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scans_dailyIn our last installment, Tim failed to stop the Joker for a second time, allowing the Joker to complete the next step of his plan. Now the Joker's put a serious cyber-bug into Gotham's mainframes, making the oncoming holiday season look more nightmarish than ever.
How bad can it be, you ask? Well...
Whoo. Civil unrest, property damage, and miscarriages of justice! I admit, though, that it's a bit unclear whether the Joker (with Pellinger's help) orchestrated every step of these specific mishaps, or if it's more a matter of errors and glitches occurring in Gotham's mainframes at random, with Joker just swooping around and picking up all the highlights.
So, Gotham's been brought to its knees, but the mayor, like a true Gotham bureaucrat, puts all responsibility for solving the matter firmly on Gordon's shoulders. He refuses to even let the public know that the Joker is behind everything, because that would mean admitting that the city administration is totally at the Joker's mercy (because the public has so much trust in Gotham's administration after the last twenty times they needed a guy in tights to come in and take down the green-haired clown for them).
Gordon holds another meeting with Tim, and tells him that Gotham's top experts have only been able to deduce that the Joker's virus began at the phone company's terminals, and is now sitting snugly in a web of self-destructs and failsafes and whatnot. "I don't pretend to understand it all."
Neither do I, Jim. Neither do I.
Back at the Joker's hideout, Mistah J is happy as a rubbed rhubarb, so proud of the fact that he's become "the main boob on the tube". Well, all except for the pesky Hammer Bowl game that's going to be played at Gotham Stadium tomorrow... that'll surely eat into a chunk of the airtime dedicated to the mayhem that he's worked so hard on...
Ever the generous soul, though, he gives the football game its own role in his master plan:
Yep. Joker's realized that Batman's little helper just might be home alone, and he's daring them to prove otherwise. So, naturally, at this critical juncture, Alfred sends Tim off to go play someDungeons and Dragons Warlocks and Warriors with his friends from school.
All things considered, that sounds like it would be a pretty fun Elseworlds. Probably moreso than the Batman-as-high-fantasy one we did ultimately get.
So, anyways, Tim's friends happily exploit the big glitch in his scenario - and thus, Joker's plan. All Tim has to do is trace all the "mystical energies" back to the "psycho spellmaker's" lair - in other words, scan Gotham's power grids for any large-scale draws. Tim, in true teenage superhero fashion, runs off with a half-assed excuse and leaves three friends to play a four-person game.
Down in the Batcave, Tim's all suited up (sans mask), and ready to... sit at the Batcomputer all night, waiting for a ripple from the power grids. Alfred makes a brave attempt at understanding what he's trying to do, and how it all ties intoWarriors and Wombats Warlocks and Warriors, but is met with a flood of technobabble that convinces him to go up to bed.
Several hours later, Tim's gotten his first bite. Soon, he's enveloped in a program where you have to complete the punchlines to old jokes to progress... or something. I kinda like the fact that Joker was apparently computer-literate enough - and enough of a hands-on kind of guy - to co-write the program with Pellinger, but I still can't muster up much enthusiasm for it.
Unfortunately, Tim falls victim to one of the Joker's oldest (and now, sadly-underused) tactics: downplaying his own threat level and lulling you into thinking that this is all a game. Tim winds up wasting hours jumping through hoops for the program, only to be rewarded with:
Over at Joker's hideout, Mistah J is furious that Tim managed to abort their little game before he could upload a virus into the Batcomputer, or even trace the Batcave's location. But the deck is still stacked in his favor - now the Batcomputer's down, Robin's out of the picture (or so he thinks), and Batman's still gone.
And Joker's little prank with Gotham's computers hasn't let up, either. Traffic lights are going on the blink, hardened criminals are getting release orders, hospitals are losing power, homeless shelters are filling up, the police are severely weakened, and worst of all: phones are getting random crank calls with recordings of Joker's laughter in a story that predates BTAS, thus forcing Gotham's citizens to settle for Cesar Romero and/or Jack Nicholson instead of Mark Hamill! Oh, the humanity!
Oh, and there's something about an approaching blizzard that'll leave Gotham under a foot or two of snow. That too.
In the midst of all this, Tim resolves to get his act together, and returns to Pellinger's house to do what he does best: detective work.
Meanwhile, over at city hall, a bomb threat's been called in:
For all the two-dimensionality of the mayor in this story, I do like that exchange in the last panel. Gotham in a nutshell, if I do say so myself.
So, the bomb squad boys open up the package...
Now all the pieces are in place. Joker's ultimatum is reaching its deadline, and Tim explains to Gordon that he's got a plan to turn the ransom delivery into a trap. Understandably, Gordon balks at the part that calls for Tim faces the Joker alone, and Tim - despite the front he puts up - isn't that confident himself.
(You know, now that I think about it, I think I've pinpointed what I like - and don't like - about Lyle's art. Everyone he draws has a ton of wrinkles in their faces; it's a work that definitely works for the likes of Alfred and Gordon, and to an extent it works for the Joker, but it just looks weird on a teenager like Tim.)
So off Tim goes into battle, ready to stop the Joker or die trying. Before that, though, he has one last task to perform... which we'll see in our next installment. Be there!
How bad can it be, you ask? Well...
Whoo. Civil unrest, property damage, and miscarriages of justice! I admit, though, that it's a bit unclear whether the Joker (with Pellinger's help) orchestrated every step of these specific mishaps, or if it's more a matter of errors and glitches occurring in Gotham's mainframes at random, with Joker just swooping around and picking up all the highlights.
So, Gotham's been brought to its knees, but the mayor, like a true Gotham bureaucrat, puts all responsibility for solving the matter firmly on Gordon's shoulders. He refuses to even let the public know that the Joker is behind everything, because that would mean admitting that the city administration is totally at the Joker's mercy (because the public has so much trust in Gotham's administration after the last twenty times they needed a guy in tights to come in and take down the green-haired clown for them).
Gordon holds another meeting with Tim, and tells him that Gotham's top experts have only been able to deduce that the Joker's virus began at the phone company's terminals, and is now sitting snugly in a web of self-destructs and failsafes and whatnot. "I don't pretend to understand it all."
Neither do I, Jim. Neither do I.
Back at the Joker's hideout, Mistah J is happy as a rubbed rhubarb, so proud of the fact that he's become "the main boob on the tube". Well, all except for the pesky Hammer Bowl game that's going to be played at Gotham Stadium tomorrow... that'll surely eat into a chunk of the airtime dedicated to the mayhem that he's worked so hard on...
Ever the generous soul, though, he gives the football game its own role in his master plan:
Yep. Joker's realized that Batman's little helper just might be home alone, and he's daring them to prove otherwise. So, naturally, at this critical juncture, Alfred sends Tim off to go play some
All things considered, that sounds like it would be a pretty fun Elseworlds. Probably moreso than the Batman-as-high-fantasy one we did ultimately get.
So, anyways, Tim's friends happily exploit the big glitch in his scenario - and thus, Joker's plan. All Tim has to do is trace all the "mystical energies" back to the "psycho spellmaker's" lair - in other words, scan Gotham's power grids for any large-scale draws. Tim, in true teenage superhero fashion, runs off with a half-assed excuse and leaves three friends to play a four-person game.
Down in the Batcave, Tim's all suited up (sans mask), and ready to... sit at the Batcomputer all night, waiting for a ripple from the power grids. Alfred makes a brave attempt at understanding what he's trying to do, and how it all ties into
Several hours later, Tim's gotten his first bite. Soon, he's enveloped in a program where you have to complete the punchlines to old jokes to progress... or something. I kinda like the fact that Joker was apparently computer-literate enough - and enough of a hands-on kind of guy - to co-write the program with Pellinger, but I still can't muster up much enthusiasm for it.
Unfortunately, Tim falls victim to one of the Joker's oldest (and now, sadly-underused) tactics: downplaying his own threat level and lulling you into thinking that this is all a game. Tim winds up wasting hours jumping through hoops for the program, only to be rewarded with:
Over at Joker's hideout, Mistah J is furious that Tim managed to abort their little game before he could upload a virus into the Batcomputer, or even trace the Batcave's location. But the deck is still stacked in his favor - now the Batcomputer's down, Robin's out of the picture (or so he thinks), and Batman's still gone.
And Joker's little prank with Gotham's computers hasn't let up, either. Traffic lights are going on the blink, hardened criminals are getting release orders, hospitals are losing power, homeless shelters are filling up, the police are severely weakened, and worst of all: phones are getting random crank calls with recordings of Joker's laughter in a story that predates BTAS, thus forcing Gotham's citizens to settle for Cesar Romero and/or Jack Nicholson instead of Mark Hamill! Oh, the humanity!
Oh, and there's something about an approaching blizzard that'll leave Gotham under a foot or two of snow. That too.
In the midst of all this, Tim resolves to get his act together, and returns to Pellinger's house to do what he does best: detective work.
Meanwhile, over at city hall, a bomb threat's been called in:
For all the two-dimensionality of the mayor in this story, I do like that exchange in the last panel. Gotham in a nutshell, if I do say so myself.
So, the bomb squad boys open up the package...
Now all the pieces are in place. Joker's ultimatum is reaching its deadline, and Tim explains to Gordon that he's got a plan to turn the ransom delivery into a trap. Understandably, Gordon balks at the part that calls for Tim faces the Joker alone, and Tim - despite the front he puts up - isn't that confident himself.
(You know, now that I think about it, I think I've pinpointed what I like - and don't like - about Lyle's art. Everyone he draws has a ton of wrinkles in their faces; it's a work that definitely works for the likes of Alfred and Gordon, and to an extent it works for the Joker, but it just looks weird on a teenager like Tim.)
So off Tim goes into battle, ready to stop the Joker or die trying. Before that, though, he has one last task to perform... which we'll see in our next installment. Be there!
no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 03:59 pm (UTC)I miss slightly geeky Tim quite a bit, but I do like that he, mostly, kept his geeky friends.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 09:40 pm (UTC)