Batman #32

[laughing_tree]

Comments

[ekrolo2]

I really like the idea of this whole convoluted scheme making Batman snap and try to kill someone but once again, King fails at the execution. Mostly because Batman has no arc or anything here.

Despite the fact this is right after Zero Year, you know, the story where Batman was a young guy full of energy, ready and willing to kick ass and take names, Batman here is a stoic, perpetually scowling, angry action figure from start to finish. Having the Zero Year punk rock Bats get progressively torn down into the guy we see here until he's TRULY just sick of this shit would've been a much more impactful turn of events.

Instead, the Batman of issue #32 is a stoic, angry action figure who honestly tries to kill someone instead of being a stoic, angry action figure who BEATS people to near death.

It's also really weird that the narrative framing makes things even less personnel and detached then they would be. You'd think Batman saying all this from his perspective would have some real, raw emotion but you might as well have made the Anti-Monitor the guy telling Selina this for all the insight it gives you into Bruce as all this is going down.

Also, Batman's nearly killed his rogues gallery all the freaking time, you've REALLY got to sell me on another instances of this with the execution to not make me roll my eyes.

How about ACTUALLY having him kill Joker when he goes for the Riddler? Joker's a meta thanks to dionesium and you've got 3 of them around so you can very easily "kill" Joker, have it stick and then keep him around regardless.

So yeah, I know I'm nuking a dead horses ashes by this point, but a shit run like this demands a good thrashing from me.

[locuatico]

Having Batman with no arc and mostly a stoic, perpetually scowling figure while focusing exclusively on other characters is not necessarily a bad choice. Gotham Central has little characterization for Batman, yet i consider it one of the best Batman books pulished in the 2000s.
But yeah. here it just doesn't work.

[shakalooloo]

Of course Batman has no arc in this. As the Riddler says, this story isn't about him.

[ekrolo2]

Yeah, so why is this framed as some big deal for him that's so awful Bruce thinks Selina needs to hear it to make or break their whole future together? Batman almost kills someone because they really piss him off? Boo fucking hoo, he does this aaaallll the time. In Endgame he purposefully drags their encounter out so both of them get crushed to death.

Riddler saying "This isn't about you" then Batman snapping clealry is meant to convey that, in spite of this not meaning to get to Bats, it does, he wouldn't try to machete him if it didn't. An effect that you could feel a lot better if Batman wasn't already a stoic, internally pissed off action figure from the first page. Not to mention this makes dick all sense with his Zero Year personality where he isn't a jadded prick immediately.

Having the Zero Year guy get tired and pushed to the edge in a war that's ultimately just to solve a riddle and seeing THAT guy go murderous is much better then "This pissed off action figure who nearly murders everybody decides to be slighlty more stoic and angry! Isn't.it cool, edgy and profound!".

No, 12 year old Battard Tom King, it's not, it's shit.

[aperturedreams]

It wasn't that he almost killed someone, he would've killed the riddler had Joker not intervened. And "12 year old battard"? Aside from the ridiculousness of calling Tom King of all people that, insulting creators like that is against the rules here no matter how much you dislike the work.

[ekrolo2]

It's what I said it is: Batman's villain got him really angry and Batman almost kills them for it. The only thing remotely "ground breaking" about it is that Joker is the one doing the stopping this time instead of Alfred or Robin or Superman,... It's not earned or unique, especially since Batman purposefully has Joker die with him in Endgame.

You're right about the batard thing, though I apologize for going that far. I will not, however, take back my criticism of his writing for Batman. With Vision, Omega Men and Mister Miracle, Tom King feels like he's writing an actual story whereas his Batman run feels like his biggest Batman fantasies suffocating good premises because he can't keep a lid on the fan boy side of his concerning the character.

It's literally the only thing that makes sense to me seeing as King's various devices like repeating phrases and sort of detached protagonists are all qualities he does with expert ease in EVERYTHING besides his Batman run. Morrison, Snyder were story tellers who happened to be fans of Batman, King's a guy who's a super fan of Batman who can't help himself when needing to tell a story with the guy.

[beeyo]

I agree with most of what you've said; that Tom Kings Batman doesn't seem as fully realized as his other works and leaves a little to be desired in each arc. I Am Bane ending with a simple headbutt is an example; this simple showdown ending a war that we've barely seen is another. IIRC, by the time he shows up in the first issue of the arc the city is already knee deep in corpses, right? King skipped the part where we go from Zero Year Batman to stoic, depressed Batman. He messed that up and I like your version a bit better.

I have to say, though, that Bruce didn't snap because Riddler said this wasn't about him; he snapped under the weight of all the dead bodies these two maniacs left in the wake of their little game, and hearing Nigma talk about Kitemans son like he was nothing was the final straw. He feels it's important that Selina realizes that he's not Mr. Morality that other heroes may think he is, or rather he is now because the Joker of all people stopped him from committing murder.

You're right. Batman *almost* murders his foes all the time. But a superhero beating someone half to death in a comic book and then pulling back at the last minute looks waaaay different than trying to literally stab someone you hate in the face. It is...unBatman-like, as silly as that sounds.

[hotfoot]

An example of the writing feeling off. The line Eddie says about the Joker, "The man who laughs at anything...but who now can't laugh at ANYTHING!"

I feel like this line was meant to be, "The man who laughs at EVERYTHING...but who now can't laugh at ANYTHING!"

It's a small change, but it is the sort of thing throughout this story. It's trying to say something, to achieve a goal, but it just doesn't quite hit the mark. The difference, as it were, between lightning and the lightning bug. By repeating "anything" in the original line, it shows a lack of clarity and purpose. Repeating the same words is repetitious and repetition is repeatable boring, unless you are repeatably making the repetitions part of the recitation.

But then this is apparently happening in the same universe where Bruce gets dunked with Batmanium and turned into a portal to the Bat Dimension where the Bat Justice Lords exist, and this is only one third of the Joker quantum waveform that has yet to collapse upon itself, so clearly this is just a case of what little remnants of my sanity dribbling out of my ears are ia ia Bathulu Ftaghn.

[zachbeacon]

This isn't great but I do have to smile any time someone reminds Batman that the world doesn't revolve around him.

[joetuss]

The book is literally called Batman...The Toddler is wrong again.

[joetuss]

Riddler* but toddler works just as well.

[zachbeacon]

Nah, I got you. He does seem to be throwing a tantrum

[kalanyr]

Nigma is a narcissist and egomaniac so taking what he says about his own prowess and importance with a grain of salt is probably a good idea.

[locuatico]

So... let me get this straight... The Riddler did ALL of this... just because he wanted to sleep with the joker?
I mean, I could understand it if it was The Penguin but... the joker?

[janegray]

Hummm... so, the Reason Riddler killed that kid was that it was a key part of his master plan?

Well. I can't say I like it, but it is *infinitely* better than him killing a child for crap and giggles JokerLite!style. It's something I can actually buy as IC, and while I personally don't like it, I must admit it's not really gratuitous.

Okay then. I take back my criticism of Riddler's characterization in one of the previous posts of this series. It's not up my alley but nevertheless it's legit.

[filthysize]

Admittedly, I do think this is a pretty funny twist.

[coldfury]

So this is all a triple bluff? Eddie knew that Batman knew that Eddie would suggest Kite Man to end all this?

That's.. like a super Xanatos play, and I'm not sure it feels earned, here.

[nyadnar17]

I love this. I love everything about this. The story was never about batman. It was about Joker and Riddler with Batman as a supporting character. I love it.

I also love that Riddler's casual murder of a man's son is what slips through Batman's guard and makes him lose it. Thats what anger feels like to me. Expected bullshit sucks and makes you mad, but its the unexpected stuff. The emotional sucker punches that really makes you lose your shit.

[shadowpsykie]

UGH i want the scene AFTER this AND the answer..... UGH

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

So...any problem now is a riddle for Eddie to solve?

"Toilet's backed up! I have the perfect plan..."

[donnblake]

Years earlier...

Taunting Child: How do you make a sad clown laugh?

Young Eddie Nygma: An elaborate Kite-Man themed conspiracy.

TC: No, stupid! It's a salami!

YEN: I'll show them. I'll show them all!

[kalanyr]

There are two or three things that don't gel in this for me.

This is way to early in Bats' career for him.to be this worn down. Like this can't be much past early Year 2 and could potentially be late Year 1. On that note, way to many of these villains have already established themselves for a story that must be this early (no Robin or Batgirl).

His sheer judgement of others on killing as opposed to a preventative / redemptive approach also doesn't scan with this so early on.

Why a knife ? He's Batman. He's one of the best unarmed unpowered combatants in the DC while actively avoiding killing moves despite approximately half his teachers being members of the League of Assassins. He probably could have killed the Riddler before the Joker intervened if he'd skipped getting the knife.