Batman #6 - "I Am Gotham, Epilogue"

[laughing_tree]

"They’re raised outside of Gotham and come to fix it: 'We see all the war and trouble, have incredible power, and will come to your city and show you how to get it done.' That comes from when I went to Iraq. We felt like a superpower coming to fix a place and learning it’s a much more complicated situation than we realized. Batman, who’s been in those gutters for his whole career, encounters these bright eyed, bushy-tailed characters. That comes from my CIA stuff." -- Tom King

Comments

[commodus]

I can't help but laugh at Kite Man's genius plan of loudly announcing his own name after a petty theft.

[rainspirit]

You have to admire his enthusiasm. He's a man with a kite. He's Kite Man!

[reveen]

He's kinda awesome actually, his entire thing seems to be a cool Mirror's Edge parkour grab and run thing with a kite.

[rainspirit]

Feels like Waller has taken an intelligence downgrade to prove a point about government involvement. Not a big deal, but it's a little distracting how much she's trying to put a leg up over Batman.

[locuatico]

That "I don't care for your little justice league" line just feels... Wrong. Not just compared to DCAU's Amanda Waller, but it doesn't make sense in this setting either.

[icon_uk]

This version of Waller is deeply disappointing, I had higher hopes from Tom King for someone who runs a black ops, and takes personal moral responsibility for doing so. This who thing feels beneath her.

[tcampbell1000]

Hell, yes.

[icon_uk]

If Batman is not capable of kindness, he is no Batman I wish to know about.

[starwolf_oakley]

Yes, Batman can be kind... But not to other superheroes! Batman is a jerk to other superheroes because... Shut up.

[joetuss]

Yeah, that's my kind of Batman 😊

[mastermahan]

Indeed. My Batman is someone who suffered a horrible tragedy, but rises above it to save others from the same thing.

"I had a bad day too, once."

[wizardru]

Motto, obviously.

Writer Chris Sims distills Batman down to the core idea that he wears the cowl to prevent other people from experiencing his pain. He knows he can't bring his parents back, but he can stop it from happening again. Batman's core principle is kindness. He adopts Dick not because he needs someone to help him punch people, but to prevent Dick from become him.

This really is pretty great, honestly. This is a Batman I can get behind. Not only is Rebirth turning out great, it's selling well. I hope this takes hold, frankly.

[starwolf_oakley]

Bruce Wayne is aware how screwed up his is. Seeing other superheroes being less screwed up makes that painfully obvious.

Still, not wanting Dick Grayson to be like him is confusing when we get the idea they disagreed over things without learning what they disagreed over. And then we get things like "The Titans are distracting Dick from THE MISSION."

[quatoria]

I really, really wish they hadn't done what they did to Hank... but there's still a lot of good in this. The simple humanity and empathy of this Batman, of this *series*, it means so much to me. It's so different from so much of the Batman we've had before, and I treasure that. I hope it stays.

[tcampbell1000]

Hell, YES.

[zapbiffpow]

"Helping Gotham...it makes it hurt less."

This whole scene was beautiful, from the buildup of Claire's trauma (the headshaving was a nice touch - isn't that like a symptom of emotional distress or something?) to Bruce's reveal and obvious parallelism to Claire finally casting away her creepy-peppy denial and having a good cry.

I feel Tom King wasn't at his 100% on this arc (maybe because he and Tim Seeley have this Gotenks thing going on, or maybe the twice-monthly schedule is a pressure on creative juices), but this issue was pretty solid.

[bradygirl_12]

I wonder if helping Gotham does make it hurt less. I suppose to some extent, but Gotham is like this pit that sucks the life and joy out of everything.

That scene between Bruce and Claire had me misty, I'll admit. I much prefer a human Batman to the Bat-God any day of the week.

Kite Man is awesome! :)

[thanekos]

Congrats to Kite Man for living life like an infinite runner.

[shadowpsykie]

I'M NOT CRYING! YOU'RE CRYING!

also... I must say... modeling Waller after Davis.... it kinda works for me...