Detective 873 ~ Confronting the Crowbar

[benicio127]

If you haven't been reading Detective Comics with Scott Snyder and Jock, you're missing out! There's been a lot of great dialogue and scenes and the art is fantastic.

Dick has been trying to hunt down a secret society leader with the alias The Dealer. He infiltrates one of their meetings to see an auction going on...

Possible trigger warning for gore.



But first, the last page of Detective 872 to set the stage:



Snyder, in a reply on CBR, said he thought it was very important that Dick both a) get the crowbar and b) make sure he had it with him throughout the fight.
From Snyder:

Last thing - that's what I was thinking. I considered having him ask Jason, but that's a whole can of worms I don't think Dick wants to go anywhere near. So what to do with it? It was important to me (as someone who remembers vividly calling in from a pay phone to decide Jason's fate) that the crowbar not disappear during the fight in Mirror House. I wanted it to have a kind of burial or at least get some kind of reverent moment from Dick. I'm not sure Alfred will actually throw it in the river (though that's a scene I'd love to write for its quiet drama) but I just felt that that's what Dick would say at that moment. Like no more reverence for objects like these (given what just happened at Mirror House). You know?

Approx. four pages from Detective 873:






Dick fights his way out of the mob of auction clientele, but not after being hit with a drug that makes him hallucinate some of his worst fears:








He then wakes up from his hallucination to find he still has his legs and Babs' isn't trying to eat him. They speak about what's been going on and try to figure out how to take the Dealer down. Snyder also said we can expect to see a Tim appearance in #874. (Tim as drawn by Jock?! eeeeeee!)






I thought this was really powerful and really well-done. I had actually hoped/wanted Dick to give the Crowbar to Jason, but I'm not sure if Jason would be healthy enough to handle it at this point. Though, I still think ultimately Jason should be the one who decides what happens with it. I thought it was really interesting that one of the items that upped the stakes in Batman's war on crime aren't being kept as trophy souvenirs in the Batcave like other items -- it shows Dick's different style in dealing with guilt, etc., I think. (Though, I believe Babs has the bullets from the gun the Joker used to shoot her, correct?)

Anyways, Snyder said he'd considered while writing this/we might also see Alfred deal with this particular object and confront it in his own way, which I think would be amazing. I really hope it happens! :O

Comments

[thelazyreader]

"When Tim found you... they were eating your legs."

"Oh, well. Babs, get Cyborg over here ASAP to fit me with a pair of mechanical prosthetics. Then locate the nearest Lazarus pit so I can go have a dip and get my mobility back. You can watch from your wheelchair if you like."

Yeah, I was over-thinking things.

[bluefall]

There was definitely something off about giving Dick leg/mobility-focused body horror and then partnering him up with Babs for the whole scene. It really kind of asks to be over-thought.

[sistermagpie]

Exactly! Surely that was intentionally? He's got Babs crawling at him to eat him!

[mullon]

Dear writers,

Let this shit go. This is getting silly. Stop reaching back like this.

Mullon

[psychopathicus_rex]

I think the point of the story is exactly that, actually - it's disposing of an unpleasant relic of the past so writers can GET OVER IT and stop doing crowbar stories.

[airawyn]

I'm trying to picture someone in the Batfamily giving Jason that crowbar and I'm pretty sure it results in said Batfamily member getting serious crowbar-induced injuries*. What the fuck would he do with it? Dick's got the right idea.

*Unless it was Alfred. I have a hard time picturing Jason beating Alfred. Though I doubt Alfred would be so insensitive. But we are sorely overdue for a Jason & Alfred reunion scene.

[benicio127]

What the fuck would he do with it? Dick's got the right idea.

Yeah, and I think Snyder was thinking Jason's really not in a place mentally where he could deal with the actual item (vs. using a replica to beat the Joker, different story...)

Unless it was Alfred. I have a hard time picturing Jason beating Alfred. Though I doubt Alfred would be so insensitive. But we are sorely overdue for a Jason & Alfred reunion scene.

OH MAN I KNOW. When Snyder said this: I'm not sure Alfred will actually throw it in the river (though that's a scene I'd love to write for its quiet drama) but I just felt that that's what Dick would say at that moment. I was like please, please, please write this scene. Alfred hasn't really considered Jason much since his return and it's about due time.

[whitesycamore]

I don't think they ought to give it to Jason, but I think asking his opinion about what to do with it would be the respectful thing to do.

I understand why Dick wants to throw it in the river... But it's not part of his story he'd be throwing away.

[airawyn]

It might be the right thing to do, but I think it would go over very, very badly.

"You replace me the second I'm gone and let that psychotic meatsack walk around alive and now you want my opinion? Over a piece of iron?" *obscenities* *violence*

Though maybe he'd take the crowbar and beat a few criminals to death with it, just for the symmetry.

[sistermagpie]

I tend to think it's not so much that it wouldn't be up to Jason to decide if he knew it was an issue, but at this point Jason, like everyone else, probably assumes that the crowbar was thrown away so why show up just to say "Hey, this might be the crowbar that killed you or it might not. You want it?"

He's probably thinking everybody already treats it like it's gone and they're not missing anything if it's still gone except some angsting.

[anothermoviegeek.blogspot.com]

Why would the crowbar be from Beirut when the beating of Jason took place in Ethiopia and shortly there after the Joker was hired by Iran to be an ambassador to the UN?

[airawyn]

Because Superboy Prime punched time.

[benicio127]

I wish I could use that excuse more in real life. Only true geeks get Superboy Prime and crowbar jokes. ;D

[psychopathicus_rex]

It's possible that it was acquired by someone in Beirut who then sold it to the dealer.

[icon_uk]

Oh look, more Dick hit with random toxin-induced fantasies and a plot harping on about A Death in the Family, can we try something NEW please.

[whitesycamore]

Oh look, more Dick hit with random toxin-induced fantasies

Well, at least it wasn't about falling from a trapeze this time. Instead it was all about how everyone wants his body.

[sistermagpie]

I admit it: I love it when Barbara shows up in Dick's fantasies wanting to kill or hurt him. It's totally believable to me. It always seems like the dark mirror to those odd fantasy lives they give Barbara where she wants to be married to him--I never buy those.

[thebigapricot]

I kinda enjoyed it myself. And I also liked it when Dick woke up and started walked around and talking to Babs while in his underwear. Despite my lack of shipping of the two of them, I do like that they're are so comfortable with each other.

[blackruzsa]

"They were eating your legs"
Raise your hand if you burst out laughing at the inanity of that statement too.

[whitesycamore]

*raises hand*
Although mostly I was just unreasonably disturbed, until the story confirmed that Dick did in fact still have his trusty, uneaten legs.

[sadoeuphemist]

Are the Mirror House people actually cannibals in real life or what? Because I wouldn't put it past those creepy fuckers.

[jlbarnett]

"call Superman, and have him melt the damn thing."

[badficwriter]

I couldn't stop laughing when Barbara tried to kill him. This is how I know I'm an awful person.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Personally, I think this is nicely creepy stuff. The cult-like audience of gasmasked men in sharp suits going 'oooooh' and 'aaaah' over grisly items of violence is a nice mixture of stylish and frickin' creepy. And I know some found the 'just want a piece' scene funny, but personally, I think it tapped very effectively into the genuinely nightmarish.
And I know this is nitpicking, but... the crowbar shouldn't look like that. Dried blood is light brown, not red, and Jason's killing was years ago, even allowing for comic book time. The only way it should be red is if someone had JUST KILLED SOMEONE ELSE with it - which, I suppose, adds to the creepiness factor.

[icon_uk]

They varnished it?