Master Wayne Trains, A Mask Slips and Shaggy! in BatChat (Text Edition)

Before he was Batman, Bruce Wayne was simply a brilliant and angry young man. How did he go from that person to the hero Gotham needed? We begin seeing that journey in Batman: The Knight #1, written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico, colored by Ivan Plascencia and lettered by Pat Brosseau.

In Detective Comics #1,049, Batwoman visits Arkham in and out of costume, and we learn Dr. Wear is definitely not the bastion of medical decency he purports to be, in a story written by Mariko Tamaki, penciled by Ivan Reis, inked by Danny Miki, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, “House of Gotham” continues with the story of a young man who once more is drawn into the orbit of Gotham’s costumed set in a story written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Fernando Blanco, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Rob Leigh.

It’s Bigfoot! Messing up local resorts. I mean, I’ve read Department of Truth, so maybe it’s time to call in those guys to deal with this. But this is the DC multiverse, so instead we get Batman, the Scooby Gang and a certain faceless friend in The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #10, written by Ivan Cohen, drawn by Dario Brizuela, colored by Franco Riesco and lettered by Saida Temofonte.

Matt Lazorwitz: It’s the end of January, so we only have a couple more months before “The Death of the Justice League,” and so the death of Bruce Wayne, which will of course be permanent, so I guess we need to appreciate all these comics before he is no more.

Will Nevin:

via GIPHY

I’m so tired, Matt.

Portrait of the Dark Knight as a Young Man

Matt: There have been a lot of stories set in Bruce Wayne’s early years, those pre-Batman years, but they have mostly been little glimpses, one-offs and flashbacks. This series, a whole 10 issues, is going to be the deepest dive we’ve probably ever gotten, and from this issue, I feel like Chip Zdarksy is going to be charting his own path. Which is cool by me. Trying to tie all those often contradictory stories together would probably make an even bigger mess, so start fresh. And with DC’s current view of continuity, the “everything happened, there are parallel Earths for everything, just tell a good story” approach? It still works.

Will: I’m a sucker for an “I’ve failed you, Master Bruce” moment, and man, was this a good one. I wasn’t as invested in some of the truly ancillary characters (like young Bruce’s … love interest?), but tonally, this was a solid read. And I loved the big ol’ “fuck you” to Hugo Strange at the end — right before Bruce is set to “disappear.” 

Matt: That ending is great. I was worried that Strange was going to find some way to stick around, becoming a featured supporting character. OK, maybe worried is an overstatement, but I didn’t think he would fit into the whole approach to this book. But instead for him to be Bruce’s first “case”? A great move.

It’s very easy to write Bruce Wayne as always being Batman, just without the skills when it comes to these pre-Batman stories. And while we get a bit of that (him attacking the bully and standing up for the bullied), he’s very much not Batman in those flashbacks. He’s barely mostly uncontrolled rage. And while it can be argued how controlled even adult Bruce’s rage is, he definitely has some control. And we get valid setup for how far he’s already come. To paraphrase every incel jackass who was pissed off about The Last Jedi, “We did see some training.”

Will: I really liked the idea of Bruce wanting to become a cop and especially for that to be immediately dismissed as absurd. Of course he can’t become a cop (although you can listen to our take on an Elseworld in which he does join the force!) because he’s one of the most famous men in Gotham. But it shows that Bruce’s heart is where it should be and that he wants to be a force for change in the world — he just doesn’t know how to achieve that goal as of this moment.

Matt: There’s a lot of time here for Zdarsky to play with, and this week’s last-page spotlight thing that DC puts in all its books was on this title, so we know we’re going to be getting some Henri Ducard, who does remain one of Batman’s most recognizable teachers, mostly thanks to Batman Begins. I wonder if we’ll get cameos from some of the others as well. I’d love to see Giovanni Zatara or Ted “Wildcat” Grant show up in these pages.

Oh, mentioning Wildcat reminds me that artist Carmine Di Giandomenico is an inspired choice for this book. He draws such incredible action scenes without losing character when it’s needed. Wildcat brought him to mind first because we see the bare-knuckle boxing in here, and also because he drew a Marvel Knights miniseries about Daredevil’s boxer dad, Battlin’ Jack Murdock, written by Zeb Wells years ago, so this is a guy who knows how to draw boxing.

Something is Rotten in Arkham

Matt: Well, this issue answered two questions for us.

1. The backup is supposed to be “House of Gotham,” as the cover now matches the story.
2. Dr. Wear is definitely a bad guy.

Will: I liked the “fuck the mentally ill” Dr. Wear better than the drug-running Dr. Wear, but I guess those can coexist in some way. We did seem to really scrape off his veneer pretty quickly, didn’t we? That seems to suggest he’s not as important as we’ve been led to believe. And, yes, I’m glad that little bit of confusion has been cleared up. But overall, I don’t think I cared for this issue all that much — too many moving parts, and too few of them seemed like direct follow-ups from last week.

Matt: This still feels like we’re in the table setting for this story. I have a feeling like we’re going to see a bunch of these threads pay off next week in issue #1,050, though. I’m a little disappointed the faux-Harley from last issue didn’t turn out to be Huntress, since I’m now more unsure about what that character is doing here. 

I also want more Huntress in general. If there’s a character Tamaki has really made sing over her run on this book, it’s Huntress, and knowing she’s there, but just out of reach? Maybe it’s teasing big stuff, but let’s get to some of it. We’ve spent two issues on Day 14, knowing things go to hell on Day 24. So maybe we flash back to Day 7 and find out how Huntress got into Arkham Tower? That might be some more Huntress, but I’m worried a flashback, unless well executed, could kill what momentum this story has so far.

Will: More Huntress seems like a good call, but I think for all of those reasons you talked about either last week or the week before (Time is a fluid concept), the structure of the story lends itself to moving forward and backward in time without too much loss in overall momentum. But you mentioning when it all goes to shit got me looking back on issue #1,047, where all of this kicked off, and, sure ‘nuff, the three people standing at the window and shepherding the good Dr. Wear to the next life are Ana Vulsion, Nero XIX and Siphon, the slimy-lookin’ fellow featured this week.

Matt: OK, so we are starting to pay off some of that setup. I’m wondering how that same pay-off is going to happen with “House of Gotham.” This is tonally in tune with the main feature, but I wonder if it’s going to tie in with it somehow. Is our mysterious Boy going to turn out to be an inmate of the Tower, maybe? And can I say, as shit luck goes, this kid has the worst. Three stories and three legendary Batman foes encountered. Those are the odds that make people want to stay away from Gotham.

Will: So I felt real smart for noticing Hush. Who are the other two I missed?

Matt: Is that Hush? I thought it too, but it also could just be some kid whose first name is Elliot; then again, using that name and not expecting anyone to draw the immediate connection seems off. One way or the other, I think the other kids are just red shirts for the story; I didn’t recognize them as anyone of significance, anyway.

Will: How many orphans named Elliot does Gotham have?

Matt: Wait, we need to back this up. The timeline doesn’t work. He was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, meaning he can’t be a kid now. Which still means that we both drew the same conclusion initially, which shows how few people named Elliot are in comics.

Will: Eliot Rahal is in comics; I think he counts. But your point stands.

Matt: And for three villains, I mean his parents were killed by Joker in part one, he ran into Clayface in Arkham in part two (and Harley before she was Harley), and now Scarecrow.

Will: I remembered Joker and (thank god) Scarecrow once I figured out we were talking about main characters and not Easter eggs that turned out to be duds. Clayface was the one I forgot. Amazing how little retention I have from week to week. I’m a fuckin’ goldfish over here, Matty Lazers. 

It’s Shaggy, Man!

Matt: Oh, man I never expected to see the Renee Montoya Question show up in this book. And I was so excited when I did I let out a little exclamation of glee, which I then had to explain to my wife, who knows me well enough to just nod when I started saying it was the Question. I am nothing if not predictable in my fanboy-ness.

Will: There has been a lot of good stuff in the Bat/Scoob books, but this one might have been my favorite between that deep (for this sort of book) cut and the great gags like Cajun-flavored Scooby Snacks and Scoob confusing cryptocurrency with Krypto. Some wonderful and literal el-oh-el moments. 

Matt: The mystery was not really a mystery, but more of a “Oh, I know the DCU and know General Eiling and the Shaggy Man,” thing (not to mention they actually call out Shaggy Man on the cover), but this is a book that doesn’t need to do the mystery thing when it’s playing with the jokes and the fun.

Will: Yeah, this is definitely one where the fun is in the journey and not the “Oh, of course it’s not Bigfoot” destination. Trying to pull off the Question’s mask. That was another great gag.  

Matt: No one will go unmasked in this series!

Bat-miscellany

• Not enough Huntress for you in this week’s issue of ‘Tec? Well head over to the BatChat podcast for three stories starring Huntress.
• Note to the underpaid baristas of Gotham’s many coffee shops: Few people outside of WWE or the Star Wars universe are named “Mace.”
• Also, here’s your “misheard Starbucks name” formula: first name that starts with the same letter as your last name and rhymes with your actual first name. So I guess that makes me Nilliam Nevin? See, no one’s named “Nilliam,” baristas. 
• Have you read Department of Truth? (OK, that’s a link to Will and Forrest Hollingsworth’s coverage of Department of Truth, but that’s the same thing, right?) 
• Eliot Rahal rocks. Want to read some good crime comics? Check out his mob and lunch miniseries Hot Lunch Special. Love to see this guy get a small-time-crooks-in-Gotham serial in Urban Legends.
• Chip Zdarsky’s actual Amazon author bio: “Straight up? I’ve never been scared of spiders. You come at me with a rubber spider and I’ll just be, like, ‘so what.’”

Matthew Lazorwitz

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

Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.