The threads that have slowly been appearing start to tighten. Hugo Strange releases his Monster Men. Bruce gives Damian a talking to. The members of the Gotham mob grow disenchanted with the Minotaur. Dr. Zeller’s secret is revealed. And a member of the Bat family says goodbye. Batman #6 is written by Matt Fraction, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles with Jimenez.
Will Nevin: Let’s pretend for a second Tim Drake will *never* again wear the big R. What’s your favorite story featuring him?
Matt Lazorwitz: Oooooh … man, that’s a big ask. I think the entire arc of James Tynion IV’s Detective Comics run is top notch Tim. I think “Identity Crisis,” the arc where he officially takes up the mantle of Robin, is great. The first year of Red Robin is great, very much Tim reminding people why he was the best Robin (fight me on that). “Titans Tomorrow,” where Tim goes into the future and meets a dark, homicidal Batman who happens to be him, the one who pops up again in the aforementioned Tynion run. And on a smaller note, Robin #156, where Tim helps save the life of a young person contemplating taking their own life by just talking to them. Those are my top 5 Tim Drake stories/arcs off the top of my head.
Will: I will, of course, hold you to that list forever.
A Night on the Town
Matt: If there’s one thing I can definitely say, it’s that this series is anything but decompressed. A heck of a lot happens in this issue. It still is somewhat self-contained, but this feels like the issue where all the stuff that has happened over the first five issues starts to come together, and we get little bits of payoff that will propel us into the next act of the story.
Will: And the overall story seems … fluid? Unsettled? The untold events of “H2SH” (which may never be told) play into this somehow, but we’ve got a two-front war when it comes to keeping Robins in the fold. Since we have to start somewhere, let’s start with Tim. As the resident Tim Drake superfan, was this a reasonable turn in the story? Did they lay enough groundwork for this to make sense for the character?
Matt: That is a good question. I would say yes, but with an asterisk. Tim has been back and forth on what he wants to do with his life and whether he wants to keep being a superhero since the Tynion run on Detective a decade ago. Even before that, Tim was the Robin who was there by choice, not by necessity; if any Robin was going to get out, it was always going to be Tim, so I have no problem with it.
The asterisk comes from this being about Bernard, and that’s twofold. First, Tim doesn’t want to keep lying to Bernard about being a superhero. That’s a classic trope, and I have no problem with it. The problem I have with it is that Bernard KNOWS. It was made clear in the Tim Drake: Robin series that Bernard knows and just doesn’t say anything because he wants Tim to tell him in his own time and that he’s proud of Tim being Robin. Now, is this because Bernard changed his mind on that out of fear for Tim’s safety? Maybe. Is it because Fraction didn’t do a close read of that series and missed that particular beat? Maybe (and I can’t say I’d blame him. I’m one of a dozen people who did that).
Add in the fact that Bernard has all the personality of a Silver Age superhero love interest, meaning next to none. If Tim is going to give up being Robin for a boy, I want it to be because that boy is amazing, not just fine. And I’ve never gotten the feeling Bernard is anything other than just fine.
Will: Strange how I can ask you a Tim Drake question and just watch you go off. Makes my job so dern easy. But yeah, I’ll certainly defer to your judgment as to the overall picture, but Bruce handled his decision to leave beautifully — just like a good dad would. In lesser hands, Batman would have spouted off some nonsense about a soldier abandoning his post, engaging in dereliction of duty, but Fraction’s Batman took a welcomed fatherly approach. Damian, though, is pretty hurt, but also facing his own choice that has been echoed in other books (like Batman & Robin, for example): Should he also leave? Do you think Fraction gets us to a point where it’s Bruce and the imaginary Alfred he talks to, and that’s it?
Matt: I think that’s a direction that we might be headed in. And for once it’s not because Bruce drove everyone away, but because he’s a good dad who has helped his sons grow up. Damian and Tim have had a … difficult past, shall we say, and I liked the scene between them a lot. Damian doesn’t let on what he’s really feeling, hiding behind his usually haughty exterior, but he’s still hurt, and I think partially because now that choice, whether to leave for college or not, is harder because Bruce doesn’t have Tim to fall back on as a partner if he’s gone. It gives Damian a lot to think about, and further shows that he’s not the brat he was when he first appeared.
Will: Feels like we might need Dick to come in and shepherd them both out. And it’s not like they won’t be around. If it is eventually a mostly solo book, I think I like that, if only for the reason you pointed out: This is not some depressing schism brought on by Bruce — this is the natural evolution of these young men.
Matt: And as you said, they aren’t going anywhere in the sense of leaving Bruce in anger. So when the big finale comes, and Batman has to right all these threats that will come to a head at once, we can get the triumphant return of the Robins that will feel all the more important and impactful because we haven’t had them around for a while.
And while I like that we’re focusing on the character stuff here, there’s a lot more going on. We have Hugo Strange, Dr. Zeller, the mobs and our reporters meeting up with Harvey Bullock. I want to save Zeller for the end, since her stuff bookends the issue.
Will: I’m starting to think she’s pretty dense, but we’ll get to her when we get to her. Monster Men … part 17? Hugo is always up to something, isn’t he?
Matt: “No one can be a better psychiatrist than Hugo Strange! And if you try, I’ll send my Monster Men to beat you to death!” I want to go back and reread the scene with him from I think it was issue #3. I’m not sure exactly what he’s up to, other than being a petty douche, but I doubt it’s good for anyone involved.
Now I have a question that might fall in your line. May I?
Will: Ooooooh, please do!
Matt: Jack, our reporter, has dirt on a corrupt government official in a city where said official exerts an undue amount of influence. There is nothing, other than the necessity of story, that is keeping him from hopping on the equivalent of the Amtrak Acela and taking said footage and story to the Daily Planet in Metropolis where Vandal Savage does not have any control and where I’m sure everyone snickers at Gotham for allowing a known Nazi supervillain to be police commissioner, like other countries might similarly roll their eyes at a powerful nation electing a known grifter as president, right?
Will: I think any regular and right-thinking person would take the video to former colleagues — especially ones who still had access to a publishing platform. But once they turned it away (thanks again, necessity of story), you’re right that there are any number of venues — including social media — that could expose Savage for the crook he has always been. Taking it to Bullock seems like we’re roping him in for no other reason than we want to get him into the story. Fraction has earned a lot of grace for making so many right moves to this point. I can cut ‘im a little slack for a teensy tiny contrivance.
Matt: As I like to say, every story gets one gimme.
Now we get to Dr. Zeller. I am really trying to think if she is truly dense for not realizing Bruce is Batman, or if I’m taking the privilege of knowing Bruce’s identity and thinking, “How could you not get this?” I mean, his kid is Robin! Bruce himself seems to be surprised she didn’t connect the dots on that one, judging by his reaction. That in itself makes me wonder if something else is going on here.
Will: That scene was funny, and I had to do a double take just like Bruce. I mean, come on. But maybe you’re right — this is some sort of intentional play and part of her either being bad or breaking bad.
Matt: Oh, and on an art note, I like that Jimenez is using an eight-panel grid. It feels like a conscious choice to not go with nine.
Will: I thought every comic had to use nine-panel grids or it wouldn’t be taken seriously? Strange. But, yeah, I reckon we oughta get to the postscript, huh? When’s the last time we saw Mr. Joe Kerr, and what’s got him in the ol’ bacta tank?
Matt: Aside from DC K.O., which you continue to be unreasonably salty about?
Will: My lack of mirth fuels me, Matthew. Please, continue while I obsess about power levels.
Matt: Last time in a main Bat book would have been Zdarksy right before Absolute Power, so the mid-to-late 140s. And I think the bacta tank is there to work with Dr. Zeller’s Crown of Storms, the device that he keeps burning out, the thing that Riddler hinted she was experimenting on people with. And firstly it’s hilarious that Joker is so f’ed in the head he keeps burning out pieces made from a nearly indestructible metal. But judging by his comment, about reaching out to his very best friend? I wonder if she’s the one who screwed around with Eddie’s head, or if Joker has somehow found a way to harness this tech and is able to use it to remotely do evil. The only thing worse than Joker? A psychic Joker.
Will: I didn’t remember him getting fucked up, so I’m glad there’s not a mysterious empty Joker plot point hole in my brain. But, yeah, I would not dig around in Joker’s brain for any reason. Just asking for trouble there. And possibly giving him new and more dangerous tools to use? Nah, man. Bad call. Super bad call.
Matt: And it’s Zeller’s reaction in that whole scene that makes me wonder if he’s also screwing with her head. She is very relaxed about everything she’s saying and who she’s talking to. She doesn’t question how a guy floating in a tank can reach out to a friend. I wonder if Joker is influencing her, getting her close to Bruce, and also keeping her a little blind to The Secret so as not to spoil the joke he’s playing. If he can screw with Riddler, he can screw with her, who is right there all the time.
Will: This might also be a diminished Joker thanks to whatever she’s been doing to him. Lots of directions this thing could go.
Bat-miscellany
- This week’s BatChat podcast takes us across the Pacific to three stories of Batman originally created in Japan.
- Meet me at a con or talk to me somewhere and I will tell you my whole idea for what Tim Drake could do to stay in the Bat fold that doesn’t require him being Robin and gives him a logical new code name. I include DC editorial in that. I’m always down to talk more Tim Drake.
Buy Batman #6 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
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.
