Awesome Comic Book Civilians - Batman: Streets of Gotham #5-6

[zapbiffpow]

Inspired by icon_uk's and auggie18's Accentuate the Positive posts, here's a contribution of my own!

I've always believed that although Gotham contains the worst examples of comic book humanity, it also creates the best, most shining examples of it to aid her innocents.

Case in point: Dick!Batman, Huntress, and a certain Father Mark from the East End of Gotham:


Part One

Streets of Gotham #5 opens with Huntress chasing down a regressed Man-Bat, who's been rampaging all over Gotham. Interspersed are the effects of Bat-history on Father Mark's Gotham life:







In the present, while Huntress struggles to figure out why Man-Bat's gone berserk again, their fight causes them to drop unconscious inside a church...



...where a broken, middle-aged Father Mark, commanded by the Voice of God, prepares to kill them both.



Part Two

As the "Voice of God" urges Father Mark to kill the incapacitated Man-Bat and Huntress, we see what Man-Bat's been after all this time:




Turns out Man-Bat's been chasing a hitman by Black Mask, outfitted with a stolen invisibility suit and assassinating citizens around town:



Dick!Bats incapacitates Man-Bat before realizing there's an invisible hitman on the loose, causing a shotgun-wielding Father Mark to get the drop on Huntress and Batman.






The 'Voice of God' urges Father Mark to kill them both. But it turns out the priest was just faking madness long enough to feint out the invisible hitman, leading to this awesome moment:


"In nomine patri to you, too. Seriously though, Batman, tie this guy the hell up."





When I first read this I assumed Father Mark would be a casualty, something for the heroes to monologue about. So when that ending did come, it came right out of left field for me. Really refreshing to see a non-fodder Gothamite in action!

I hope DC does a mini-series (or at least a back-up) on Gotham survivors like this kicking major villain ass. But until then, here's to Gotham - and the good people who live in it.

Comments

[sinesofinsanity]

Beautiful. There needs to be more of this.

[majingojira]

Thanks for reminding me to pick up the Streets of Gotham trades. If I can find them. . . God, my "to buy" list is long . . .

[onceaskrull]

This post is Wally-approved.

[perletwo]

Yes! This is exactly the one I was thinking of when I read the AtP Priest!Jason posting below - he's got the same kind of outlook. Wish we'd seen more of him. (I picked up a bargain copy of the trade this is in, so it was on my mind. It also has the intro of Colin/Abuse in it, someone else I'd love to see more of.) (And why do I not have a Huntress icon loaded here, when I've got a whole file of them?)

[wizardru]

OK, that totally surprised me. Well played, Streets of Gotham, well played.

[janegray]

DC civilians = awesome.

[donnblake]

I think what's happening is that they're unconsciously siphoning the 'be a decent person' waves off of the civilians in the Marvel Universe.

Which means that really, DC civilians are the greatest Marvel villains of all!

[harpers_child]

i could pretty much read a million stories about the civilians of the DCU.

[espanolbot]

Start with Starman, loads of substories about regular folk there.