Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Huh, well Batman Inc. ended

EDIT: There's a good review here about the issue that also brings up some of the problems I had with this title.

SPOILERS AHEAD
I saw the scans at scans daily and of course it leaves some questions about where things will go, etc. I really didn't think Morrison would leave things open the way he did. It also raises questions for just what is going on in the current arc of Batman and Robin as well as where RHATO is now.

One of the things that bugged me about the Jason Todd/Wingman things (beside it having zero build up or explaining how it happened) was just what his purpose was. Mostly I think it's supposed to be symbolic of the obvious Rebellious/Dead Robin trope. I mean Morrison started the comparisons between Damian and him from the start with Damian using his uniform on a mission he originally was going to die on. At the end of this mother and son are buried next to each other echoing DITF. Jasons' absent when Damian's killed and isn't at his funeral (which also has just four people attending much like his funeral.) Then he comes back at the last moment to save Bruce from Talia by fooling her with the trigger device they already defused.

While this is a good moment for Jason the interaction between Talia and him feels off. Although I'm glad there's no mention of their one night stand from last canon. I get the feeling Morrison doesn't want to acknowledge that one which I'm more than fine with. But there's nothing to show they were even friends. Talia mocks his efforts to save Bruce when he's handing her what she assumes will destroy the world. He's a little too smug when he tells her the truth and to run before bad people come to get her. The bit when he says he's sorry for Damian dying, that felt genuine (except for saying he would make a good partner) but he was on good terms with Talia. There's not even an attempt to appeal to her better side or ask her to stop? Jason does offer her a chance to escape since she helped him but the way it's presented hardly seems like more than a taunt and repaying a debt. Which she doesn't heed or take well. Given what Tynion is doing by stating Talia basically set Jason up to inherit the League of Assassins I guess I could see this? It doesn't fit but I could at least see her anger at the offer.

Bruce just looks ridiculous as he takes the antidote then gets his feet to make some power statement as if he's the one that just outwitted her. The art helps at making him look truly pathetic and even Talia tells him off for his posturing. She makes meta statements about him never growing up, throwing in a nod to his fight with the mutant leader in Dark Knight Returns, basically doing a better job at posturing than him. I notice that while she's doing this Jason seems to notice the appearance of Kathy Kane a panel before Bruce does. He looks shocked but I'm not sure if it's that or their trying to say he let Talia get shot. He's frozen in place as Bruce reacts then gives Kathy a glance when she's holding the box.

I'm not really sure if Kathy Kane is supposed to be a bad guy. She ran the assassin school as the headmistress. I have that issue because it was the last time Stephanie Brown appeared. They brain washed girls into becoming mindless killing machines.

Oh and Ra's steals Talia and Damians' bodies and takes over the clones to make his own army. So Damian and Talia both could come back, that might play a little in RHATO. I do remember someone saying Jason was going to grieve over Damian. Not as bad as I expected, I actually liked that Jason did something to save Bruce. I think that's also a call back to another scan I saw just before Damian died and he asked Alfred how they could be sure of Jasons' allegiance. Alfred said something about Talia may of brought him back but Bruce meant more to him. I'm not the biggest Morrison fan, I like some of his work but I'll admit I'm interested to see where this goes.

2 comments:

  1. Not being the world's biggest Bat Fan...I actually liked this. Morrison tidied things up, and actually left a few things in the box for the other kids to play with, for a change.

    Also...Bat Cow.

    Moo.

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  2. I like that he left it open--even if others want to bring Damian back--but it makes his death even more pointless IMO.

    I liked that Bat-cow appeared once then I didn't want to see her again. At least not in the cave.

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