Welcome back to Bat Chat with Matt (and Will!). Bruce Wayne continues his quest to stop the Magistrate with no resources but his mind, and Red Hood continues his quest to prove he is the worst former Robin by joining the Batfamily’s enemies. We see these two new tales of Gotham in Future State: Dark Detective #2, featuring:
“Dark Detective,” written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Aditya Bidikar
“Red Hood,” written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Giannis Milonogiannis, colored by Bellaire and lettered by Troy Peteri
Meanwhile, over in the Murphyverse, we get some answers to the mystery of who is the Starlet, and a whole new aspect to the origin of Harley Quinn and the Joker in Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn #4 from Sean Murphy, Katana Collins, Matteo Scalera, Dave Stewart and AndWorld Design.
Matt Lazorwitz: I know we both enjoyed Dark Detective #1, and I feel like I enjoyed issue #2 even more, but part of that might be because I read it back to back with White Knight, and anything paired with White Knight feels leaps and bounds better.
Will Nevin: It’s like doing a shot of gin and chasing it with cat pee — you might not even like gin, but it’s going to be a lot more appealing in your mind after the piss. For the record, I don’t think I like gin. Probably. But yes, I concur on your points, even though I might be a little more down on Dark Detective.
Dark Detective
ML: So, from what you just said, I’m curious where you stand on this new issue. I really enjoyed it. I’ll go into more detail on that when I see where your issues may or may not be.
WN: Don’t misunderstand me, my dude — I liked it for sure; I think I may have simply liked it a little less than Dark Dick #1. It might be Magistrate fatigue or some of the heavy narration that didn’t quite nail my ideal inner Bat monologue, but on the whole, it was More Than Fine.
ML: OK, I can see where you’re coming from. I mean, I think this is the third description of what the Cyber forces of the Magistrate are that I’ve read. But I love the fact that Bruce is detecting again, and having to do it on his own. It’s a bit more CSI than Rockford Files, granted, but stripping him down to his brain and the most rudimentary of tools? Love it. And with how busy and all over the place the plots are in Next Batman, I am still enjoying how streamlined this feels.
WN: Mattman coming in with the classic television references. Nice. Yes, it’s definitely a smoother read than Next Batman, and Bruce tinkering away in a rented basement is a good contrast to most of his other appearances.
ML: Can you imagine this Bruce Wayne driving around in a ‘74 Pontiac Firebird? Because I can, and I kinda love it.
I like that we’re getting a little bit of a supporting cast, with Bruce’s landlord and his daughter, without it overwhelming the story. That’s the short story/miniseries balance: You have to give the reader a feel for the world, and not having anyone other than the main character have any dimension makes the world seem too flat, but you can’t spend so much time with them as to drown out that main character. Neither of them are fully there yet, but for brand new characters? I like them.
I don’t think the reveal that the Magistrate is using Wayne Enterprises tech is all that surprising. I kind of figured that was how the Magistrate knew Bruce was Batman, some in at Wayne. It seems that was off, with the whole surveillance state commentary going on here.
WN: You’re right. Besides, who else is going to build you the paramilitary equipment you need in Gotham? Only so many players in the marketplace. I know we’ve kind of been tinkering with the identities of both the Magistrate and Peacekeeper-1 — it seems like we’re only getting confirmation that the Fox family is tied in super deep with this.
ML: Yeah, I think Peacekeeper-1 is just some dude; he was seen unmasked in last week’s Future State: Nightwing, and I didn’t recognize him. Which I’m OK with in the end: Not everybody has to be SOMEBODY. That way lies Ghost-Maker. Sometimes a fascist uber-cop is just someone who gets off on being a fasist uber-cop.
WN: Ahhh, fuck. You said the thing. Now this whole piece is cursed. You know he’s got a backup in #107? *shudder*
ML: I do, and I’m kind of hoping we can just ignore them.
Red Hood
ML: I don’t have a ton to say on this Red Hood backup. I will say I kind of wish Williamson had stuck to Jason not talking. He was silent through the first half to two-thirds of the story, and I thought it was an interesting choice; this man with no name/haunted by his own self-loathing thing.
WN: Tonally, I thought this was off. Not only does Jason get all talky on us, but the art seems too light, too airy for what should be a darker character. I didn’t think this had much to offer.
ML: And Ravager was an odd choice for a partner. She was picked because of the similar daddy issues, but since the characters have no real history, it rang as a convenience rather than an organic story choice.
There are interesting elements here: self-hating traitor Jason, Mad Hatter tech on the loose, a different angle on the Magistrate. But they don’t gel together into anything, and there won’t be enough time in another 10 to 12 pages to tease out enough to make it work.
Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn #4
ML: OK, so I think I need to reiterate a point we made when we were talking about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back in our Batman reviews: Calling out that something is dumb doesn’t make it better. So pointing out that your insipid mid-20th century Freudian mommy issue psychology is cliche doesn’t make it any more interesting.
WN: The big reveal here was dumb, dumb, cursedly dumb, and I am dumber for having read it and dumber still for knowing that it will ultimately be undone or that our brave and weird Anderson Cooper (as someone born into money and fame but struggles their way into a “normal” life) will eventually choose the side of angels. But you know, that wasn’t the thing that bugged me the most about this issue.
ML: OK, so first I just have to ask rhetorically if anyone cares enough about Hector Quimby to have this twist ending really have any emotional resonance. The answer is no, so we can move on.
So with that out of the way, lay it on me: What bothered you most about this issue?
WN: First, am I really only now noticing the Harley Quinn/Hector Quimby initial similarity? Ugh. I feel real dumb.
ML: Sorry, but yeah, I noticed that out of the gate and assumed he was going to be male sidekick to female supervillain, thus completely subverting the Harley/Joker dynamic in the most obvious way possible.
WN: I never thought SGM could make me feel any worse than when I willingly paid money for White Knight 1 *and* White Knight 2, and yet here my idiot ass is. ANYWAY, the thing that bugged me is this:
WN: I am not a letterer. I am not an expert in lettering. But I know enough that this is not how you do lettering because this is the functional equivalent of Harley saying to herself, “Gasp!” It’s shoddy craftsmanship, and it is indicative of the rot at the core of the Murphyverse: There’s no attention to detail, nor aspiration to do so.
ML: I … I want to say something pithy here, but … yeah. I’m at a loss for words. And that happens very rarely.
WN: Again, minor thing. But it says a lot.
ML: Another more major thing that drives me nuts is the needless retconning of Harley into Joker’s history. This whole thing is making Joker’s background completely about Harley, which seems like a weird complaint as I say it, and sounds like the kind of thing a C*****gater would complain about, but it’s problematic because I don’t want the Joker to have a tragic backstory. He’s a monster. Let him be a monster. Let Mr. Freeze have the tragic love story; that’s his whole deal.
WN: Speaking of Mr. Freeze, we should talk sometime about how I *love* the twist that Scott Snyder put into his origin. But, yes, this gets at one of the core original sins of the Murphyverse, the obsession with Harley Quinn and a desire to keep her weirdly pure and righteous. I had forgotten all about this bit until you mentioned the retcon, but remember the sequence in this issue where Harley tries on the skimpy, modern interpretation of her costume, slut shames herself and then gets into the B:TAS-inspired look?
ML: Oh, yeah. That’s … not good. I don’t want to tread down lazy psychology paths myself, but with the stripper thing from issue #1, there’s some real lazy Madonna/Whore Complex stuff going on here. She can be sexual, but only for the right reasons (putting herself through school). She can’t have lesbian relationships or dress provocatively; that’s for Harley 2.0/Neo-Joker.
WN: No one else has these hangups. No one else is asking for this shit. It’s fucking weird.
Bat-miscellany
- Batman: Black and White #2 was the absolute Batbomb (in a good way) this week. Will’s pick: David Aja’s superb newspaper serial-inspired “The Devil is in the Detail.” Incredible idea, perfect use of the gimmick and inspired execution.
- In complete agreement about that as the highlight of the issue. Other favorite was Sophie Campbell’s “All Cats Are Grey.” I love a silent story, and Campbell’s use of the black and white as part of the story, rather than just an aesthetic choice, was gorgeous. Also: cats!
- Black and White ebb: writer and artist Dustin Weaver’s “Dual.” Used the same gimmick as “All Cats Are Grey” *and* had script lettering. Boo!
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
