Batman: War Crimes - The Cluemaster

[flint_marko]

In light of the current storyline going on in Batman Eternal, I thought I'd post a different take on the Cluemaster (also, can one of the mods fix the spelling error in his tag?).

Previously, the Cluemaster was recruited into the new Suicide Squad, from the short-lived 2001 series.


He was apparently killed during the first mission.



In Robin #111, Stephanie talks to Tim about what happened.






(The official documents stating that he died when a prison truck accidentally ran off the road)









Later, in the controversial War Games crossover Stephanie was tortured by the Black Mask during a gang war and apparently later died from her injuries. The crossover was later followed up in War Crimes.

The story began in Detective Comics #809











And, in #810.

Comments

[crinos]

So, did they ever follow up on this when Steph became Not really dead?

[flint_marko]

Chuck Dixon was going to do it according to the original solicitation for Robin #177, but then he left DC and the story was shelved.

Then he showed up at the end of Steph's Batgirl series, but because it was the last issue they only interacted for a couple of pages.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=9444

[philippos42]

Wow.

So, one writer kills off most of the IJL in a Suicide Squad story, then another writer has Steph react to her father's death, than another writer has Arthur react to her death!

I think the Batfamily scenes really outshine the Squad scenes here.

And Arthur mourning was really...yeah, feels.

[shadowpsykie]

i still don't know.... Stephanie's feelings for him seem pretty clear. she pretty much hates him. She WANTS to love him, but can't. we never knew WHY but her feelings were pretty intense... cluemaster... i am not buying that he did it for her... and they pretty much lied to her when they said he got nothing out of it. the point of the suicide squad is if you survive you get time shaved off.


the war crimes pages... yeah they are FEELS inducing... but for somereason his words don't ring true for him...maybe death DID change him... but it was too little too late, and i still doubt his sincerity

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"...and they pretty much lied to her when they said he got nothing out of it. the point of the suicide squad is if you survive you get time shaved off."

Quite possible the deal is strictly off-the-record. Probably wouldn't look kosher to the public if it were known they were cutting deals for leniency with society's worst.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Well, he's telling the truth technically. If Cluemaster's dead, then time shaved doesn't matter ;)

[shadowpsykie]

yes, but if the purpose of this post was to show that there was more to Arthur Brown than his psychosis, that he cared for something other than himself, then showing us that some guy in suit LIED to stephanie about Cluemaster's joining the squad, then that doesn't help support the thesis.


i could belive that for some reason Cluemaster DID sacrifice himself and that he did so out of altruism.... but we only have hearsay to go with it.


i could also believe "death" did change him.... but again, it;s sad, but that doens't really do much to endear me to him, even as a father who lost his daughter because from all other evidence we have been shown... he was an ASS of a father

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I remember the whole debacle that surrounded Cluemaster's 'death'. Giffen wanted to kill his old joke Justice League, and didn't much care that the Bat writers had dibs on Cluemaster.

It was probably the only thing anyone bothered to notice about the series. Hell, Bolt's death was flat out ignored.

[lieut_kettch]

So how does he go from "The Reformer" to the guy who later dosed his daughter with Black Mercy pollen?