Thanks to some shipping-related hijinks due to the holiday, and the fact that Matt insists on reading things physically, we skipped last week’s Bat Chat, so this week is a hat trick of the three main-continuity Bat books.
Simon Saint’s plan becomes more clear and Harley makes a connection in Batman #109 with a lead story written by James Tynion IV, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Jim Gordon and the Joker have a fireside chat after some serious chaos in The Joker #4, with a lead story written by James Tynion IV, drawn by Guillem March, colored by Ari Prianto and lettered by Tom Napolitano.
In Detective Comics #1,037, the GCPD hunts its new prime suspect in the murders happening in Fort Graves: Bruce Wayne, as written by Mariko Tamaki, penciled by Viktor Bogdanovic, inked by Jonathan Glapion and Bogdanovic, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Aditya Bidikar.
Matt Lazorwitz: This is a busy week for us, so let’s just say we have some serious discussion happening and get into the comics, shall we?
Will Nevin: Dispense with the prelude, indeed!
Ghost-Maker Remains the Worst
Matt: So there’s a good amount to talk about in this issue, but I want to start with our least favorite topic: Ghost-Maker. For the first time in this book, I feel like Tynion is giving us some real meat with this character, establishing that he is a psychopath who chose to use his complete lack of empathy to try to make the world a better place. And you know what? That’s actually a pretty cool concept/origin; I can’t think of many characters who have that as an origin outside of Dexter of the eponymous TV series and novels, so he might be the only comic book anti-hero using it. However, this revelation is balanced with once again affirming that he is a petty manchild who needs to top Batman by getting a bigger dinosaur for his lair and a better car and … that’s not a good look. I don’t know if Tynion is actively trying to make him unlikable, or if he thinks (and some fans do) that’s cute, but I don’t.
Will: Jumpin’ Jaysus, Matthew, this was *precisely* the thing I wanted to talk about. Bless you for bringing it up. To this point, Ghost-Maker has been a stupid time suck, an insufferable rich dork in bedsheets doing some tryhard Batman cosplay. But finally, after what seems like months, we’re given not just one reason to care about this character but two: his diagnosis as a psychopath and his bisexuality. I feel like I’ve been wandering the desert, and someone finally gave me the tiniest cup of water … only to knock it out of my hands and piss in the sand with this goofy “I got a bigger dinosaur” bullshit.
People are petty, spiteful little monsters, and I know this as a giant petty dick myself. The thing is, though, most folks don’t openly admit out loud how petty they are. Smarter writing would have someone (like Harley; she’s a psychologist, after all) surmise the only reason Ghost-Maker has a dinosaur is for the expressly stupid purpose of having a bigger and badder one than Bruce.
Being a psychopath doesn’t preclude emotional intelligence — meaning Ghost-Maker should have all the tools necessary to hide his insecurities and would know not to brag about them openly. Why I have to explain this to the guy who just brought in two Eisner noms and is gunning for a third with Nice House on the Lake is beyond me.
One last thing on Ghost-Maker — now that we know the first, slightest substantive things about the character, how do you think he compares to Midnighter?
Matt: That’s a good question! Midnighter might be the only other character on the heroic side of things who revels so joyously in his amorality. I think Midnighter remains a more well-rounded character, partially because he has more years in him, but partially because he was created with a loving relationship at his core, his connection with Apollo, versus the schoolkid crush that Ghost-Maker seems to have on Batman that he can only demonstrate through teasing him. I keep using phrases like schoolkid and manchild because that is exactly what Ghost-Maker reads like to me: someone who never grew out of a teenage need to overcompensate for everything at every turn.
Meanwhile, on the other side of things, we have the coldly rational Simon Saint. I’m more convinced than ever that Saint was behind A-Day, as this guy is the cold manipulator that would kill an entire hospital full of people with emotional and mental issues just to further his own ends.
Will: Poor Steve Simon Saint Jobs. Can’t you see he’s just trying to help Gotham?
Matt: I like that for this character! I think I’ve likened Saint to Lex Luthor before, and it’s a pretty obvious comparison, but it stands even more now. Gotham doesn’t have this kind of villain. There are a few sympathetic ones, sure, but none who are “selfless.” Two-Face and Mr. Freeze are still broken people who are trying to make their lives better, not trying to make the city better. Saint really believes he’s doing the right thing.And he’s a planner. There’s that whole bit in The Dark Knight where Joker talks about not being a planner, which is a crock of course, but Saint gave an honest-to-God villain monologue. So many modern comic villains are so deconstructionist that writers eschew this kind of thing, but Saint is leaning into some classic villainy.
Will: I was a fan of that scene, too — especially when Saint mentioned Batman’s skill at “cleaning up the old gangsters.” Isn’t it neat when you can speak in meaningful ways to a character’s history? I like that.
Joker: Conspiracy Theorist
Matt: So, has the Joker been reading a little too much Department of Truth?
Will: I have no idea where you’re headed with that, but by all means, GO ON.
Matt: Well, Joker is talking to Jim about his theory that A-Day was brought about by elites that don’t want him to do to Gotham whatever his long-term plans are. That’s some deep conspiracy diving for Mr. J. And there are two ways that can go. One is that the Court of Owls is the group he’s talking about. The other is that we’re digging deeper into the idea of an elite that exists beyond the superhero/supervillain dyad that uses it as a distraction, which is a pretty interesting idea.
Will: I get nervous whenever we talk “elites” and Joker because that’s dangerously close to White Knight dumbshit country. But I agree with the substance there — the Owls profit and prosper with the status quo in Gotham, and that means as much chaos as possible.
Matt: The Owls are very much in play now, especially with a Talon looming over Oracle.
Will: That scene! Man, that was good and really gave you a visceral fear for what might happen to Barbara.
Matt: This book is at its best when it is existing in that sphere of creeping terror. Whether it’s Jim ruminating on Joker and his impact on his life, the weird and disparate groups hunting Joker, or frankly the most interesting Joker we’ve gotten in a decade, this comic is a thriller. It’s not horror, but instead exists in a place where you’re looking over your shoulder with the best page turns. Which is where Tynion shines in all his books.
I am glad that we’re not going to a couple of the places I was worried about; Gordon isn’t going to be teaming up with Joker to solve the A-Day mystery, and instead it’s now becoming a game of cat and mouse, with Joker knowing he’s being hunted and playing that game with his various pursuers, Jim included.
Will: I know we’ve made this point before, but Joker is the prestige book that Batman/Catwoman wants to be, telling a serious, meaningful story in a complex way that speaks to the history of all the characters involved. But where Bat/Cat is a laborious chore, Joker makes you excited to be a comics reader. It’s so good, and so interesting, and between reading it and (again) Nice House on the Lake and Department of Truth, I know in my goddamned heart that Batman could be better. Is Tynion just screwing around, you think? Goofing off and having fun in the main title? Does editorial dumb it down?
But to your point, I was worried this book was headed in the wrong direction after #3, but those fears were assuaged — Jimbo and Joker are parting. The game continues.
Parasites, Vampires and Rocket Launchers
Will: I tell you, Matt, this was not the issue to read while dealing with a case of pink eye. Kinda makes me angry.
Matt: Oh, yes, gods no! This was not the best issue of this series. Part of that is that Viktor Bogdanovic isn’t the artist Dan Mora is.
Will: That was one thing clear from the jump; this ain’t an issue you’re going to put in the ol’ art scrapbook.
Matt: The art is a problem, and we’re moving away from what excited me about those first couple issues: this clean mystery story. There’s still some solid procedural aspects (Bruce and the police), but now Hue Vile is … one of those vampires from Blade 2? And Mr. Worth seemed to be this sort of business gangster, but now he’s getting rocket launchers and blowing up police stations? Those are some big leaps.
Will: After all the cops cleared the station because … reasons? Batman is best when he’s grounded, and there was just too much nonsense in this issue to be any real fun. Bruce was arrested for murder because he was arguing with some women who turned up dead? Where’s the evidence? Due process? Frustrating. And I keep thinking “Hue Vile” is some kind of pun I’m just not getting. It’s a whole mess of malarkey, Matt.
Matt: It was nice to see Hue pop up in Batman last week. It felt connective, which I always like, but this issue sees a precinct house getting blown up … before or after Simon Saint blew up City Hall in Batman? The timeline feels a little off with those two events happening on top of each other, and not being referenced, which throws off that same feeling of connectivity.
Will: And that’s not to mention how Bruce’s arrest is supposed to play out in Batman. I think the books should be separate — ‘Tec is historically better when it functions as something more than Batman 2 — but there should be some crossover and, as you say, some measure of connectivity. Sometimes, though, it’s a dangerous game — like if we tug just a little too hard, the whole thing falls apart.
But you know what was all-around good, with characters acting normally and naturally in a story that was emotionally and intellectually satisfying? John Ridley’s backup. That sucker was nice.
Matt: Absolutely. And an interesting bit of … it’s retconning on its own, but expansion of an existing retcon. Lucius knowing the big secret is something that came out of his knowing in Batman Begins/The Dark Knight, so he went from historically being a Bruce Wayne supporting character to being a Batman one with no explanation. This fills in a nice gap and helps set up some more motivation for his actions in The Next Batman stuff. I’m also a fan of Dustin Nguyen’s art, so glad to see him back on a Bat book.
Will: This is probably not a good point to end the week on, but I’m going to do it anyway: I like it when the big secret is something that everyone in the inner circle can deduce without Batman having some dramatic conversation. Jim Gordon’s a detective. He can put that together. Lucius Fox is a genius. Same thing.
Matt: I go back and forth with that, but I see it. I think it was in All-Star Batman that Scott Snyder had Alfred say that the trick has not been people figuring it out; it’s pretty obvious when you try it. It’s people proving it; Bruce has gone out of his way to hide and obfuscate the paper trail, and I can get with that, as it once again shows Batman is the smartest guy in the room.
Will: And that takes me back to the Batman ‘66 television gag of putting a clearly elderly Alfred in the suit next to Bruce Wayne to prove they’re different people.
Batman always wins.
Bat-miscellany
- If your design for Peacekeeper-01 includes a visual reference to the Thin Blue Line flag, why not go all the way and just use that? No half measures, DC editorial.
- Go read Nice House on the Lake. Then read what Will and ComicsXForrest Hollingsworth had to say about it.
- I continue to get a kick out of Deb Donovan in Detective, this hard-drinking reporter. She’s Lois Lane if Lois didn’t have Superman to reinforce her faith in people. I hope she catches on as a supporting character across the line.
- Next week, there aren’t any tentpole Bat titles, so we’ll be doing a catch-all week, with not just Legends of the Dark Knight, but this week’s Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, The Detective and maybe the digital first Joker: Puzzlebox. It’s gonna be wild!
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. 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 creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
