Batman: Curse of the White Knight first look

[cyberghostface]

 

“Jack Napier almost took everything from Batman--but that was nothing compared to what Joker and Azrael have planned. Not only are they planning on destroying the Dark Knight, but they'll undo the Waynes in way you never thought possible. For Curse of the White Knight, I wanted to do a historical story about the Waynes in Gotham. And talk about how deeply both he and Joker are tied to the city. Gotham seems to be perpetually cursed by crime--this story talks about that curse, and how it's linked to the founding of Gotham Village in 1665.” -- Sean Murphy

The miniseries is coming out in July. Some interior pages can be found at IGN. 

Comments

[crinos]

See, I feel like the first White Knight story at least had a point and a good idea: What if the Joker regained his Sanity, and went after Batman in a legal manner (Since, when you think about it, Batman is a entitled privileged white guy who beats up on people with mental health issues, and is tacitly endorsed by the police who ignore his mental health issues because he can brutalize criminals while the GCPD keep their hands clean). I haven't read the miniseries yet (I'm waiting for it to go up on DC universe when they upload their full digital backlist, which they've started to do) So I don't know how closely they follow those themes, but I do know from scans I've seen here that in the end the status quo is restored and Joker becomes insane again.

This sequel, really it just feels like another Joker story, with a dash of "Oh no the Waynes had some dark secret" Thrown in, which I am pretty sure has been done. I mean I'm not opposed to the idea per se, I just question having this as a sequel to White Knight.

[cyberghostface]

FWIW I think Murphy's plans are to build his own "Murphyverse" elseworlds where he can do what he wants with Batman and co.. Joker apparently isn't as central to this one.

[crinos]

Ah, okay then.

I do love me some alternative continuity Batman.

[cyberghostface]

"Since, when you think about it, Batman is a entitled privileged white guy who beats up on people with mental health issues, and is tacitly endorsed by the police who ignore his mental health issues because he can brutalize criminals while the GCPD keep their hands clean"

This isn't targeted at you specifically as lots of people have said this including Murphy in this very comic, but I guess I disagree with this assessment because IMO Batman is probably one of the few heroes who goes above and beyond in trying to help his villains. The end of 'The Killing Joke' is probably the best example where he tells Joker he doesn't want to beat him up but tries to empathize with him and offers to rehabilitate him.

There are also numerous occasions of Batman trying to help Two-Face get better. Even in 'The Dark Knight Returns' when Batman was far more brutal than he has been in the past he genuinely wanted to believe Harvey Dent could be cured.

[crinos]

Well I know its an inaccurate statement that kind of misses the forest for the trees, but its the kind of opinion a lot of people probably harbor for the Dark Knight (however inaccurate it may be), and the story might end with the person levying these accusations learning about Batman's softer side.

One good example would be the episode of BTAS where Nightwing explains why he split up from Bruce, among other things, one major reason is that Batman was interrogating one of Joker's thugs, who was just this working stiff who had a kid, and Dick thought Bruce went too far. Later, Dick finds out Bruce later gave the guy a job, kind of showing Bruce isn't so heartless afterall.

[tcampbell1000]

Pretty much, yeah. "White Knight" is what could have been a provocative idea flattened into one long bad-faith argument that's essentially summarized Greek-chorus-style on the first page. The sequel looks to be more of the same, only this time with generations of inequality baked in.

American fiction and culture have begun to address some issues of privilege in ways that are long overdue, but often they're a lot better at hitting people with the shame stick than indicating any productive paths forward. The Puritanism that still lurks in our culture's DNA and our sympathy for any underdog, whether they deserve it or not, doesn't always help.

All Batman could do to look moral by Murphy's lights by the end of the first series was to unmask as part of some point about accountability (never mind how blatantly suicidal that is in a city full of people who want to kill him). At this point, I half expect the new series will end with him giving up his wealth too (there are just too many SINS of the Waynes tied to that money! It's BLOOD money! Will these hands ne'er be clean?) and trying to fight crime Rorschach-style.

[palgrave_goldenrod]

I feel it kind of has to be pointed out that Batman is a privileged white guy who beats up on people with mental health issues who frequently try to commit acts of mass murder, terrorism and borderline genocide. People keep saying this as if Batman just picks on Steve, the harmless ex-vet lives with PTSD and schizophrenia who struggles to hold down a job and an apartment because he keeps forgetting to take his meds.

[tcampbell1000]

AUUUUGHHHH

[obsidianwolf]

I have the same reaction to this as I did to white Knight to start with an interesting idea that will fall flat because Batman isn't the place to do it.

At the end of the day Batman is an escapist fantasy and when you bring in all the real world problems that would exist it gets caught between that escapism and the realities of Batman being a corporate product that exist to make money and the status quo will always remain.