A Mastermind Revealed, Chase Meridian, the Creeper and More in BatChat (Text Edition)

Jim Gordon confronts Cressida. Barbara and Julia are not as clever as they think they are. And the A-Day mastermind is revealed in The Joker #12, written by James Tynion IV, penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli, inked by Cam Smith, colored by Arif Prianto & Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettered by Tom Napolitano.

In Detective Comics #1,052, the events of last issue are told from the perspective of other characters, as Psycho-Pirate’s hold continues to slip in a story written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Max Raynor, colored by Luis Guerrero and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, The Boy’s time with the Penguin ends as happily as his time elsewhere has in a story written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Fernando Blanco, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Rob Leigh.

A ghost ape at the Gotham Museum’s new exhibit on detectives is not the weirdest thing in this issue, as Mystery Inc. and the Dark Knight run across the Creeper in The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #11, written by Ivan Cohen, drawn by Randy Elliott, colored by Carrie Strachan and lettered by Saida Temofonte.

Matt Lazorwitz: There’s a lot to talk about today. No time for a preamble, let’s get right into it.

Will Nevin: Thus concludes the preamble.

The Man Behind the Curtain

Matt: Well, the reveal of the A-Day mastermind was not someone on my bingo card, but it does work (We won’t spoil it here; you should read it). I’ll want to see exactly how it’s all explained in the next issue, but this doesn’t feel like a Gilda Dent reveal to me.

Will: Whelp, since you spoiled my Gilda Dent bit, I’ll say this: It was no “Rikishi ran down Stone Cold” moment. My first thoughts are what does this mean for the other stories that have followed up on A-Day and the death of [name redacted]? Is this a spot where “everything is continuity and nothing is continuity” is in play, or does this ripple across the line? A good reveal — which I think this is — raises more (logical, non-Gilda-esque) questions than it answers.

Matt: I think this one is a ripple. As the mastermind’s appearances since A-Day have been in books written by Matthew Rosenberg, who co-writes the flashbacks in this book, I can’t imagine he didn’t know what Tynion’s endgame was here. And with all the talk of clones that came up in the previous arc, something like this was seeded right then and there.

Will: Clones! The solution to all of life’s problems. But really though, this was a nicely written issue that built to the moment well. As a reader, I felt that dramatic tension rise as we got closer and closer to the moment when [name redacted] took off his disguise. I think one of the more interesting things in the next issue — or whenever it comes up — will be how Gordon figured it out. That might be second only to [name redacted]’s motives in all of this.

Matt: And how our nameless mastermind threw his lot in with the Court of Owls. That’s got me scratching my head.

Did you read the Joker War Zone one-shot that came out at the time of that event? There are hints of [name redacted]’s motive there.

Will: Maybe? The less said about “Joker War,” the better. But, yeah, I’m always down for exploring more Court of Owls shit. That’s the good stuff.

Matt: But on top of all these answers, we still get some great character bits here with Jim. I love his banter with Bullock, the perfect foil, and the scene where he just calls out Cassandra for hiding on the plane? He was flat out channeling Bruce in one of Bruce’s gentler moments in that interaction, and it was great.

Will: Again, it’s the quiet moments that are the best parts of this book. The scene between Bullock and Gordon when they’re talking about systemic economic inequality? That’s great stuff and makes me wish that the rest of Tynion’s Bat-work had been half as good and insightful. But at least some people think Ghost-Maker looks cool, right?

Matt: Yes. Some people do.

We’ve said this before, but I feel this issue really needs attention drawn to it. For a book called The Joker, there isn’t a whole lot of Joker here. One panel really, and his presence doesn’t seem to loom as large in this issue as it has in some of the other Joker-less issues. This issue feels like a Jim Gordon story more than any other, and Jim is just at his best. This non-powered, grizzled, still injured guy is standing up to the Court of Owls and another threat, both of whom could just choose to kill him. But you get to the end, and you realize Jim’s whole thesis is, “If you fuck with me, I won’t give you the ending for Joker you want,” and it all boils down to him again.

Will: I wonder — and this goes back to the unknowable mind of DC editorial — do you get a net zero gain in calling it The Joker and turning folks off with that name when, as we’ve pointed out, it really should be Gordon, a very unsexy but accurate title?

Matt: That’s a good question. I think probably more people would be turned on to a Joker series than are turned off by one, so it’s probably a gain, no matter how inaccurate.

Will: Lest this turn into BatChat After Dark with a discussion of turn-ons, here’s one more question for you: Is this thing gonna work for a second season without Tynion?

Matt: I think Rosenberg might be able to pull it off. He’s shown a deft hand with the character in those flashbacks. But I think it’s really contingent on a writer with a strong vision and voice, and one who knows Joker shouldn’t be the star but the driver of the book, which Tynion has clearly shown.

His Hold is Breaking…

Will: Brother Matt, tell me the tale of Chase Meridian. I know her only from Batman Forever … which is a thing that happened and we shall speak no more of it. I assume the opening here is referring back to a specific moment, or was I just duped?

Matt: Nope! This is all new. Chase Meridian is a character who has only existed in Batman Forever, although she appeared in a couple out-of-continuity stories. Legends of the Dark Knight and the like.

Will: Well, shit, I feel dumb. So was this at least her coming out moment, or has she been previously identified as an LGBTQ person?

Matt: Nope again! This is the first time we’re really getting a feel for her, since she’s only appeared in the previous parts of this story.

I liked that this issue continues to play with time. In this case, we are seeing the events of the previous issue, but from different characters’ perspectives, before shifting into the aftermath, and Dr. Meridian definitely gets the worst of it. Dr. Wear is a right bastard, isn’t he?

Will: Jeeze, sure is “Make Will Feel Dumb Day” around here. At least I remembered that Meridian was a character in some other thing at some other time, and she was portrayed by Nicole Kidman back when she actually did non-prestige (*jazz hands*) pictures. But, yes, getting to your point and ditching this pity party, Wear is a super mega asshole, and I’m still fascinated by this connection he has to Psycho-Pirate. You got a guy who can effectively brainwash an entire facility? It must have seemed like the most attractive con in the world to … well, whoever Dr. Wear really is.

Matt: Oh yeah. Wear has put all his eggs in one Psycho-Pirate shaped basket, and that basket looks to be getting pretty full. And he’s generally pretty overconfident. He really thought he could pull off this massive con in the course of a couple of weeks. That’s some cajones, and he’s learning that it’s not that easy. I hope we do learn some more of his backstory, the stuff in between when he escaped from the system after his mother was put in Arkham and before Psycho-Pirate came to him in the flashback last issue. But is there enough time for an extended flashback? We’re halfway through the arc at this point, and the pacing is solid, but I don’t know if a big flashback would slow things down as everything should be downhill from here.

Will: This is Day 19, and the good doctor takes his swan dive on Day 24, correct? So we’ve got some storytelling space to work through. And here’s a thought: What if the inmates toss him because they find out he’s a scumbag? That point seems kinda obvious now, but it felt smart in my head.

Matt: Everyone turning on Wear because he’s a sack of crap? I think there’s good money to be placed on that. Combine it with our old pal Nero XIX and his issues with authority, and Dr. Wear is due for a fall.

By the way, I know I said I would stop guessing at this, but I now think The Boy from the backups is Nero. He too is a freckled redhead, so he seems a logical choice.

Will: That does make sense, and he’s developing a healthy distrust of all things Bat, so that would put him on the Nero side of things. The ages seem to work out, too. Fine sleuthing there, Brother Matt.

Matt: On top of all this with our villains, our heroes get some time, too. It’s nice to see the Batgirls team up with Batwoman to smack down the Party Crashers, and while it would have been nice to give that fight a bit more room to breathe, as I love a good Cassandra Cain-using-martial-arts-to-smack-guys-around scene, there really wasn’t the space for it here.

And Huntress is starting to wear thin under Psycho-Pirate’s influence. There is something interesting to me, who has spent plenty of time in therapy dealing with his habit of pushing down anxiety and stress until it explodes, seeing Tamaki taking that not uncommon habit and putting it in a superheroic context. Psycho-Pirate isn’t curing anything, he’s just sublimating the rage, fear, sadness, whatever these patients are feeling. Anyone who has normal mental health struggles knows how bad that can get, and with these much more troubled people? Yeah, even if we didn’t know Wear was going out the window? We’d know Wear was going to die bad.

I’m a Creep

Matt: The Creeper is a character who seems pretty well made for this kind of story. He’s highly whacky, a little silly and works in the cartoony world.

Will: Again, I’m gonna be honest here and cop to being an idiot — for whatever reason, this issue seemed busy to me. Maybe it was a guy like the Creeper being the star, or maybe it’s me trying to function on two hours of sleep today, but this one was a bit harder to follow … and saying that about a Batman and Scooby-Doo team-up book kinda makes me want to crawl into a pit.

Matt: No, I think the plot here was thin. It was missing the usually Scooby-Doo setup of suspects, and seemed to depend on some knowledge of an issue of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? where our villain previously appeared. This issue seemed more of a spotlight on the Creeper than we’ve seen with other guest stars.

Will: But Scoob’s excitement over pigs in a blanket? That was something I could understand. Also, the nod to DC’s most important number with “News 52” was cute.

Matt: And I loved the reference to The Murders in the Rue Morgue. I haven’t read any Wilkie Collins, so the other references were lost on me, but I saw that one coming. This had some charming moments but wasn’t as much of a mystery as other Scooby stories have been.

Will: Rhey ran’t rall re rinners.

Bat-miscellany

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Will’s better half, Abigale Heartbalm, stops by for this week’s BatChat podcast, celebrating love in Gotham with Mad Love, Son of the Demon and a story where Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle go out on a date.
For more recent BatChat coverage of Jack Ryder, stop being a freeloader and sign up for the Patreon to get the bonus episode covering Batman: The Audio Adventures.
He did it for The Rock. OK, actually, he did it for HHH. It was a bad angle regardless.
Both the ‘Tec back up and Bat/Scoob had appearances by Batman’s classic undercover alter ego, Matches Malone. Love to see Matches show up.
Matches Malone: Totally not a narc.

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.