Welcome to a special fifth week BatChat. For those not deeply entrenched in comics distribution, when there are five Wednesdays in a month, shipping can get … weird. So this week there are no comics with Batman as a lead! What are we to do?
Well, to start, we’ll look at last week’s digital release of the second issue of The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox. The interrogation of the Joker continues, as Gordon and Bullock hear the beginning of the story of what caused the death of one of Batman’s other rogues. Issue #2 is written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Jesus Merino and Joshua Hixson, colored by Ulises Arreola and Hixson, and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Also, as a special bonus, we took to Twitter to get questions from you, our beloved readers, so we’ll be answering some pressing Bat queries!
Matt Lazorwitz: Been a long time since we had a week with no major Bat content, hasn’t it?
Will Nevin: Life is empty and meaningless, Matt. But that’s with or without a fresh Batman comic. [Grote’s note: Jesus, Will, don’t make me mail a hug to Alabama!]
The Snark of Jokes and Riddles
Matt: This issue begs the question: How much can you trust the story the Joker is telling, even when he says he’s telling the truth? Because Joker is spinning this whole yarn, and while there is some corroborating evidence, there are also some sketchy bits that I have to believe are him massaging the truth.
Will: He has to be the most unreliable narrator, right? We can’t even trust him on his own history, so why would he have any credibility with someone else’s story? This second issue, while not as charming as the first, is still a fine comic, and here’s a brilliant idea I had: What if instead of the shitty Punchline backup we always skip in in Joker, this was running in that series and Punchline was the digital-first book we could just ignore? Wouldn’t that be neat?
Matt: It really would. I sit back and wonder if Joker is making up pretty much all of this. I mean, he has that Mother Box (I think that’s a new-design Mother Box, anyway), so something here is true, but I wonder about the bit with Riddler hiring other bad guys to do his dirty work. Killer Moth is a work-for-hire villain, sure, and Harley does stuff for money when she’s hard up, but Black Mask is a mob boss, not some hireling, and Professor Pyg is a full-on madman. And Bane, former ruler of Gotham, working for Riddler? I smell a rat here.
Will: You take the help where you can get it, Matt. To me, the stranger cadre is the alignment of baddies chasing Riddler’s goons: Catwoman, Penguin, Man-Bat, Scarecrow, Two Face and Mad Hatter. That’s a weird alliance.
Matt: True. I don’t know why Riddler wouldn’t have tried to work with Catwoman, who steals stuff for money, and Penguin, who he has a working relationship with. Unless he doesn’t trust them not to betray him. Then again, why would he trust noted city conqueror Bane or noted torture enthusiast Black Mask? It’s all quite fishy.
I did like the Joshua Hixson art on this one. The Plot and Shanghai Red, which he drew, are both on my to-read list. He’s got a Francesco Francavilla or Tyler Boss vibe, two artists I really like.
Will: Oooh, Boss is a great comparison, and lauding the art is an excellent point — this is too good for something that I imagine doesn’t sell all that well. My only substantive complaint with this series to date is that I thought the Riddler-only pages in this chapter really dragged. Joker brings some serious energy to the book, and Rosenberg has a real ear for his dialogue. The downside to that success is that the thing doesn’t work without him.
Q&A
Matt: Our first question is from everyone’s favorite Twitter questioner, @Asimov_Fangirl. She asks: “Howdy! Why do you think even with the increase of “seriousness” in Batman (the character and the tone of the comic), the Batcave and all its weird memorabilia has remained more or less the same? Thanks.”
Will: She is the absolute best — we love all the Loyal Content Consumers, but @Asimov_Fangirl is chief among them. The captain commander of the Loyal Content Consumers. But, yes, as to her question, I think the Batcave functions as a visual history of the character in the same way that paint and varnish accumulate on an old piece of furniture. Some things get added; some are chipped away. Maybe some things are hidden. However, it all tells a story. So that’s why I’d like a T-rex and a big ass penny in all of my Batcaves, please.
I’ll give you a question, Brother Matt: If we look at the three most recent extended Batman runs (Snyder, King, Tynion), what’s your favorite arc, and why?
Matt: Hmmmmm … That is a very good question. I do agree that the Batcave is the history of Batman writ large, and has a specific cache outside the films. People at all familiar with Batman in the comics will always expect the dinosaur and the penny, and for years expected that trophy case of Jason Todd’s uniform. I don’t think it can be gotten rid of, even with the most serious Batman comics.
As for my favorite arcs of these runs, two jump to mind. The first is Snyder’s initial arc, “The Court of Owls.” I really like the Owls as a concept, the Talons have a striking visual and this secret society at the heart of Gotham that has been preparing for the right moment to strike, regardless of, or directly regarding, Batman is a cool idea. The other arc, and one I think we’ve talked about before, is “Cold Days” from the King run.
Will: Seems like you’ve got “Court of Owls” at No. 1 and “Cold Days” at No. 2. I think I’d flop ‘em around, but otherwise, we’re on the same damn page there. If “Owls” wins, it’s only because it was a longer story — man, I could have read five or six issues of “11 Angry Men and Bruce Wayne.”
Matt: I would have loved to see more of that as a concept, too! I give Owls credit for adding something concrete and different to the mythos, which we don’t get a lot of, or didn’t until the Tynion run for good or ill. It wasn’t repurposing an old villain, but creating something fresh, which I respect when done well.
Will: That’s the one solid, enduring addition to the mythos that any of the three have made. Tynion still has time, of course, but something tells me we won’t be talking about Ghost-Maker in five years. And what did King contribute aside from a hyperfocus on the Bat/Cat (God help me) love affair? Killing Alfred? Good job there, buddy. Can’t wait until that’s rolled back.
Matt: I miss Alfred every issue.
Will: That loss and longing is something we should see reflected in the books, too. But what do we know?
Matt: Damian is talking to his own guilt ghost of Alfred in his own series regularly, and I would like to see Bruce address that more. Even if he had some catharsis after that drug trip at the end of “Joker War,” the loss of a parental figure is not something that one moment clears up like that.
Will: Absolutely not. As I’ve said for a long time, losing a parent sucks less … eventually.
Matt: Next from fellow ComicsXF staffer and our resident Supergirl expert Cori McCreery: “How much wood could a Batman chuck if a Batman could chuck wood?”
Will: I’m sure that “chucking wood” in the Batman context would be either 1) a Black Label exercise with Catwoman or 2) some hardcore Crossfit workout that would kill any other man. And while reasonable people may disagree as to whether Bruce goes downtown, I think we can say for certain that he chucks wood and does so to some degree of satisfaction. No matter which one we’re talking about, I think the answer is the same: lots.
Matt: I think if Batman made wooden Batarangs, he’d be chucking a lot of them. Hey, Batman trapped on an island, “Green Arrow: Year One” style, making Batarangs to fight off the evil inhabitants of the island? I could go for that.
And following up that last question is one from John Bush, manager of comic shop Dewey’s Comic City and my longtime co-worker there: “Relatedly, how much man could a Batman bat if a Batman could bat man?”
Will: My answer? Man-Bat.
Matt: I mean, if you give Batman Harley Quinn’s baseball bat and put him in a room full of thugs? Plenty.
Matt: Finally, a question from editor, writer and man about town Daniel P. Grote: “Hi there! Joel Duffman, the Newsly Times. Can you give us an update on that Batman ranking podcast you teased a while back?”
And this one is on me. I proposed this, intended to start it right away, but, well, you know that line from Jurassic Park about life finding a way? Yeah, life also gets in the way. This is still a project that will happen, and I am hoping will happen late summer as opposed to late spring as originally proposed, once a couple things have wrapped up.
Will: I’m still down for that, good brother.
Matt: And you are still booked for show No.1. I had been hoping a particular Golden Age issue would have made its way onto DC Universe Infinite for that episode, but I can move some stuff around to get a good trio of stories.
Bat-miscellany
- While there were no Batman starring comics this week, the annual for Catwoman dropped, revealing the origins of the mysterious assassin, Father Valley, and his ties to the Order of St. Dumas. Catwoman from Ram V has been stellar, so this might be a good week to check it out.
- Did we need a Punchline cameo in Puzzlebox? (Answer: No.)
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.
