Batman #51-52 - "Cold Days"

[laughing_tree]

Don’t tell, but I’m trying to make “How can I help?” Dick Grayson’s new catchphrase. It just seems very him. -- Tom King

Comments

[lucean]

This is actually a pretty smart part of Bane's plan, at least I'm assuming that it is a part of it. If they had been doing stuff like this during the build, more subtly of course, it really would have helped that conspiracy reveal.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I do like this reversal on Bruce's part, defending the man he brought in.

Because otherwise, wow, sitting on the jury to convict a man he brought in? Not even Silver Age Superman could be that much of a dick.

[owlbrigade1]

Bruce Wayne cannot get out of jury duty? Even if he doesn't want to confess to being Batman to get out of the conflict of interest he could at least just say to the judge that he'd been following the story in the news, discussing it with his butler and however many orphans he has running around the manor these days (I actually forget if Bruce has any wards these days, sorry), and he has a well settled opinion that Freeze is guilty and he cannot be impartial. Then throw in a couple of Woosterisms, and the judge would bounce him.

Oh, and never trust a confession. Despite what movies and tv teach us it is the second most unreliable type of evidence there is; the most unreliable is, of course, eye witness testimony. I gotta say though, I'd still be with the rest of the jury on this. The only reason Bruce isn't is because of his personal connection to the case, which is why he shouldn't really be on the jury. I expect he'll turn out to be right, but he oughtn't to be.

[janegray]

I LOVE how everybody in the jury is like "Batman saved the city a million times and we are all appropriately grateful to him, just you try and talk shit about him, you motherfucker, I dare you!"

Can you imagine if this had been about Spider-Man?

[scorntx]

Knowing Peter's luck, if he tried talking down about Spidey at a jury, they'd all turn out to be people he saved, or related to people he's saved, and they'd all turn on him for it.

[deathcrist2000]

The problem is a lot of his baddies have some relationship with Peter:
-Norman Osborn
-Harry Osborn
-Dr Otto Octavius (due to recent developments)
-Dr Curt Conners
-Felicia Hardy
-Eddie Brock
-Ned Leeds
-J Jonah Jameson

I think the number of "main baddies" Peter doesn't have a personal relationship with at this point could be counted on a single hand.

[starwolf_oakley]

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #6 had a backup story where Mary Jane was on a jury for a criminal captured by Spider-Man.
It was written by Peter David.

[bj_l]

It's in the Cosmic Adventures Epic Collection. It's worth a read.

[kamino_neko]

Bruce Wayne cannot get out of jury duty?

He can, and likely has in the past. He doesn't want to. Seems likely to me he specifically got himself added to the jury pool for this trial.

[caivu]

Even if we assume Batman, Inc. doesn't still exist and was never a thing, Bruce would probably have been dismissed anyway so he wouldn't be a distraction.

[laughing_tree]

Would he necessarily? Rudy Giuliani served on a jury when he was mayor, IIRC.

[shadowpsykie]

hmmm interesting...

[starwolf_oakley]

Is Bruce starting to doubt the explanation for everything in a Batman story? "Because he's Batman." How did Batman find those clues? Because he's Batman.

If this is part of Bane's plot, it is better than KNIGHTFALL. Bane got lucky there because Bruce had something wrong with him before the mass Arkham breakout.

If this is Bruce doubting himself in a normal way, that is all right. Bruce doubting if he could really let himself be happy is why he proposed to Selina. Whoops.

[beeyo]

I like how it kind of seems that this is Bruce starting to catch on that someone is plotting against him. He may not know it's Bane specifically, but he has a feeling.

[beeyo]

Is Bruce starting to doubt the explanation for everything in a Batman story? "Because he's Batman." How did Batman find those clues? Because he's Batman.

You bring to mind how Bats beat Bane during this run.

"I'M BATMAN"
*headbutt*

Maybe that's what King is going for. The first 50 issues were pretty simple. But when you're dealing with someone like Bane, a supreme strategist, things become more complicated as time goes on. You begin to question your own actions and, in Bruce's case, the constant paranoia that they bring.

Bruce cant exactly know that someone is fucking with him, but he suspects. And the fact that he always suspects, that he always has to suspect because of his night gig, must be constantly tearing him apart.

I guess what I'm saying is, shit's getting good yo

[beeyo]

Tom King is something else, man. There have been so many issues of his Batman run that just haven't lived up to the expectations I had of him that I forgot how wonderfully he can weave a tale. His use of repetitive phrases in the first phase of his run versus how robust the dialogue is in the second half really does make me believe that after issue 100 hits, we will all want to go back and read from the beginning.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

But did he admit that he's Batman?

You know, like the real Batman would? ;)