In Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter #1, Clownhunter continues his quest to, well, hunt clowns, only to find he isn’t as prepared as he thinks in a story written by Ed Brisson, drawn by Rosi Kampi, colored by Andrew Dalhouse and lettered by Simon Bowland.
A bidding war at an auction house between Bruce Wayne and the Penguin leads Batman to investigate a 200-year-old cold case in Legends of the Dark Knight #4 written by Stephanie Phillips, drawn by Max Dunbar, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Troy Peteri.
Batman, Huntress and the Scooby Gang join Talia al Ghul on a globe-trotting adventure to save Ra’s al Ghul from Bane in The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries #5, written by Ivan Cohen, drawn by Randy Elliot, colored by Carrie Strachan and lettered by Saida Temofonte.
Matt Lazorwitz: I’m sure there’s a week where there were three more different Batman-related stories, but I can’t think of one off the top of my head. A spotlight on a newish character, a mystery and an all-ages hunt. If this doesn’t prove Batman and his world is one of the most malleable characters/settings in comics, if not all of fiction, I don’t know what does.
Will Nevin: And you know, in one way or another, on some level, in some measure, they all worked. Batman and his universe of heroes and goons are malleable as hell, Brother Matt.
Secret Files: Clownhunter
Matt: So, Clownhunter has been out of the spotlight for a while now; he hasn’t more than cameoed since Future State. Has that distance, plus this issue, helped your opinion of the character?
Will: Maybe this is me and my old age, but Clownhunter (who I, like some of the clowns in this Secret Files story also call Clownkiller) is growing on me. His lettering gimmick is one of the few character-specific ones that I like (remember the pain of The Batman Who Laughs? Bad times there), and it’s nice that there is a Bat family-adjacent character willing to do the things Batman won’t. (Because — to exhaust the parenthetical gimmick in this graf — it helps Batman to stand out as something more special.)
This could also just be me liking where this story ends up because, if I’m honest, I didn’t care for a lot of the component parts — the coloring was off putting, Brisson proves once more it’s impossible to write believable teenage dialogue, and Punchline is always grating. But the landing stuck.
Before we get to any of that, here’s a question for you: Since we talked about creator credits for [SECRET THING HERE], what did you think about James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez getting credited for creating Clownhunter?
Matt: I’m happy to see DC showing creator credits anywhere. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been a bit better about credits and royalties than Marvel in general; I know at a con panel I attended, John Ostrander said he received a royalty check for Amanda Waller appearing on Justice League Unlimited when he didn’t even know she was. And then there’s Jim Starlin, who received more for KGBeast appearing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice without ever being in costume than he did for Thanos, Gamora and Drax combined in all of the MCU.
Will: That’s the absolute key here — following up with money. Also, remember when Jimmy Olsen got wasted in BvS. Fun!
Matt: Yeah, most of that movie was wasted space. But I digress.
On the subject of Clownhunter’s lettering, I agree. It’s different, but very readable, which is what works best for a custom lettering job. That god awful computer font in Batman that’s used in the Ghost-Maker backups and a couple other places is the anti-this: It makes it impossible to read without squinting and holding the book up to the light. But maybe I’m just getting old …
Will: You are. We both are. [Grote’s note: Oh, me too, man!]
Matt: I think the ending of this issue really did bring stuff together. I think Jason Todd, who is on a path to redeeming himself in Bruce’s eyes, is the right mentor for Clownhunter. He understands where Bao has been more than any other member of the Bat family, and so he won’t be as judgy as Bruce or as “Go team, I know you can do it” as Dick or Barbara would be.
Will: If this wasn’t the envisioned endpoint for Clownhunter, it damn well should have been. Makes too much sense.
LotDK #4
Matt: Hey, look at that! Batman actually solving a mystery!
Will: Who’da thunk it? Just don’t ask too many questions about how he does it.
Matt: It’s a pretty simple mystery, but the tech being used to have him enter this Gotham of the past isn’t explained at all. It felt like there was a page or two missing in there somewhere. But I’m happy to see any story that reminds readers that Batman is a freakin’ detective.
Will: I get why it wasn’t explained — you’re dealing with a limited page count *and* there’s no good technobabble explanation for it. (Batman created an interactive virtual reality simulation with … a couple pictures and some newspaper stories? Nah.) But that quibble aside, this was a good use of the Legends format: a self-contained one-n-done story with a beginning, middle and end that shows off who Batman is and what he can do that anyone can pick up at any time.
Matt: Preach on, Brother Will. I’ve been a fan of three-time WMQ&A guest Stephanie Phillips for a while now, and this is her first feature-length Batman story (not counting her very fun run on Harley Quinn with Riley Rossmo), and I look forward to more. She has Bruce and Alfred’s banter down, and I like her use of Penguin a lot. Batman villains are often cracked reflections of Batman, and while using Penguin as a gangster can work fine, using him as the fallen aristocrat, what Bruce could be if his family had lost all their money and status, tends to be the story hook I find most interesting.
Will: One note that was a little sour to me: When Bruce complains to Alfred about attending the auction, that didn’t seem tonally consistent to me with what Bruce understands the “Bruce Wayne” mask to be. He should be a master of this — not a complainer.
Matt: That’s a fair assessment. I think this was there as a moment to show how impatient Bruce is with these functions for people less familiar with the Batman/Bruce duality, but it does strike a tin note for those of us who are deep in the character. It’s too public a place to let the mask slip. However, outbidding Penguin just to prove he can? Total Bruce Wayne move. You don’t need to know he has the Batman motive because Bruce is just a jerk.
Will: Let’s establish some Bat Chat canon. Our preferred Batman interpretation is a grounded, analytical detective, right? But Bruce Wayne as a public persona should be a total fucking dick.
Matt: Yes, but with these flashes of humanity when he’s just with one person, doing something good, but no one would believe that person if they say, “Well, he tipped me $1,000,” because at the same time he’s on the news having filled the Gotham Ritz hot tub with Jell-O for Jell-O wrestling.
Will: Brother Matt, why else would anyone fill a hot tub with Jell-O?
Bat/Scoob #5
Matt: So, now we’ve had a time travel story, a few stories set in Gotham and now a full on world tour in this book. I just plain love Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries. Although, as with the last time this happened, the book suffers under the pencils of anyone who isn’t Dario Brizuela.
Will: I hear that, and I see that, but for whatever reason, the art in this one didn’t bother me — probably because there wasn’t an anachronistic Robin skulking around. I did notice, however, more A+ gags in this book. Batman and Talia “date sometimes”? Classic.
Matt: And I love that a wrestler co-opted Bane’s identity. I like it when anybody calls out that Bane is basically in a luchador outfit.
I do have to ask, other than having the additional guest star in the issue, did Huntress really need to be here? I like the character, so I’m happy to see her, but it didn’t seem like she did much for the story.
Will: Yeah, that was a weird choice, wasn’t it? I think if you take out the Huntress bits, you’ve got at least a little more room to let some bits breathe, including the end (which, as you point out, was fantastic) and the central idea of Velma being a good detective in her own right.
Matt: And some of the action Huntress had could have easily gone to Talia, who then would have had more to do. It just felt like both of those characters could have done more.
Bat-miscellany
- Vinnie “The Fontz” Letterio as the name for a greaser punk? Stay golden, Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries.
- Stay tuned to this space for a very exciting announcement in the next month. Matt and Will started a new thing yesterday, and it will blow your minds.
- Mildly entertain you? Maybe we should temper expectations.
- [Grote’s note: IT’S GONNA BLOW YOUR FUGGIN’ SOCKS OFF!]
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.
