Batman: The Merciless #1

[superboyprime]

Comments

[walkingthroughforest]

Love how this is the inverse of the DCAU earth. It even has old Bruce.

[lieut_kettch]

Wait... isn’t Earth-12 the actual DCAU/Timmverse?

[shakalooloo]

It's the style of writing. This isn't Earth Twelve, but Earth Minus Twelve - the problem is that DC has been using Earth-12 for the former for so long, when they suddenly need to do Earth -12 it looks confusing. Earth--12? Earth:-12.

[lizard_of_aus]

This whole event has become a game of "What does this world have in common with its positive version?"

[q99]

"I'm not corrupted by my hat!" yells man obviously corrupted by his hat.

And apparently it didn't even take long, what with him being mind-zowied by it *by the time she woke up*!

[beyondthefringe]

So far, it seems like all of these nightmare Batmen are motivated by loss, which tips them into their evil status.

Merciless loses Diana, puts on the evil hat.
Drowned loses Sylvester, and then Gotham.
Murder Machine loses Alfred.
Red Death loses the various members of the Batfamily.
Dawnbreaker, of course, loses his parents.

If this keeps up, I figure DoomsdayBats will lose Superman, and um, SmilingVampireBats loses himself? Either way, it seems clear that in every case so far, Bruce loses someone close to him and fails to cope well, turning on his allies and enemies alike.

[locuatico]

considering Smiley's... robins... it could be that he loses the three robins we see and whatever he did to bring them back made him what he is today...

[aperturedreams]

Other issues have revealed that Devestator/Doomsday Bats had to stop an out of control Superman, and somewhere I think but am not 100% sure that Snyder revealed that the Man Who Laughs Batman was exposed to Joker toxin after killing the joker.

[shadowpsykie]

the Man Who Laughs Batman was exposed to Joker toxin after killing the joker

"If I kill the Joker, I become him" essentially

[locuatico]

Okay. This one I like. Batman avenging his fallen comrades and, in doing so, falling the deep end is something I can believe him doing.

Him using the helmet reminds me of when he used Metron's chair, so there is a clear parallel with Main!Batman.

Him being corrupted fits with what we learned from Rucka's Wonder Woman: the powers that come with being God of War was what made him the bloodthirsty monster that had to be chained. Without the influence he is a good person. and if that power is too much for a GOD, it's only natural that a mortal couldn't resist the corruption either.

And that's what I really like about this, this is not Bat-God (well... it is... but you get what i mean). This is a man who thought he could wield the powers of a god and do better... and he was dead wrong.

[lucean]

Again a really interesting take as this wasn't a Batman just lacking mercy, but also someone who fell because of his own hubris. He considered himself being able to be the one how could overcome the corruption, yet in the end he fell to it just like everyone else.

Also those references to Bruce's and Diana's love here are really beautiful. It will be interesting to see if it plays in to how Merciless is brought down.

[joetuss]

Why am I not surprised, Batman is even awesome at drawing with his finger.

[dr_archeville]

So I don't get why he's got Diana's WW on his chest. Is he, in his twisted way of thinking, doing this all in her honor? Showing he still carries a torch for her?

Also, who all is that keeling before him in that last panel? Skull-head man I'd guess is Black Mask, the guy in the lower left might be Jason Blood... who else?

[jmacq1]

Actually I think that's a who's who of ARGUS/Checkmate/Government types:

At least I'm pretty sure it's Amanda Waller on the far left and Mr. Bones on the far right. Not sure on the in-betweens though I feel like the masked girl should be recognizable.

[dr_archeville]

Ah, I think you're right. A bit of research tells me that "Masked Girl" is Father Time of S.H.A.D.E.; xey get a new body at the beginning of every year.

[lucean]

As an addition, the visual design of Merciless, both with and without the helmet, is just awesome. Especially Old!Bruce just has this feeling of someone who has suffered only endless war.

[michaelsaint]

It doesn't look like this is simply Old!Bruce because he looks HUMONGOUS. It looks like putting on Ares' helmet somehow made Bruce an amalgam of himself and Ares.

[lucean]

I think the change is intentional because if you look at the mortal Bruce, he actually seems quite small compared to his surroundings. I think the indication here is that the helmet made Bruce a god, which is not good when he lost his ability to feel mercy.

By the way, it is astonishing to me how much better this story does this approach than the damn Metron chair.

[bradygirl_12]

The Bat-God!