Detective Comics #0

[superfangirl1]

Bruce Wayne makes his way to the Himalayas to seek out a legendary 'Zen-Buddhist Monk Warrior. While training he falls in love.



Bruce is told not to let his emotions control him, in one scene, he remarks that the Zen master and his wife are like parents to him. He pays a visit to Mio later that night to ask her to forgive him for his action earlier that day.







"this is what love will bring you to"

I guess this explores the kind-of back and forth that Bruce does between being open and trusting to cold and paranoid later in his life.

Comments

[flash_fan]

I guess having your parents shot and killed in front of you at the tender age of 7 just isn't enough to pack the punch is it DC?

[darth_cloudo]

I agree, this seems a little...overkill. Pun only somewhat intended. Also Bruce's face in the fourth panel, third scan made me chuckle. xD

[flash_fan]

I've never really had an issue with the grim-dark interpretation of Batman. IMO it's always fit the character well. I just don't know why they need to keep beating us over the head with how horrible his life is. We get it. Like you said overkill.

On another note that is a pretty funny "WTF!?" face he's got going on there. I would love to hear the scans daily interpretations of what he's thinking in that panel lmao.

[darth_cloudo]

Here's what I was thinking:
http://picasion.com/pic58/271561489379bac887fe0958ce78748c.gif

I promise I'll stop with the terrible MSpaint pictures, I promise.

[eyz]

Yeah, like "We need MOAR! People these days won't accept Batman's concept. It needs to be OVERDONE!!"

[darth_cloudo]

Sadly, it seems like that's how it's been going recently. Although that could be my pessimism showing.

[jlbarnett]

I dunno, maybe this is to help explain why he spends so much time on a lone crusade or something

[darkknightjrk]

I liked that open/closed soul observation they were doing here as well--it speak to a lot of who Bruce is at the core, and it is something that Hurwitz is exploring over in The Dark Knight.

One thing that rang completely false to me was Bruce saying these two were like a mother and father to him. No. No. In my mind, I don't think he would say that to anyone--his parents were his parents. End of story. He probably thinks of Alfred as a surrogate father, but I don't think either of them would admit it in normal circumstances because they both might feel it disrespectful to Thomas and Martha.

[arysteia]

I agree 100%. It wasn't doing it for me anyway, but that line completely threw me out.

[anothermoviegeek]

Agreed.

Bruce did call Alfred "Father" in a recorded message he left for him when he was 'killed' by Darksied and that was the only way I could ever see Bruce admitting such (and brought a tear to my jaded eye)

[icon_uk]

Oh for F's sake... trite, tired AND tedious.

Bruce actively closing himself off from love because it brings horror and pain is just... bad and a rather facile explanation. Bruce is a detective, he has to be able to comprehend human nature completely to work out most of his crimes, and the complexity of emotions that come with them. (Especially as we know he sees Alfred as a father, Jim Gordon as a brother, and has more kids than he can shake a batarang at)

There's nothing wrong with consciously choosing to avoid emotional entanglement because it's distracting, but to suggest he's doing it because he's seen shit like this? Nope... not even interested.

[md84]

If something like this were enough to make one swear off love forever, not a single cop (who have probably dealt with domestic abuse cases and people murdering their spouses) or divorce lawyer would be married. Which I'm pretty sure isn't the case.

Maybe the real message is: Make sure you get to know someone really well before entering a relationship. And if your significant other seems unhappy, talk about it before he/she hires an assassin to get rid of you.

[magus_69]

more kids than he can shake a batarang at)

Well that's just what happens when you leave your DNA all over town.

[icon_uk]

".... not remotely what I meant!"

;)

[mortimerwclankitybritches]

So seeing a random cloud now makes bruce get all broody about his parents being dead...

Seriously, this is verging into MY PARENTS ARE DEAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!! territory here

Also is it just me or are they now just mass producing characters to be retroactively fridged at this point?

[starwolf_oakley]

"You can't trust people, they'll only hurt you. So you'd better plan on hurting them first. I'm Batman."

[biod]

I'm suddenly reminded of the Brave and the Bold comic where Batman sat behind a certain psychiatric desk (thanks to Bat-Mite).

[thatnickguy]

Wow. I think this is a new record for women in Bruce's life. Not only did he fall in love with her and see her death in the same issue, but she also double crossed him at the same time!

Mio's like every Batman femme fatale rolled into one!

[icon_uk]

It's like the Jezebel Jet plot but about twenty times faster... which might actually have made me less irritated by the Jezebel Jet plot.

[jeyl]

Let me get this straight. Because of this, the #1 hero in the DC universe believes that every single relationship he might have will lead to this? Is Bruce Wayne really that easy? Can you convince him of anything by just affiliating it with something different? If he honestly believes that this is what love will do to him to the absolute degree, why doesn't he discourage other people from falling for each other? He should be going to his parents' graves and chastising them for falling in love with each other because one day they might inevitably send ninja assassins after each other.

[donnblake]

Actually they did, but in a shocking twist, they both hired the same assassin, who figured he could save time by killing them both together, not stopping to think about how he would get paid afterwards. The story this was implied in was called "Hit of the Magi."

*the above is completely false, and mostly just a set-up for that horrible, horrible pun. I apologize*

[icon_uk]

Though the worst part was, it was remarkably plausible....

[skemono]

...okay, I know Japanese people aren't genetically linked to Japan and can live anywhere (they're not Kryptonians, after all; we all know Kryptonians are all white). But what's with the random Japanese ninja family in the Himalayas?

Also, aren't most East Asian robes supposed to fold left over right?

And, um... how old is Bruce supposed to be here? 'Cause he looks pretty mature.

[lissa_quon]

Also, aren't most East Asian robes supposed to fold left over right?

They...already knew they were going to die? Decided to dress in preparation?

IDEK - that's all I got.

[blackruzsa]

Now it makes sense why he's so closed off.

But okay I just got some anime flashbacks when they called him Bruce-kun. So personal and sweet and
stop
moe thoughts
stop

[maxisanacorn]

They just did not do the research...why would Japanese people be in the Himalayas?

UGH Asian culture is not one huge blob.

For a split second I thought this plot-line could lead to a new origin for Cass (and actually be a true daughter) but then I quickly said "nope nope nope"