The Dark Knight. The Caped Crusader. The Bat. Gotham's champion is known by many names. He is also known for his tenacity in all things, most especially his war on crime!
Despite the presence of its grim protector, many a villain has chosen to make a career out of challenging Batman's mettle or his mental capacity - sometimes both. In the end the Dark Knight is universally triumphant, but it comes at tremendous cost to his psyche. Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston take on the difficult task of understanding Batman and his relentless desire to put down every criminal in Gotham.
While always successful at putting down his foes, Batman's rogues gallery continues to emerge again. And Batman pushes back with every resource at his command. Learn all about both sides of this Bat-equation and answer for yourself the question of just how batty is "the Batman"?
And now, the inspiration for this issue...
1 comments:
This issue was almost tailor made for me from the get-go on the ongoing inability for folks to let a story play through. And then it got a million times more pointed once Riddler jumped into things alongside Batman's own penchant for rubbing every criminal's face into the spots on the carpet. Before beating the crap out of them and cramming a salt shaker into the wounds. One for every little scratch or bruise (for seasoning, you see).
My favorite moment was (predictably and applied to my own interests) a young Bruce not only publicly challenging Nigma during Zero Year but putting a barb into it that defines his foe for the rest of the New 52 continuity. Appeal to the ego of these individual criminals, it's something the Batmans does before slamming them into the ground. He lures Eddie into an initial promise of homespun riddles before allowing Riddler to make a fool of himself by playing armchair psychologist, probably having read dossiers in order to goad the man into saying something -terribly- wrong about Batman's identity before a crowd that thought this man an intellectual juggernaut. ...then just to make sure the man who's still in control gets the point Batman sticks it in that Edward's "Embarrassing himself in front of everyone in a cheap hat."
Imagine how far that ego punch goes. And then there's the literal one that ends out the story by basically proving that the convoluted lines of thought, the puzzles, the traps and beating him with a giant penny and a meaty fist.
The Batmans is the apex hunter on the urban savanna, stalking his prey, smirking and waiting until they get tired to zing 'em in the most horrible/magnificent way possible.
Fantastic discussion, I'll seriously consider adding Batman to the great trickster pantheon after truly thinking about it. WHY CUCUMBERS?!
Hope to catch you guys around!
- Josh
Post a Comment