A lonely cabin in the wilderness. A retired assassin who is the world’s greatest marksman. And two students seeking his aid. Three men enter, only two leave in Batman: The Knight #6, written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Carmine di Giandomenico, colored by Ivan Plascencia and lettered by Pat Brosseau.
The adventures of the DC Animated Universe Dark Knight continue in the mini-series Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two. This series introduces the Court of Owls into the DCAU, features guest appearances by Deadman and the Huntress, and ends with a political thriller in Gotham. The series is written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini; drawn by Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett and Jordan Gibson; colored by Monica Kubina and lettered by Josh Reed.
Matt Lazorwitz: So while DC isn’t struggling with the same kind of pandemic/paper/whatever delays that Marvel has been lately, there are still some weird shipping issues going on. This is evident by the fact that our usual three-books-a-week column this week only has one title we are covering, and if the release schedule is correct, we’ll have four each for the next two weeks.
Will Nevin: ‘Member when ‘Tec was weekly? Things were so much simpler then.
The Gun
Matt: I feel like this marks the end of Act Two of this series. Act One was Gotham and Paris. Act Two was Bruce’s journeys with “Anton.” And now we head into whatever the series’ endgame will be. But first, we have this issue. When I looked at the cover, I was wondering if Zdarsky was going to remix “Shaman” and Bruce’s time in Alaska, but this wasn’t that.
Will: Indeed it wasn’t — this is the story of Bruce v. “Anton” against the background of additional training, specifically with the world’s best marksman. This particular stop is a necessary part of the making of Batman, since of course he’d want to know everything about guns even if he’s not going to use them.
Anton and Bruce have a big blowup at the end and part ways over The One Rule, and I have a couple of thoughts here: 1) I don’t want Anton to be entirely dropped for the endgame, as you called it and 2) if he’s going to be Ghost-Maker, let’s get it over with. Nothing in this issue (to my eye, at least) contradicts the notion that Anton could be the guy that we hate (and everyone else seems to like, but that’s on them!). He’s called a psychopath, and I think that’s been fairly applied in the past to Ghost-Maker’s lack of emotion. He’s skilled. And the fight with Bruce is not the sort he couldn’t come back from.
Frankly (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) I hope Anton *is* Ghost-Maker. One of the reasons I hated the character from the jump is that it was such an awkward thing to introduce a lifelong frenemy into the Batman canon. To think there might be two of them? Oh no. None of that.
Matt: Oh, the more Anton talks about their training and fighting as art, and the more he talks about being a crime fighter not a criminal because crime fighting is more of a challenge, the more sure I am that Anton is Ghost-Maker. Those are lines right out of Ghost-Maker’s mouth. And I do agree that we need to see “Anton” show up somewhere at the back end of this series; there has been too much time spent with him to have him just walk away through the snow
This issue works because it has Bruce face down the One Rule and his feelings about guns. It presents him with a person who is penitent for having taken lives in the marksman Luka Jungo. He questions whether taking a life because you’re doing it for country and against “bad people” makes Luka any better than Joe Chill. This series has, from the beginning, taken the renowned surety of Batman and placed it aside, showing that young Bruce had doubts about how to pursue his crusade. And while he comes down on the side we know he will, we see what it costs him here.
Will: My confused feelings for Ghost-Maker aside, I liked this for the very reason you mention there — Bruce is shown someone who took an alternate path, someone who did one of the few things you can’t take back and did it often. I particularly liked how Zdarsky explained what happened in the flashback. At no point does Luka say, “I killed a kid.” Bruce’s reaction is all you need on that point.
And while you say Bruce is not certain at this moment in his war on crime, perhaps all he needed for that certainty was talking to Luka. Bruce might be able to reason his way to taking a life (or not saving one) in some extreme circumstance, but speaking to someone who killed a child and so clearly regretted it would only strengthen his resolve.
Matt: The art here sells a lot of the story, too. Di Giandomenico has been doing a great job all through this book, but as you say, the reactions and expressions sell this. The fight scene is brutal. And Bruce’s sense of loss and defeat at the end? Breaks your heart, even if Ghost-Maker remains the worst.
The Adventures Continue Continues
Matt: Batman: The Animated Series is 30 years old this year, can you believe it? We’ll be talking about that more as September approaches and the 30th anniversary of that first episode gets closer, but reading stories set in and around the series makes me sit back and think about how that show caught lightning in a bottle, and how hard it is to recapture that alchemy, if you pardon my somewhat mixed metaphor.
Will: It’s hard to go home again, Brother Matt, especially when new people have moved into the house and undertaken some renovations. I’m not sure where I’m going with that metaphor either, but it’s clear from this that 1) Paul Dini cannot, under any circumstance, not write Zatanna into a story and 2) that same magic isn’t there.
Matt: This series was at its best when it was at its most grounded. The Court of Owls is a big, crazy concept, and one I like, but it didn’t feel like it worked as well here. The one-shot about the Huntress and Batgirl was probably my favorite issue, especially since it references “I Am the Night,” one of the best episodes of the animated series.
The second arc, about the return of corrupt former Mayor Emerson Mayfield, is better than the Owls stuff, at least to start. I like Batman having to deal with a problem he can’t just punch away, and Mayfield is a good counter to the animated series version of Hamilton Hill (until this series, anyway), who was just a career politician trying to make as few waves as possible and keep getting elected. Mayfield is a truly corrupt guy, which feels more of a piece with how we view politicians now. It does wind up getting mired in some mind control stuff though, which I don’t mind as much, since Hatter tech is a well established part of canon, but I would have preferred that Mayfield was just better at this than Hill Jr.
Will: The Court is something that should take three or four issues to come together, a mystery that Batman has to unravel. And, sure, I understand the team had a limited amount of runway, but this was a rushed job of such an expansive concept — especially when the payoff was only going to be Hill was a member of the Court all along. I guess that’s better than trying to work in the Waynes or the Graysons in a similarly limited space.
I also agree with your take on Mayfield — he’s an interesting character who’s positioned to be a great foil to Batman, but then the Hatter stuff comes along and mucks everything up. The better story — and I think they hint at this — is that Mayfield is a Trump analog: brazenly, openly corrupt, questionably competent to even put on his trousers and yet the people of Gotham still support him. Batman can’t punch corruption, and he can’t string up stupidity, either.
Matt: The only other story is the fairly unremarkable issue #4, which is only notable as it features an unambiguously queer Reenee Montoya. The DCAU was from an earlier time, where queer content in a kids program was not going to happen, so introducing Montoya’s sexuality (especially in a comic that derives from a show that absolutely played Harley and Ivy as “gal pals”) was a positive bit of representation.
Will: What a better presentation of Montoya here than that pair in Dini’s Harley & Ivy mini, huh? Blech.
Bat-miscellany
- This week on the BatChat podcast, it’s the Breaking of the Bat in the first half of “Knightfall” and two of its preludes.
- The art seemed much crisper in the trade-collected Adventures Continue holiday story.
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.
