Detective Comics #1,064 sees a fable told by mother to son, Bruce Wayne visit a doctor and the League of Assassins make a play. The lead story is written by Ram V, drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, Jim Gordon confronts the crooked cop who got him involved in a missing persons case, only to find it tied more into the plot of the main story than we had been led to believe. Written by Si Spurrier, drawn by Dani, colored by Stewart and lettered by Steve Wands.
Batman (and Joker) invade Wayne-Powers and learn something about their new relationship in Batman: Beyond the White Knight #5, written and drawn by Sean Murphy, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by AndWorld Design.
The comic spin-off of the HBO Max podcast begins here! Joker’s love toxin hits Killer Croc, mysterious assassins hunt an equally mysterious sword, and hints of the upcoming season two of the podcast’s big bads, Harley Quinn and the Scarecrow, are laid out in Batman: The Audio Adventures #1, written by Dennis McNicholas, penciled by Anthony Marques, inked by J. Bone, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Matt Lazorwitz: It’s the first BatChat after a full autumn week, and I have to say, autumn is the season of Gotham City. The vibrant reds and oranges mixed with muted blacks and browns, a chill creeping into the air and spooky things around every corner? What could be more Gotham?
Will Nevin: And a new Robin ongoing! What a time to be alive.
A Fable and a Fight
Matt: I am still loving this book. But this is a key case for something you have talked about numerous times, and something our colleague Armaan Babu talks about in a soon-to-be-released Not-So-BatChat column: DC needs recap pages. There is so much going on in this book, so many angles and plotlines being played out, that having a reminder that Bruce saw Talia at the docks would come in really handy.
Will: We did, however, get the second-best thing, which is a broadcast journo helpfully filling us in on some exposition-y bits. You’re right in that this book has so much going on that it’s hard to keep track — these new additions to Gotham lore, whatever Talia has to do with it, Bruce’s sense that he’s growing older and becoming physically unable to do the job. Again, it’s a lot — but it’s all good. I especially liked the opening fable of the warrior set out to do the impossible task at great personal expense. Not hard to see the Batman parallels there.
Matt: And it was gorgeous. Rafael Albuquerque is an artist who draws the horrific and the fantastic so well that fable is right in his wheelhouse. He also draws some of the smoothest fight scenes in the business. The three pages of Bruce fighting with Talia and the League are some of the best, most elegant panels of combat I’ve seen in a long time.
Will: And Batman falling/rising into/out of the rubble was some good shit, too. Say whatever you want about the aims and ambitions of this book, it looks damned good.
Matt: And as you pointed out, Bruce’s emotional arc, about his own aging, is a great choice. That is an evergreen theme, especially after all that he’s gone through in the Rebirth era.
And speaking of emotional arcs, the Jim Gordon backup wraps up here, ties in to the main plot and packs a great punch, and possibly new direction, for Gordon.
Will: It’s the backup where I really need a recap. I love the aesthetics, and I love Gordon, but I cannot remember for the life of me anything that happened in this story.
Matt: There is something to be said for even a small text box giving a previously-on when it comes to these short backups. This one, with Jim and the amnesiac young man, ends with Gordon telling him he needs to watch out for himself and accidentally calling him JJ. Oof. Jim is still not over the death of his son, who is somewhere out there as a frozen Talon. Being Gordon is never easy, and even if he’s put his demons with the Joker to rest, there are still things that haunt him.
A Blight on the Page
Matt: Hey, Will, remember how we liked the first issue of the Red Hood spin-off from this book? I wasn’t hopeful about liking the main book when it came back, but there might have been a little bit of me that thought maybe. That part was wrong.
Will: Sean Gordon Murphy — some hundreds of pages into his comics career — is slowly learning how to be a writer. He’s not good. But I think he may be upgrading himself from “awful” to “occasionally readable.” This issue, unlike many others in the White Knightaverse, is free from idiotic musings about crime, politics or power. Blessedly, this is just your garden variety stupid with some Freaky Friday-style body switching dynamics layered on top, like sprinkles for a sidewalk doggy doo doo.
Matt: And I think Murphy has finally found the character he was born to draw. Murphy characters look angular, and either so unctuous you want to punch them in the face, or constipated, or somehow both. Derek Powers is a guy who you just want to punch, and he gets it right. I also have to say, I liked the first vision of Powers as Blight here, too.
But one thing that indicated ol’ SGM still hasn’t learned enough is the last page and the preview of next issue. The last page — and SPOILERS here — has Bruce and Harley finally kiss. [Grote’s note: I just threw up in my mouth. Just a little bit.] And behind them, we see the shadows of Batman and an in-costume Harley. OK, that’s an old chestnut, but I’ll take it. But in the black-and-white preview of next issue, we see them arguing, and the same shadows are there. Once is for effect. Twice is lazy telegraphing.
Will: And, of course, it shouldn’t even matter if Bruce and Harley kiss because THEY ARE MARRIED. Which was a big surprise. Because dumb. He’s also done that shadowing thing earlier in this volume. Give it a rest, buddy.
Matt: I will say that Bruce deducing Terry’s identity based on his own emotional scars works, and I might like the way he writes Terry more than the way he writes a lot of the other characters. I still don’t care about Joker’s kid, though. Nothing SGM can do is going to make me care about this paper-thin stereotypical rebellious teen.
Will: There ain’t shit to that character. And she’s got a twin sibling that’s hanging around somewhere. The unending joys of this universe.
Audio for Your Eyes
Matt: We were really big fans of the first season of the podcast of Batman: The Audio Adventures (and you can listen to that bonus episode for a mere $5 a month on Patreon, along with all sorts of other bonus stuff), and even when we didn’t know we were getting a second season, we were grateful to get this comic. And knowing it’s from the writer of the podcast made me look forward to it more.
And to state a personal bias up front, penciler Anthony Marques is a longtime personal friend of mine, so I was thrilled to see him getting this book. And I think his style — a bit cartoony, a bit broad — is perfect for the wild tone of this book.
Will: We have a Patreon? That was news to me. I wonder if we also have different tiers of support, all the way up to a level in which supporters can pick a book for us to read and come on the show to talk about it. Again, all hypothetical stuff for me, since I’m just now learning of this.
Again, this is BatChat Agreement Hour — the tone here (and for the show) swings so quickly and so thoroughly, but I’m willing to chalk that up to a charming quirk. I also like how this follows so neatly from the conclusion of the first season, which our good readers can now find for free on the podcast platform of their choice.
It’s so wild that HBO Max greenlit another season of an audio podcast on their visual streaming platform but passed on Bruce Timm’s animated Batman: Caped Crusader. SO WILD.
Matt: I like that this has a timeless, Batman: The Animated Series vibe to the art. You have a glove-based HUD for Batman right next to mobsters wearing fedoras and trench coats. That definitely feels like an intentional choice, and one that is not derivative but is instead an homage to another piece of Batman media the creators love.
While so much of this is played pretty straight, we get this comedic moment of the new King Scimitar Gang (formerly the Eager Beaver Gang). This is something I loved about the podcast, and I love that it’s here, too. We saw various Gotham gangs and super criminals, and so much of it was very work-a-day. Seeing a low-level crook buying the gimmick of a jailed higher-level crook with all the accouterments? Great!
Will: What did you think about the pharmacological tweak to Harley Quinn?
Matt: It certainly makes some elements of the character less problematic, if it’s played in a certain way. Make her basically stalk Joker, versus him being in a relationship with her, and I’d be OK with it. It’s a very different world, after all. And frankly, Joker being pursued, Pepe La Pew style, but the results of one of his schemes gone wrong feels like comeuppance he is due. I would be less comfortable with her and Joker being an item when she is under mind/emotion control. When it’s her own issues that drive her into an abusive relationship with Joker, it’s uncomfortable but it’s real. The mind control aspect would make it a little too much like assault to be a joke.
Will: I thought the text here was especially interesting: “Under [the drug’s] influence, every intense emotional experience — anger, misery, fear — feels like wild, senseless febrile love.” That suggests that almost nothing will shake Harley. Joker will surely be bewildered.
Matt: And Croc with the dolly who is his new friend? I feel like that’s a riff on the animated ep “Love is a Croc,” where Croc teams up with Baby Doll, an animated series original character, but I might be reading too much into that. And this is the first actual appearance of Croc in this universe, although he was referenced in one of the better faux-ads in the podcast: He could eat your grandma, after all.
Will: Sounds like you’re reading just the right amount into it, Matt. Hope Croc’s new friend gives him some good advice — like not eating grandmas.
Bat-miscellany
- This week on the BatChat podcast, it’s Tim Drake time! Matt has been waiting to do this episode since around episode 2, so you know it’s a good one.
- Wayne Family Adventures is back for season 2! Hooray!
- It’s nice to see non-white writers working on the al Ghuls. Between Ram V and Nadia Shammas, this is by far the most diverse creators writing Talia ever.
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.
