death? Such an ignominious end for Kathy, supposedly killed off because she was a relic of a goofier past that editors at DC wanted forgotten.

But at this point, Batman remembers Batwoman all too well. So this mistake on Brennert's part still pays off for emotional power when Batman-1 meets Batwoman-2:





Killer Batmobile!

Hoping that this Earth-Two version is similar enough to the one he made, Batman manages to pry open the trunk and extract boxes to construct Whirly Bats, which will come in very handy just as long as they survive!









These panels are a perfect example of Brennert's skills. In four pages, he mixes explosive action with a poignant character moment tied up with the story's theme of having to let go of the past.

Indeed, it's more true than Dick wants to know, as it's revealed that the Batmobile he destroyed wasn't a copy at all, but the real thing. Which means that Hugo is in the Batcave! Emotionally speaking, this is outright desecration, and the psychological strain is bringing tensions to a head as the heroes fly their Whirly Bats to the Cave:








Vowing to "cripple" them "as Gotham crippled me," Hugo unleashes the robot dinosaur! Epic robot dinosaur battle in the Batcave! But thanks to a strong mixture of teamwork, one of Penguin's flamethrower umbrellas (I love you, Ozzie), and a loose stalagmite, they fell the Robo Rex.

Everyone congratulates themselves, feeling ready for anything else that Hugo might throw at them! Anything... except...





Finally, with the cosmic rod in hand, the twisted and wretched figure of Hugo Strange emerges and recounts how he spent years trapped in his shattered body, unable to move or communicate in any way, and now he's finally going to exact his revenge on Batman and the city which made him this way.





... Man. For me, there's something so moving about that page, much like the destruction of the Batmobile. Comics are a visual medium, and it's always better to err on the side of show versus tell. But Brennert knows how to use narration just enough, in just the right ways, to actively enhance the scene's power. He runs the risk of walloping you over the head with the poignancy, but instead, he pulls it off with grace and beauty.

Really, it's a perfect end for Hugo. This is a character who has still, to this date, been giving no humanizing aspects, no origin, no real motivation. He's either gleefully evil or insanely obsessed, but the fact that he's an effective villain makes it work. He can get away with his character being defined as nothing more than Batman's arch-nemesis. As such, I find this this entire scene is a powerful, fitting, and moving death for the character.

Additionally, it makes a poignantly tragic statement about the relationship of villains to their heroes, a point which Alan Moore would make four years later with the Comedian and Moloch in Watchmen #2. It's just one example of how Brennert was a writer ahead of his time, appreciated mainly by other writers and a handful of hardcore Bat-fans.

With Hugo dying unmourned but at least not alone, it's time for the Earth-Two heroes to say goodbye. Batwoman says she's ready to move on, and Batman kisses her on the cheek, thanking her for helping him treasure the memory of the Kathy Kane he knew and lost. It's not the first time that Alan Brennert has written a tender coda to a pointless killing of an Earth-Two character (see also: Selina's death in the first Huntress story).

Which brings us to the Bat and the Ex-Boy Wonder...





And as Bruce's grave casts a familiar shadow, Dick says, "And frankly... I'm not sure I want to..."



Also, I don't think the cosmic rod works that way, but whatever, Ted.



What makes this ending so great is how Bruce, Kathy, and Dick each find a measure of peace that they didn't have at the story's start. They have confronted their pasts, and are ready to move on.

Even today, it's extremely rare for comics to explore issues of loss and healing. Everyone focuses on anger, vengeance, and ANGST ANGST ANGST. So rarely do we see mourning, longing, or healing, since most writers are more keen on getting on to the next big action sequence. Brennert treats his characters as real people with real feelings, and while Marvel did it first, the way they deal with these problems and move on is much more in keeping with the DCU. And he did it all in a single issue.

As I said before, Alan Brennert only wrote nine stories for DC Comics over about twenty years. His career there rivals only Alan Moore's for most prolific body of work over a very limited tenure, and if there were any justice, fans would be clamoring for DC to publish a Complete DC Comics Stories of Alan Brennert collection. Doing this past makes me want to write about them all in a Brennert Master Post. Perhaps I will, once I've tracked down the last three I have yet to read.

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

So rarely do we see mourning, longing, or healing,

For the most part, if superheroes or supervillains ever got around to mourning and healing, they'd stop being heroes or villains. And then where would they be?

[thehefner]

Ha! Good point!

But y'know, it puts me in mind of a mentality toward Batman which seems to be rather common for Bronze Age writers, which was that Batman had long ago come to terms with his parents' murder, and had moved on and grown from there. Contrast this with Post-Crisis Batman and his non-stop, ever-present"MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!!" angst-fests.

If Batman's any indication, then either superheroes have either gotten less well adjusted, or perhaps that just speaks more to the people who are writing and/or buying comics.

[badficwriter]

That's funny. In Batwoman 0, he remarks that Kathy has the necessary emptiness inside that's necessary to drive you.

[thehefner]

"Necessary emptiness." Kind of a bleak way to look at things, isn't it? But then, I suppose that's Modern Bruce for you, which is why I'm increasingly longing for Bronze Age Batman the more I read of him.

[icon_uk]

The Batclan have traditionally been motivated by the emptiness created by a loss. Bruce definitively, Dick also, though somewhat less because Bruce helped him gain closure, Jason was more or less consumed by his.

Tim, Babs and Steph are the exceptions, Tim became Robin for a different reason to any other, because of an awareness that Batman needed a balancing personality. Babs never had that much motivation to be Batgirl, which is why she's never really worked for me as a member of the Batcrew, and by that I mean "ever", but most notably post-Crisis version of the Batclan. IIRC the most recent attempt to retcon in motivation was that she was, essentially, too short to become a police officer so became a costumed crimfighter instead.

Steph became Spoiler in an attempt to balance the wrong done by her dad, which seems a mite more workable, but she never really had that drive to be Robin or Batgirl, which, again is why I wasn't a fan of the former, and whilst enjoying the latter, have no real sense she's a pivotal Batclan member through it.

[jlroberson]

What is the cutoff point between E2 and E1 Batman?

[icon_uk]

Right up until Crisis, Batman had caught Joe Chill and Lew Moxon during his career, so he'd long since had closure on his parent's murder, and kept going afterwards because it was the best way he knew how to honour their memories. It was a mentality I always much prefered and never understood Year One/Crisis' need to excise.

[badficwriter]

Poor Bruce. He tries to bond with Adult Robin and gets rejected.

And that panel where Robin tells him off for playing teacher? That may be the only time Bruce has ever admitted he can't help constantly telling other people what to do in a situation. It's like his OCD. :)

[thehefner]

Was it his OCD even in the Bronze Age? I'm genuinely asking, because between stories like this and the King Faraday Two-Face story I posted a couple weeks ago, I'm starting to think that's just another invention of Post-Crisis Batman.

[badficwriter]

I'm the last person to ask. But it would excuse some of his more irritating behavior toward people who aren't children.

[icon_uk]

Sometimes.

It sort of definitely was with Robin, who he kept seeing as still the kid he raised, despite Dick being an adult, having his own solo adventures and leading the Titans, it was the source of some turbulence in their relationship from time to time.

He also "lost" the Outsiders by trying to enforce his will on them too often. When he tried to pull a "Well, if you won't follow me, I'm disbanding the team" move on them, he learned the folly of that approach when they sort of said "You know, we don't actually NEED you to be the Outsiders, so we're immediately reforming the team without you."

[cricharddavies]

[i]Now, here's where things get a bit sketchy, continuity-wise. Apparently, there never was an Earth-Two Batwoman.[/i]

... then who was the Batwoman in the story that revealed how Bruce and Selina finally got together? ([i]Superman Family #211[/i], but I read it in the original [i]Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told[/i]).

[thehefner]

That was from an issue that appeared shortly after this story, by the very same writer! I guess if he was gonna get it wrong and make it canon, he might as well use her again in his second Earth-Two story!

And man, what a great story that one was too, wasn't it?

[cricharddavies]

... ah, you're right! It was actually from Brave and the Bold #197, so nine months or so later ...

[arbre_rieur]

Have you tried out Brennert's novels?

[thehefner]

Not yet! I put one on reserve hold at my library, so I'm gonna check it out. The reviews on Amazon have been great! Have you read any?

[icon_uk]

Now, here's where things get a bit sketchy, continuity-wise. Apparently, there never was an Earth-Two Batwoman.

Really? First I've heard about that, given that the Batwoman stories started in 1956, well before any Earth-1/Earth-2 schism.

[jkcarrier]

True, but retroactively, Earth-2 Batman married Catwoman around 1955, and apparently retired not long after to raise a family (as per the 1970s Huntress stories). So if there was an Earth-2 Batwoman, she either started out earlier than '56, or had a very different career than what we saw in the published comics.

The cut-off date for when Earth-1 Batman started is debatable. It'd be 1960 at the latest, since that's when he started working with the Justice League. 1955 is when Jack Schiff took over as editor from Whitney Ellsworth, which is probably as good a benchmark as any.

[icon_uk]

I usually go by the chest-emblem, as noted in this story, if it's no-circle, it's E-2, if it's got a circle it's E-1. E-1 may have had stories similar to the events of E-2 but it's not guaranteed. Probably a deeply flawed approach, but it's always worked for me! :)

[jkcarrier]

Not a bad rule of thumb, but you run into the problem of the early JLA stories, where he still had no-circle. A further complication: It's canon that even the Earth-1 Batman started out with a no-circle emblem, as shown in various flashback scenes. There's a funny story in Batman #183 where a crook tries to impersonate Batman, but the out-of-date emblem on his costume gives him away.

[icon_uk]

True, though I never read much 1960's JLA so that never bothered me. And I also apply the modifying rule that Batman on E1 still used the circle-less bat until Robin came along, which I think is still the case.

[thehefner]

Well, that's what I read, anyway, when I was looking up info on this story. The source could have been wrong, for all I know. Earth-Two continuity isn't my forte, as much as I am a DC fan.

[icon_uk]

I've always meant to post from this story as it is frankly awesome, Brennert does emotion well, and Aparo is a perfect match for him.

[thehefner]

Between this and the Hawk and Dove story, Brennert and Aparo should have collaborated more often, or even have done a whole graphic novel. They were a marvelously perfect partnership.

[jlroberson]

Aparo>God.

[thehefner]

Especially from this period. I can still enjoy late-period Aparo, but around this time? *kisses fingers* Mwah!

[jlroberson]

All Aparo is great. Until Mahlstedt started that inking him with a pen crap.

[thehefner]

Is that what happened? Wait, who's Mahlstedt? Either way, I've known inkers who do just fine with pens (can't name any off-hand), but that would certainly explain the shift in quality.

[jlroberson]

That's the guy who started inking him with Starlin's run on Batman.

Who WAS good when he inked on LSH. But he weakened Aparo.

[jaybee3]

I'd forgotten how tackily the Earth-1 Kathy Kane was killed off. Off-panel no less and to provide nothing more than angst for male characters (Bruce and Bronze Tiger later on). Definition of fridging, no?

One would think that with the present regime and their obsession with all things Silver Age they would give the original Kathy a better ending.

And I'm a bit surprised how many of my favorite Bronze Age stories were written by Brennert, they really should be collected.

[psychopathicus_rex]

'There never was an Earth-Two Batwoman'? Then how does one explain her presence in 'The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne', where she's shown in Earth-2 Bats' recollection of how he fell in love with Catwoman, circa 1955? And if there's never been one on Earth-2, and the Earth-1 version has recently kacked it, WHERE DOES THIS ONE COME FROM?
That really is a pretty poignant scene with Strange. He's too proud to beg for help, so he does the only thing he can think of - initiate a villainous plot, in the hopes that he'll go out in a blaze of glory. And in the end, that's more or less what happens.

[thehefner]

I think it can be explained with the fact that Brennert himself is who wrote The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne. If he was the one who made the mistake canon, then he certainly could be allowed to use her again!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh. So basically, there's no Batwoman on Earth-2, except in this guy's stories. I can live with that.