Batman: The Dark Prince Charming #1

[history79]

Writing and Art by Enrico Marini

21 pages of 63

Comments

[cyberghostface]

I love the bit with Joker and the pizza.

[roxas832]

That Joker design is pretty cool.

[miss_abnormal]

I know, right? It uses the classic look, but adds a sort of non-exaggerated edginess that I think artists/designers have been looking for (and mostly failing to find) since the New 52 started. It looks "fun" in a carnival/circus kind of way, but projects a sense of discomfort/inner darkness (and, when getting to know the character, downright danger and fear).

[lordultimus]

This is the Joker I want to read.

[janegray]

I'm not sure what to think about this...

I like the art. And the story has the potential to be very interesting. Some of the scenes are also very good.

But I'm not sure I buy a portrayal of Bruce who would send the woman and her daughter away like that. Obviously he thinks she is a scammer because he can't remember sleeping with her, but I would still expect him to get them to social workers or something for the child's sake.

I guess I should wait and see more before I form an opinion. I am curious to see more, so I guess the first issue did its job.

[jeremyp]

This is a good example of why I can't accept Joker stories, or stories with other prolific, well know mass murderers. No even semi-functional society would allow someone like the Joker to run loose. Even one of his more serious crimes would lead to an unstoppable nationwide manhunt, and once caught he would never be free again.

I know it's comics, and the idea is that there have to be villians to have heroes, but a character like the Joker could only exist in the worst of possible worlds. He shatters the bounds of "suspension of disbelief" if he's portrayed in any sort of stable society.

He could exist in Mad Max, or Judge Dredd, or the Walking Dead, but the United States in the DC comic universe is generally portrayed as having fairly functional societal infrastructure - law enforcement, courts, the rule of law. No society with any sort of stability would allow that behavior.

Hunting him (and others like him) down would be the overwhelming news story 24 a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year. There would be nonstop tributes to the thousands of people he'd killed.

This rant also applies to every Punisher story I've ever read.

[nyadnar17]

Punisher explicitly exist because he preys on people no one gives a shit about (mainly white blue color criminals). Given his neigh magical power of "never killing an innocent" and knowing where the bodies are burried I can completely believe he is allowed to run wild.

[jeremyp]

No functional community allows armed vigilantes to kill criminals indiscriminately. There are lots of reasons for that. Even if you give the Punisher the magical ability to make sure that none of his bullets ever ricochet, or pass THROUGH their targets, you'd also have to say that none of his explosions send shrapnel anywhere he doesn't want it to go. Ridiculous and impossible. Then there's the matter of the bullets and explosives that the Punisher's opponents are aiming at him. Those bullets will ricochet, or miss their targets, as will the shrapnel and effects of the bombs. That means bystanders will be hurt by the Punisher's attacks. No community anywhere wants random gun battles. If 10 people got blown to bits outside of your door, with bullets flying and explosions going off (really imagine that scene, and the carnage afterwards), and your children watched it, would you be happy with that? Would you be sure that the Punisher never hit an innocent person? Would you bet the life of your family on that? Would you be okay with him causing a fire fight in your neighborhood?  Also, how do the authorities and the public know that the Punisher's bullets never go wild? Does he provide forensics on his weapons to the authorities so they can prove it wasn't his weapon that hit the random bystander? The authorities and the broader community are not going to take that on faith. In fact, how does the public know that the Punisher's victims were actually guilty of crimes? None of them have been tried or convicted of anything. And what about his various hidden weapon cache's? Those don't pose a danger to the community? And there WILL be people that care about the Punisher's victims. They have families, friends, neighbors. Those people are going to want to see the Punisher face legal consequences for his crimes. So will the families of the bystanders impacted by the Punisher's actions. And he has committed lots of crimes - gun running, money laundering, illegal search and seizure, wire fraud, illegal storage of explosives and dangerous items, identity fraud. Is the public going to accept that he's a saint who will never cross the line, and never make a mistake? I wouldn't want to bet on that. There is also the issue that as a society we are committed to the idea of due process. There are people that care that the laws of this country are properly enforced. From that point of view the Punisher is an abomination. Comics are about suspension of disbelief. But the Marvel universe is supposed to be roughly similar to the modern United States, and there is no way that kind of society would accept a Punisher.

[bradygirl_12]

Don't be a pizza delivery guy in Gotham!

[joetuss]

It amazes me how the citizen's of Gotham could want to be anything that would have them going out after dark.

[bradygirl_12]

It amazes me that they go out during the day, too!

[thosefew]

So this story implies at the start that Bruce has the playboy persona. It made me imagine a story where a more business-focused Bruce is kidnapped by Joker, to help Bruce have 'fun' again. Probably wouldn't work with mass-killy Joker though.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

The Catwoman part has me wondering, when does this take place? Is it recent, what with his proposal to her? Or did she come around for sexy times well before that?

[miss_abnormal]

This story doesn't take place in the main DC continuity.

[goattoucher]

:comes to podium:

:shuffles papers:

:taps mike:

:ahem:

This child is not Bruce Wayne's daughter.

:gathers papers, exists, stage left:

Announcer: This concludes part seven of Scans_Daily's "Things you do not need to be told." series.

Drive safely.

[lucean]

This series kind of hits on an interesting story that DC has constantly avoided telling. All the Batkids, even damned Damian, are essentially Batman's children and a part of that world.

I've always found it intriguing the concept of Bruce Wayne having a child and the dynamics that would follow from that. I'm not expecting DC to tell that story, but it is weird how they just keep putting more people on the Bat side of the equation while there is a lot of interesting stuff to be done on the Bruce side.

[deh_tommy]

I’m probably being stupid, but does anyone else think that Mariah Shelley looks a bit like Duela Dent?