Batman Black & White: The Third Mask

[alicemacher]

A disturbing tale by Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame. From Batman Black and White #4 (Sept 1996). Translated by Jo Duffy. 2⅔ pages out of 8.


Commissioner Gordon briefs Batman on a serial murder case, noting that the suspected killer, unlike most of his sort, has used a different method for each victim. Batman finds the unusually agile perp in a ruined building and demands to know what makes him do such things. The killer says, "A big, strong man like you..."





Batman doesn't understand, so the killer tells him what his mind is like (see the above preview panel). They briefly exchange blows, only for the perp to leap out of Batman's way.





With that, the killer escapes once more. Later, Bruce Wayne is pondering in his study, when...







He notices the Bat-Signal, suits up and drives to the scene of a shoot-out between police and the killer. The gunfire ignites a blaze and an explosion, but the killer, unhurt, manages to hide from the cops, while calling for Batman.

Comments

[alschroeder3]

Okay. I liked the point about how the heart can contradict itself, how the most gentle can be cruel, the most cruel can be gentle. But...if you end it there...exactly what does "not-Batman" do? It's a nice premise for a story, but just leaving it there leaves me more frustrated than fascinated by the possiblities.

[alicemacher]

I took it to imply that Not-Batman, being a new and distinct personality from Batman, has no compunctions about killing murderers.

[alschroeder3]

Yeah, that's the implication. But we're never sure...and yeah, if we were sure, a lot of fans would complain. But...I want to be sure! *Grin*

[cricharddavies]

Or possibly that Bruce has developed a way to get inside this killer's head and make him FEAR him as the Batman identity hasn't been able to do. A parallel to the "do you really want to make ME psychotic" bit he does with the Joker and Harley in one animated series comic.

[lego_joker]

Okey, I remember this was from a manga artist and probably my least favorite story in B&W, but I didn't know it was from the guy who did Akira.

They got a Batman story out of him? Sounds almost too good to be true.