Legends of the Dark Knight: Wings
Apr. 30th, 2017 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyA tale from the days of yore, wherein we get an origin for Man-Bat which is heavily influenced by the David Cronenberg remake of the Fly.
Warning for Ableism and body horror.
15 pages from the a 60 page annual.
We begin in a laboratory in Gotham, where one of the scientists is acting all sceptical over the recent reports of some sort of "Batman" in the city.
Kirk writes in his notes about how adaptive bats are, which is played as narration over scenes of the newly minted Batman attempting to capture some terrorists, only to find his current method of swinging around the city isn't as efficent as he likes. Meaning he smashes into a lot of windows.
Kirk brings his findings to the lab's backers, who bluntly shut down his request for more money in the rudest way possible.
"Genetic engineering? Balderdash and poppycock! What next, some kind of inter-connected network of computers? Nonsense!"
Frustrated, Kirk returns to the lab, where he yells at Francine until she leaves... And injects himself with his own transgenic serum.. His body convulses in pain, and when he comes to hours later, he notices something odd...
He patches things up with Francine, only to slowly find that his hearing is increasing to unbearably strong levels. And that's not the worse of it...
Time passes, and Francine eventually fetches Scientist Asshole to help break into Kirk's apartment in case he's hurt himself, only to find he's moved out...
Francine takes Kirk's laptop back to the lab, where together with Beard Scientist they work out what exactly Kirk had down to himself. Francine and Beard Scientist try to backengineer Kirk's notes in order to make some kind of cure... only to find Kirk's research ends in a form of suicide note.
And indeed, Kirk attempts to end his suffering by throwing himself off a bridge, only for the last strands of his human mind to blow away, leaving only Man-Bat, who flies away. This does not end well for one of the terrorists from earlier, who mistakes Kirk for Batman and opens fire on him. This results in him getting mauled, and then ranting to the police about how Batman tried to eat him. This, understandably, confuses Bruce somewhat.
Francine tries to insist to Asshole Scientist that Kirk might be alive out there, only for him to say that her old fiance is probably dead, and besides missing persons cases can sometimes take years to solve, if they ever are. Much better that she move on with her life, and by that, he means hooking up with him instead. Francine tells him to get out, and that she and Beard Scientist will work on the cure on their own.
The now feral Man-Bat eventually follows some of his vanilla bat friends back to where they roost during the day, which proves to be something of a shock for a certain butler who comes to investigate the intruder alarm.
After a struggle, Batman manages to knock Man-Bat out, and straps him to a table do he can try and work out what the heck he is.
Francine has Beard Scientist bring the completed formula to her apartment, only for Man-Bat to come to, attack Batman and fly out the window.
Story ends with Kirk seemingly having recovered, but with no memory of the 9 months he spent as Man-Bat. Meaning that Bruce's secret is safe, and the scientists have a happy ending, yay!
Warning for Ableism and body horror.
15 pages from the a 60 page annual.
We begin in a laboratory in Gotham, where one of the scientists is acting all sceptical over the recent reports of some sort of "Batman" in the city.
Kirk writes in his notes about how adaptive bats are, which is played as narration over scenes of the newly minted Batman attempting to capture some terrorists, only to find his current method of swinging around the city isn't as efficent as he likes. Meaning he smashes into a lot of windows.
Kirk brings his findings to the lab's backers, who bluntly shut down his request for more money in the rudest way possible.
"Genetic engineering? Balderdash and poppycock! What next, some kind of inter-connected network of computers? Nonsense!"
Frustrated, Kirk returns to the lab, where he yells at Francine until she leaves... And injects himself with his own transgenic serum.. His body convulses in pain, and when he comes to hours later, he notices something odd...
He patches things up with Francine, only to slowly find that his hearing is increasing to unbearably strong levels. And that's not the worse of it...
Time passes, and Francine eventually fetches Scientist Asshole to help break into Kirk's apartment in case he's hurt himself, only to find he's moved out...
Francine takes Kirk's laptop back to the lab, where together with Beard Scientist they work out what exactly Kirk had down to himself. Francine and Beard Scientist try to backengineer Kirk's notes in order to make some kind of cure... only to find Kirk's research ends in a form of suicide note.
And indeed, Kirk attempts to end his suffering by throwing himself off a bridge, only for the last strands of his human mind to blow away, leaving only Man-Bat, who flies away. This does not end well for one of the terrorists from earlier, who mistakes Kirk for Batman and opens fire on him. This results in him getting mauled, and then ranting to the police about how Batman tried to eat him. This, understandably, confuses Bruce somewhat.
Francine tries to insist to Asshole Scientist that Kirk might be alive out there, only for him to say that her old fiance is probably dead, and besides missing persons cases can sometimes take years to solve, if they ever are. Much better that she move on with her life, and by that, he means hooking up with him instead. Francine tells him to get out, and that she and Beard Scientist will work on the cure on their own.
The now feral Man-Bat eventually follows some of his vanilla bat friends back to where they roost during the day, which proves to be something of a shock for a certain butler who comes to investigate the intruder alarm.
After a struggle, Batman manages to knock Man-Bat out, and straps him to a table do he can try and work out what the heck he is.
Francine has Beard Scientist bring the completed formula to her apartment, only for Man-Bat to come to, attack Batman and fly out the window.
Story ends with Kirk seemingly having recovered, but with no memory of the 9 months he spent as Man-Bat. Meaning that Bruce's secret is safe, and the scientists have a happy ending, yay!
no subject
Date: 2017-04-30 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-30 06:10 pm (UTC)It's also a really good story for showing the kind of hero a well-written Batman is. His strength isn't that he hits people really hard, or that he has a cool car, but that he'll never give up on people who can be helped.
This is a great origin story for Man-Bat. And one of my favourites of all time.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-30 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 05:54 am (UTC)This story was sweet. I wish they'd find a way to integrate this into Man-Bat's current/definitive origin.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 09:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 09:49 am (UTC)A well-meaning scientist accidentally turns himself into a human/animal hybrid while trying to fix his own disability? I can probably think of another point of comparison a bit closer to home.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 11:02 am (UTC)The scenes of him slowly loosing his mind as he mutates also brings to mind a similar scene with Brundlefly, albeit with less vomit and no ears falling off.