Resident Read Rat

by Dennis O'Neill

Right off the Bat (ha!), we've got Azrael Sr. riddled with bullets and riding through the streets of Gotham on a literal high horse.

He pulls up to his son's house, gives him a location to travel to, and dies. A strong start to what ended up being a rather weak comic. There's so much going on and so little explanation of why it's happening. Azrael Jr., aka Jean Paul Valley, is such a pathetic little guy (affectionate), but I honestly have no clue why he's going along with what that little goblin man was telling him and I don't think he did either.

He's asking the right questions though.

Speaking of bullet-proof vests, I thought the whole criminals using kevlar bullets would be a more relevant plot point. Might be something to be more concerned about than striking a pose and arguing with Alfred about chocolate fajitas!?

Like Bruce, YOU also wear kevlar. If the goons get bullets that can shoot through that, it's over for you.

Following the events of A Lonely Place of Dying, Tim is (not quite) ready to take on the Robin mantle. Bruce's solution is to send him off to Paris to train. Things, of course, go off the rails and naturally Tim ends up in Hong Kong trying to stop the release of a Hitler-era biological weapon. Typical Tuesday, am I right?

Imagine not loving Tim Drake. His spiky 90's haircut and his silly inner monologue captivates me.

He's my perfect little idiot son. He's on sneaky time.

He's a crime-fighting vigilante who made a seriously injured, only sometimes conscious man drive him across France because he's "too young" to do it himself. Like you break the law everyday, and that's where you draw the line?

Them Essentially:

Gavroche: Give me a gun.

Enjolras: I'm not giving a kid a gun until all my men have one.

Gavroche: Whatever. I'll just take yours after you get shot to death.

Had an absolute blast with this one because it's Tim Drake's origin story, and I love him so much.

Look at that little stalker monologue. Having a newspaper clipping scrapbook is one thing, but having not one but TWO framed portraits of Batman and Robin on your dresser...no one is doing it like Timmy.

I thought it was so cool how Marv Wolfman connected Tim's origin with Dick's own. Shout-out to the Haly's Circus incident: bringing families together since 1940.

Dick after taking Tim to Wayne Manor: "tell me everything"

Tim: "It all started when your parents died..."

Dick: "...How about we skip that part?"

Convinced that Alfred was so on board with Tim being Robin because he wanted a gossip buddy. Imagine putting up the kind of nonsense he deals with on a daily basis and not even being able to rant to your coworkers about it.

I will say that I find it hilarious that Tim spends this whole comic saying "Batman's going dark" and then it cuts to Batman telling criminals to read more books while a circus clown from the family friendly attraction across town is telling his coworker to kill himself.

Don't get me wrong, Bruce is for sure slipping, but I feel more threatened by that clown than the guy having a full on Barbie as The Princess and The Pauper moment with Two-Face.

Just gonna let this panel speak for itself...

Whew boy, this was a strange one.

Having comic book fans vote on whether or not they should kill a fifteen-year-old is a wild enough concept, but somehow the way Jim Starlin executed it was even stranger.

Right off the bat (get it? ha ha), we're given oodles of foreshadowing about how things might play out. Starlin makes sure to emphasize two things. 1. Jason is super important to Batman. 2. He's so important that he might be making Batman less effective.

Batman benches Jason for being reckless and still too emotionally affected by his parents' death, but I'm convinced that he really just wanted Jason out of the field so that he wouldn't have to be so preoccupied with his safety.

Jason, of course, is having none of this. My goodness he and Bruce are the kings of not understanding one another. Like, they love each other, but they clearly have no idea what's going on in the other person's head and heart.

In what world would Bruce Wayne, the guy who dresses up as a bat and fights criminals every night because he still can't get over his parents' murder, not understand you wanting to find your real mother?

But sure, Jason, go ahead and purchase that one way ticket to the middle east?!?

Seriously, why is "uh oh The Joker has a nuclear bomb and is selling it to terrorists" the plotline they decided to go with? Who pitched that, and more importantly, who said that was a good idea?

Also all THREE of Jason's potential moms just so happened to move to the Middle East? Gothamites just can't stand living somewhere peaceful it seems.

Right after Batman stops The Joker's bomb deal, we're shown some silly panels of The Joker being all "boohoo my money" like he's some endearing cartoon character and not a psychopath who almost started WWIII and is about to bludgeon a child.

The random tone shifts in this comic were frankly jarring and weakened the emotional impact of the more serious moments. Don't even get me started on foreign ambassador Joker. Let's just all pretend it didn't happen and skip to the part where Bruce decides it's time to double down and not tell his son that his brother just died?! Great heavens, Bruce. You didn't even invite him to the funeral.

The Killing Joke

Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's take on The Joker's first appearance in Gotham. It also functions as a follow-up to Frank Miller's Year One.

Mahnke's artwork, particularly his depiction of joker victims, is deliciously disturbing. Joker venom here isn't just a poison that makes you die by laughter Sims 4-style, it's a transformation. Plaster pale skin, grotesque green hair, wide unblinking eyes, and of course a horrific joker grin. His victims take on his appearance as well as his twisted desire to destroy, well, everything.

Another Batman comic written by Jeph Loeb, but this time with art by Jim Lee

I wasn't as crazy about this one as I was The Long Halloween and Dark Victory; I missed the noir elements of Loeb's previous works, but it was still a pretty solid read.

I liked the emphasis on exploring Bruce's mental state and the way that views and analyzes the people around him. It was fun watching him go on a Metropolis side quest with Catwoman and obsessing over the fact that they kissed. It's the little moments where Bruce acts like a teenage girl that really draw you in.

Visiting Metropolis led to a number of insane discoveries for me as the reader, let me tell you. Like what do you mean Lex Luthor is the President?!? And he left Talia Al Ghul in charge of Lexcorp?! Be so for real right now.

One thing about this comic is that they were determined to bring everybody into it: Harley Quinn, The Joker, The Riddler, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Clayface Dick Grayson, Tim Drake (yippee), Lois Lane, Superman, The Al Ghuls - even Jason Todd despite the fact that he's literally dead. Honestly speaking, I think the stacked cast subtracted from the main storyline. How am I supposed to focus on this new Hush guy when he's practically a background character in the comic you named after him? But maybe that was the best route they could've taken seeing how lame his motive ended up being.

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's sequel to The Long Halloween.

Just like its predecessor, it's noir through and through, and I loved it honestly a little more than The Long Halloween, but that's probably because of Robin; I adore the Robins. This take on Dick Grayson is a perfect rebuttal to anyone who thinks that Batman can't be dark and gritty with a boy wonder at his side.