Batman/Catwoman #9 - "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

[laughing_tree]

This is not something that takes place in the everyday mainstream continuity. To me, it's one of those things that defines continuity in where it's sort of like The Killing Joke [...] Even though back then it wasn't part of continuity and fit in, it defined continuity but didn't conform to it. -- Tom King

The past:







The present:





The future:

Comments

[numeronone]

"The Killing Joke" was meant to be the alternate-reality final Joker story just as "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?" was for Superman.

The only reason it made an impact on continuity was because editorial decided it should. They decided that Barbara being brutally injured could be exploited.

It wasn't some magical effect. It was deliberate, because it could make money.

[lucean]

That quote is really weird, although it does fit with the sense of self-belief King seems to have in his work.

The Killing Joke became a part of continuity because it was popular, well-received and the editor liked it.

[cyberghostface]

The Killing Joke was always intended to be canon.

https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-585/

[donnblake]

Hmm. A multiple choice history of the impact of The Killing Joke. Seems appropriate, somehow.

[tinygaylaura]

"She's a criminal!"

I mean I don't get the issue here. That's one of the things I love most about Selina

That and the black leather. And the whip

ME-OW

[wizardru]

"She's a criminal!"

Bruce, maybe check out the legal code for the definition of "VIGILANTE". What, exactly, do you call someone who decides to mete out justice outside of the legal system? The only difference is WHICH laws you're breaking.

[tinygaylaura]

Bruce: I will spend my life warring on crime

I will do this by, as a private citizen, dressing up in a mask and using physical violence and sophisticated weaponry on others, while engaging in stalking, breaking and entering and harassment

Leslie: I'm gonna tell him

Alfred: DON'T YOU DARE

Leslie: Someone has to tell him

[blues32]

Yes, Selina, you killed him. After he was old and retired and living in Florida. Congratulations. Oswald doesn't owe you anything, waiting that long to do it.

I too miss the old days where it was props, clues, and fun. I didn't mind a touch of murder now and then, but it's all Joker seems to do any more.

[tinygaylaura]

The thing he was retired from was serial killing

I'm not sure how getting old makes the people he killed any less dead

But I do also miss when more villains treated crime like performance art instead of trying to outdo each other in "Which of us has comitted the most needlessly edgy atrocity" every week

[lordultimus]

I don't know, I know Selina doesn't and doesn't really need a code against killing like Bruce, but something about her going "come on let me kill him" feels off. She's not the Punisher looking to kill anyone, but it feels like if she's decided someone needs to die she'll actually take it seriously.

[shakalooloo]

She should do it like a cat. Not ask permission, just: one day Bruce wakes up to find a dead Joker at the foot of his bed with Selina sitting proudly next to it, head cocked to one side: "What? You don't like it?"

[lordultimus]

Don't cats do that to make sure their owners get fed?

That's, ah, real interesting expectations, Selina.

[blues32]

Actually, no. They do it to show you that this is what you're supposed to do. The cat wants us to hunt because that's how you get food.

[lordultimus]

That's what I meant.

[blues32]

Ah. I thought you meant the cat was trying to give you food. The cat is basically calling you an idiot for not knowing how to get food.

[tinygaylaura]

When you said "Like a cat" my mind went in a different direction

I just imagined Catwoman slowly pushing the Joker off a rooftop while Batman looks at her like "DON'T YOU DO IT

NO

NO"

She pushes him off while maintaining eye contact and shows no guilt or shame

[super_fly]

Sitting on the keyboard of the batcomputer.

Laying on Bruce's lap while he's sitting down so he can't get up and go fight crime.

[tinygaylaura]

"AI CAN HAZ MURDER?"

[chalicother]

I will say this without a shadow of a doubt. Tom King is good when he's really good. When's he bad....he's really bad.
I still don't know why this series is called Batman and Catwoman.
Catwoman can sell books on her own. The book doesn't seem to be looking at Batman and Catwomans relationship. I mean it does, but it could still be called Catwoman. Then again, the focus of Catwoman and Batman for a book called Catwoman could have really bad indications.

I will say this, I like the subtle idea of making Penguin and Riddler super close similar to the Gotham series, I like adding that to canon.

[lordultimus]

I'll add in "he can be really good but have habits that keep throwing you off and enjoying it as much as you want to", like the recent Supergirl mini.

[cricharddavies]

I saw a post elsewhere that suggests it should be called "Catwoman and Joker", given how much focus it gives to their 'relationship'. (I'm not sure what to call it, so I guess that will do.)

[shakalooloo]

Mature, 17+ Black Label book.

Still censors out the swearing.

[cyberghostface]

Probably the writer’s choice. Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity had a few f bombs.

[shakalooloo]

That makes it even weirder. If a writer doesn't like swearing, don't write the characters swearing. Substitutions for each of the instances here could have been made without resorting to *&"*^"* nonsense.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Regardless of any quotes or context (it's for the weak, you know) or other stuff surrounding it... I enjoyed this.