Batman Eternal 3
Apr. 23rd, 2014 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_daily The issue begins with the return of a much missed DC character: Stephanie Brown!
Unfortunately, it appears that she'd stumbled across her dad having a little meeting with some other supervillains. Who then promptly knock Steph out, as it seems she didn't know that her dad is Cluemaster in this new continuity (plus her parents are seperated, instead of him being either in jail or bumming around her mum's place with his skeevy friends).
Over at the GCPD HQ, there is an impending sense of doom. The uniformed officer from the previous couple of issues (Strode) and Harvey Bullock voice a sense that things are about to get bad really fast, while Major Forbes (the dude who ordered Jim Gordon's arrest) is openly gloating about how, with Gordon out of the way, the GCPD can get back to doing what they're "supposed to be doing". And by that he implies the kind of crap that the GCPD did during Year One.
This naturally pisses off Harvey, so Forbes pulls rank on him and tells the Sargeant to watch his mouth. Maggie Swayer intervenes on Harvey's behalf, and is made even more annoyed when Forbes tries to tell her to mind her own business, with his her first name no less. This leads to Maggie pulling rank on HIM, and he ends up skuttling off. Strode mentions that Maggie seems even more stressed than she's thought she'd be under the circumstances, and Harvey says that's probably because she's in the front running to replace Jim if things go south in the investigation.
Elsewhere in the building, Jason Bard is talking to Jim himself, and voices how his arresting Jim hasn't exactly done him any favours with the rest of the department. Gordon tells him not to worry about it, and that he was just doing his job. Bard tries to be cheerful, saying that he'll probably not be behind bars for long anyway, and guesses that Batman probably is already trying to figure out what's going on. Jim is less hopeful though, saying that since he was the one who fired the gun, there's still a possibility that the right guy might be behind bars already, that it might actually be his fault.
Over at the Iceberg Lounge, Batman interupts the Penguin gloating over he fed the brother of one his waitresses to some seals for cheating at his casinos to interrogate him about the Roman's return to Gotham. Oswald seems at first confused and then as horrified at the Roman's return to Gotham as Batman, as he evidently humilitated Carmine Falcone by usurping his empire or something. This evidently is enough for Batman for the moment, who moves on, leaving behind a very nervous Cobblepot.
At Gotham City Hall, the Mayor and Carmine are meeting with Forbes (I know, FORBES the man who'd been talking about how how being a cop should be a licence to make money is corrupt, whodathunkit?).
Back at the Batcave, Bruce is going over the evidence with Alfred. Bruce says that the evidence he's retrieved so far doesn't make sense. He says that the man who Gordon shot at in the subway station, Grady, was indeed a henchman of the Roman's, but he'd disappeared without a trace five years ago when Carmine fled Gotham five years ago. All the evidence suggests that he was only in Professor Pyg's gang for only a few hours before Gordon caught up with them, and that Pyg's mind may have just accepted his sudden appearance due to being on tons of drugs pretty much constantly.
So Gordon coincidently chased after a henchmen he didn't even recognise, chased him to subway station where something may or may not have been rigged to crash the trains. And while doing so apparently had his mind manipulated to see a gun that didn't exist (he checked, and Alfred says the drug test showed up nothing stronger than nicotine). Too many coincidences for it not to be a set up relating to the Roman's return of some kind.
Alfred tries to play devil's advocate here, saying that the lack of any drugs in Jim's system means that might indeed have been all a horrible accident spurred on by just random coincidences... when an alarm sounds, indicating that apparently someone was making a move on one of the Penguin's weapons warehouses, which Batman grims says must be the Roman making his move.
Back Arthur Brown's house, the League of Minor Villains (not their actual name, just what I'm calling them for now) are going over the plans for the Takeover of Gotham City, and it seems that everything is in place... except for the presence of the knocked out Stephanie, who could potentially wreck whatever plans the crew might have for the immediate future. Lock-Up says that she's a loose end, and that Arthur needs to make a sacrifice for their plans to process.
Cluemaster says that calling killing Stephanie a sacrifice is an overstatement.
Later, Batman is beating up some of the Roman's goons who were attacking the Penguin's aforementioned warehouses. He tells them that attacking the Penguin's stuff is a dangerous move, and that they'll be safer in Blackgate Prison. One of the goons asks whether he really thinks that the police are going to show up, and how the Roman had told them that they are the Law in Gotham now. Batman leaves them and moves on to the next place being attacked by the Roman's men.
Over at the Iceberg Lounge, the Penguin has called the League of Midlevel Villains (not their actual name) for a council of war, only for news of the attacks to reach him. He starts to panic, as he hasn't had time to get ready, but has enough time to declare that they're now at war before we cut away.
Back at GCPD HQ, Maggie is telling the assembled cops to suit up, as things are going to crap out there and they've got jobs to do... only for someone to tell her that nobody is leaving the building. It's the Mayor, and he's arrived to announce that Forbes has been make Interim Commissioner of the GCPD (didn't see that coming).
Maggie says that this is ridiculous, and that they need to get out there doing their jobs, only for Forbes to tell her that her job is to do whatever he says. He dismissively says to just let the gangwar burn itself out, after all, the GCPD has a new, bigger target to worry about at the moment.
Bard asks if this means they're prioritising going after Pyg, which Forbes says isn't the case. They'll get after the other costumed wackos eventually, but for now, they're going to focus on the kingpin. The menace that's been transforming Gotham into a hellhole by his very presence for the last five years. They're going to arrest the Batman. It should be noted that in order to draw a big dramatic bat signal on the MCU's whiteboard to show their target, Forbes also erases the majority of the notes written there about their actual active cases (such as finding the Joker). Because he's a DICK.
The issue closes out with Stephanie having a panic attack in an alley, saying that there is more to all of this than just a train crash, and she's the only one that knows this. And worst of all, they all know that she's the only one that knows this, and that her own father just tried to shoot her in the face. She tries ringing her mother to warn her about all of this, but no one is picking up...
Next Week: Batman vs. Batgirl!
Mini-Review: After establishing who is who and the overall mystery in the past two issues, issue three focuses on getting the plot moving, and establishing just what kind of role Steph will have in the new 52. Which looks like a her going from a normal teenage girl to being a superhero with all the spoilers to the Huge Conspiracy that the Big Bads have made up.
I can probably see people getting mad at her treatment in the issue (even though she's caught by surprise and uses her own resourcefulness to avoid her canonically assholish dad from murdering her), but considering we have another year of comics with her in at least I don't think we have to worry about her not undergoing significant character development in the upcoming months.
My one complaint is that Forbes is kind of obvious in how corrupt he is. Like, he needs severe media coaching before he has his first press conference, otherwise he'd be acting like Chris Christie or something. Telling reporters to shut up because he's Commissioner or something. Maybe they're going for a Flass-type character, I dunno.
Unfortunately, it appears that she'd stumbled across her dad having a little meeting with some other supervillains. Who then promptly knock Steph out, as it seems she didn't know that her dad is Cluemaster in this new continuity (plus her parents are seperated, instead of him being either in jail or bumming around her mum's place with his skeevy friends).
Over at the GCPD HQ, there is an impending sense of doom. The uniformed officer from the previous couple of issues (Strode) and Harvey Bullock voice a sense that things are about to get bad really fast, while Major Forbes (the dude who ordered Jim Gordon's arrest) is openly gloating about how, with Gordon out of the way, the GCPD can get back to doing what they're "supposed to be doing". And by that he implies the kind of crap that the GCPD did during Year One.
This naturally pisses off Harvey, so Forbes pulls rank on him and tells the Sargeant to watch his mouth. Maggie Swayer intervenes on Harvey's behalf, and is made even more annoyed when Forbes tries to tell her to mind her own business, with his her first name no less. This leads to Maggie pulling rank on HIM, and he ends up skuttling off. Strode mentions that Maggie seems even more stressed than she's thought she'd be under the circumstances, and Harvey says that's probably because she's in the front running to replace Jim if things go south in the investigation.
Elsewhere in the building, Jason Bard is talking to Jim himself, and voices how his arresting Jim hasn't exactly done him any favours with the rest of the department. Gordon tells him not to worry about it, and that he was just doing his job. Bard tries to be cheerful, saying that he'll probably not be behind bars for long anyway, and guesses that Batman probably is already trying to figure out what's going on. Jim is less hopeful though, saying that since he was the one who fired the gun, there's still a possibility that the right guy might be behind bars already, that it might actually be his fault.
Over at the Iceberg Lounge, Batman interupts the Penguin gloating over he fed the brother of one his waitresses to some seals for cheating at his casinos to interrogate him about the Roman's return to Gotham. Oswald seems at first confused and then as horrified at the Roman's return to Gotham as Batman, as he evidently humilitated Carmine Falcone by usurping his empire or something. This evidently is enough for Batman for the moment, who moves on, leaving behind a very nervous Cobblepot.
At Gotham City Hall, the Mayor and Carmine are meeting with Forbes (I know, FORBES the man who'd been talking about how how being a cop should be a licence to make money is corrupt, whodathunkit?).
Back at the Batcave, Bruce is going over the evidence with Alfred. Bruce says that the evidence he's retrieved so far doesn't make sense. He says that the man who Gordon shot at in the subway station, Grady, was indeed a henchman of the Roman's, but he'd disappeared without a trace five years ago when Carmine fled Gotham five years ago. All the evidence suggests that he was only in Professor Pyg's gang for only a few hours before Gordon caught up with them, and that Pyg's mind may have just accepted his sudden appearance due to being on tons of drugs pretty much constantly.
So Gordon coincidently chased after a henchmen he didn't even recognise, chased him to subway station where something may or may not have been rigged to crash the trains. And while doing so apparently had his mind manipulated to see a gun that didn't exist (he checked, and Alfred says the drug test showed up nothing stronger than nicotine). Too many coincidences for it not to be a set up relating to the Roman's return of some kind.
Alfred tries to play devil's advocate here, saying that the lack of any drugs in Jim's system means that might indeed have been all a horrible accident spurred on by just random coincidences... when an alarm sounds, indicating that apparently someone was making a move on one of the Penguin's weapons warehouses, which Batman grims says must be the Roman making his move.
Back Arthur Brown's house, the League of Minor Villains (not their actual name, just what I'm calling them for now) are going over the plans for the Takeover of Gotham City, and it seems that everything is in place... except for the presence of the knocked out Stephanie, who could potentially wreck whatever plans the crew might have for the immediate future. Lock-Up says that she's a loose end, and that Arthur needs to make a sacrifice for their plans to process.
Cluemaster says that calling killing Stephanie a sacrifice is an overstatement.
Later, Batman is beating up some of the Roman's goons who were attacking the Penguin's aforementioned warehouses. He tells them that attacking the Penguin's stuff is a dangerous move, and that they'll be safer in Blackgate Prison. One of the goons asks whether he really thinks that the police are going to show up, and how the Roman had told them that they are the Law in Gotham now. Batman leaves them and moves on to the next place being attacked by the Roman's men.
Over at the Iceberg Lounge, the Penguin has called the League of Midlevel Villains (not their actual name) for a council of war, only for news of the attacks to reach him. He starts to panic, as he hasn't had time to get ready, but has enough time to declare that they're now at war before we cut away.
Back at GCPD HQ, Maggie is telling the assembled cops to suit up, as things are going to crap out there and they've got jobs to do... only for someone to tell her that nobody is leaving the building. It's the Mayor, and he's arrived to announce that Forbes has been make Interim Commissioner of the GCPD (didn't see that coming).
Maggie says that this is ridiculous, and that they need to get out there doing their jobs, only for Forbes to tell her that her job is to do whatever he says. He dismissively says to just let the gangwar burn itself out, after all, the GCPD has a new, bigger target to worry about at the moment.
Bard asks if this means they're prioritising going after Pyg, which Forbes says isn't the case. They'll get after the other costumed wackos eventually, but for now, they're going to focus on the kingpin. The menace that's been transforming Gotham into a hellhole by his very presence for the last five years. They're going to arrest the Batman. It should be noted that in order to draw a big dramatic bat signal on the MCU's whiteboard to show their target, Forbes also erases the majority of the notes written there about their actual active cases (such as finding the Joker). Because he's a DICK.
The issue closes out with Stephanie having a panic attack in an alley, saying that there is more to all of this than just a train crash, and she's the only one that knows this. And worst of all, they all know that she's the only one that knows this, and that her own father just tried to shoot her in the face. She tries ringing her mother to warn her about all of this, but no one is picking up...
Next Week: Batman vs. Batgirl!
Mini-Review: After establishing who is who and the overall mystery in the past two issues, issue three focuses on getting the plot moving, and establishing just what kind of role Steph will have in the new 52. Which looks like a her going from a normal teenage girl to being a superhero with all the spoilers to the Huge Conspiracy that the Big Bads have made up.
I can probably see people getting mad at her treatment in the issue (even though she's caught by surprise and uses her own resourcefulness to avoid her canonically assholish dad from murdering her), but considering we have another year of comics with her in at least I don't think we have to worry about her not undergoing significant character development in the upcoming months.
My one complaint is that Forbes is kind of obvious in how corrupt he is. Like, he needs severe media coaching before he has his first press conference, otherwise he'd be acting like Chris Christie or something. Telling reporters to shut up because he's Commissioner or something. Maybe they're going for a Flass-type character, I dunno.
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Date: 2014-04-23 04:47 pm (UTC)She's knocked out and captured, sure, but... nobody saves her. She saves herself, without hesitation, when the moment comes. That's the Steph I remember!
(Sure she's freaked out/upset, but she just found out her father was a villain and he tried to shoot her. Anyone would be!)
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Date: 2014-04-23 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 04:53 pm (UTC)...can it...?
*cries in corner*
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Date: 2014-04-23 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 10:50 pm (UTC)To me, this woman getting out of that situation makes her crafty and smart, but how did she know punching that gasthingy wouldn't have blown up in her face? Lying like that how could she even react that fast and her dad not be fast enough to shoot her or someone else to shoot her before she could get out of the way of the door? It's weird to me. I'll just suspend my disbelief on a higher level for this to even work.
Edit: I'd like to add that there is much unexplained here any way. Why couldn't the father say she's a sacrifice? If she means so little why did she even stay over? How was she treated when there? Was he going to use a bullet that simulates death? There must be more.
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Date: 2014-04-23 11:01 pm (UTC)she reacted in a way that was unexpected to her captors, she obviously knows the basement, so she knows where she has to run. her father wasn't expecting her in the first place so that was a suprise for him to begin with and threw himoff. her flailing about in defense of herself knocked the gas grenade out of his belt, the resulting smoke and confusion allowed her to get away.
honestly that doesn't seem like there needs to be a lot of suspension of disbelief for this to seem at all plausable.
also. he she lives in gotham, gotham teens probably take mandatory self defense classes and gymnastics in order to even walk to school.
also Cluemaster has a history of being a psychologically and physically abusive husband and father. Stephanie staying at his place, and even him acting nice towards her, might be something he is oblidged to do to a)maintain cover b) mandated by the court. so again, not much to suspend there.
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Date: 2014-04-23 11:13 pm (UTC)If the poses and distances had been drawn a little differently with her in different poses that would make this work for me.
Okay, she was flailing in constant motion and her father didn't think her a threat and then she punched. Yes, I see now. :) Okay, that works for me.
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Date: 2014-04-23 11:24 pm (UTC)they might have gotten upgraded, but then so would stephanie (as her earlier appearances were "eager and well intentioned, but bumbling" at least to begin with).
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Date: 2014-04-24 07:00 am (UTC)It's possible that the court made him take partial custody of Steph (considering her mum was a nurse/doctor in the previous continuity, chances are she's not around as much as she'd like due to her shifts,a nd Arthur was ordered to look after Steph when Crystal was at work). Maybe he resents the fact that he has to look after Steph when he'd rather be doing supervillain stuff?
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Date: 2014-04-25 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 05:05 pm (UTC)(That said, I'm surprised that they kept Cluemaster around--I figured since he's kind of a copy of The Riddler, they might really switch things up and make Steph the daughter of Edward.)
One thing that I wasn't so sure of was Forbes' rise to power (which is really just Falcone's rise to power) being that quick. But then I can kind-of see it. After such a huge catastrophe--hundreds dead, the seemingly immovable Commissioner Gordon looks to be responsible, people won't notice Penguin's fall from power with all the other mayhem going on.
As for how corrupt Forbes looks...it's been my experience that most people are willing to accept even the most openly corrupt of police if they say the right things and they don't touch the upper crust and politically powerful.
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Date: 2014-04-23 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 06:09 pm (UTC)You know your team is scraping the bottom of the barrel when you have Lock-Up and Signalman as heavy hitters.
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Date: 2014-04-24 07:03 am (UTC)He's a dick.
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Date: 2014-04-23 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-23 11:26 pm (UTC)he was an abusive, neglectful, viscious man... but he at least sometime sorta sorta cared for her....
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Date: 2014-04-24 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2014-04-23 10:57 pm (UTC)How to reintroduce a beloved character that fans have been asking about returning for several years incorrectly: The Flash #30
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Date: 2014-04-23 11:04 pm (UTC)don't think wally will stay dead
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Date: 2014-04-23 10:57 pm (UTC)Hmmm. I wonder whether the Batman overheard that and is going to get on his case later about a grisly murder like that, since absolving Jim Gordon is his priority now or it just won't make sense.
*suspension of disbelief*…*suspension of disbelief*…*disbelief*…*disbelief*
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Date: 2014-04-24 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-24 10:10 am (UTC)Unless of course one of the costumed villains takes him out early I suppose.
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Date: 2014-04-24 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-24 12:40 pm (UTC)I mean, Wally was the Flash I read in JLA and watched in JLU when I was getting back into comics again, so he's pretty much my default Flash in a lot of respects (same as how Cass Cain is my default Batgirl as she was the first one I read in comics properly). So the emphasis on Barry kind of weirds me out.
Same as the emphasis on how awesome Hal Jordan is considering I grew up with Kyle Rayner and John Stewart as the dual Green Lanterns for the longest time.
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Date: 2014-04-25 06:08 pm (UTC)Eh, I don't know about YJ either, the whole mockery with him being the slowest speedster (really now, his *death* made me cringe, this is Wally freaking West he can't die from being ~slow~ he dies because he is too FAST), erasing Francis Kane from his life (poor girl will never get the respect) kinda made me angry.
I don't know, did we need Barry? I don't think so. Wally was doing the job great. Even if he came back, he should have been the new Jay of next gen. Taking on all of Wally's accomplishments enrages me.(And I like Barry) There is absolutely nothing Barry has better than Wally and I don't understand why DC insists he's the iconic Flash. It's like saying Tom Baker is the iconic Doctor, well he was back in time but David Tennant and Matt Smitt made amazing jobs and even -imho- surpassed him. You might still prefer Baker but calling him iconic is insult to other 11 Doctors and it's just nostalgia.
All of these seems to me more made for solidifying Barry's role as One True Flash. Kills me inside. Wally deserves way waaay better than this.
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Date: 2014-04-24 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-24 01:20 pm (UTC)Knowing my luck it'd probably be Misfit though.
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Date: 2014-04-25 06:11 pm (UTC)Never understood the appeal of Donna. She always seemed to me a copy of Diana to me.(with more active love life perhaps?) So I'm not expecting anything from her.
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Date: 2014-04-25 07:23 pm (UTC)Interesting
Date: 2014-05-09 04:20 pm (UTC)In addition, I've always wanted a newbie cop character who, rather than trying to clean up corruption in the unit, tries to bring it back in. Hell, I actually used a character like that in my short story that initially got me into Chapman.
I look forward to seeing more of Forbes.