Batman Comics (Spoilers)

[merkur]

..

 

[Thomas]

Count me in for a healthy dose of WTF. Frank Miller's Dark Knight Series ended him for me. It was a good ending, too.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Batman isn't going to die, he's just going to get a concussion playing football and spend the rest of the game on the bench enjoying a snickers bar.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Batman isn't going to die, he's just going to get a concussion playing football and spend the rest of the game on the bench enjoying a snickers bar.

that was a great commercial.

 

[AntiHero84]

As someone who has read this recent arc, Batman is not dead. The story ended with an explosion, where Batman is nowhere to be seen and assumed to be dead. Give it a year or two, and they'll have some big resurrection event. Again, Bruce Wayne is not dead.

Also, the man fighting Batman was not Thomas Wayne. It was left rather ambiguous to his true identity, but I'm sure this was done so subsequent issues can add bits of information to fuel an ongoing debate over his identity.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Oh my *******..?!

As much as I don't want anyone filling his suit (i.e. Bucky as Captain America), I've always liked Morrison's work even though he's had his fair share of crappy storylines. Hopefully, he knows what he's doing.

I hope you're right AntiHero.

 

[AntiHero84]

I don't usually read DC or Morrison, but there's no way they would let Bruce go out like that. They might have a Bucky'esque replacement, but that could make the resurrection even better. It seems like Cap. America fans are hoping for a similar return, and I bet Marvel will give it to them.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

From what I've read, Ed Brubaker did a remarkable job with the whole Capt. America/Bucky storyline. Now, I kind of hope they hold off bringing back Steve Rogers at least for the time being.

I can't say I didn't see this whole RIP Batman coming. It's been years since something truly revolutionary happened to the guy. I'd say getting his ass handed to him by Bane was a highlight.

 

[AntiHero84]

Yeah, I've heard good things about the current Bucky/Capt. America comics, so I definitely wouldn't expect them to drop a bomb like that. Although when Brubaker moves on and the series starts to flounder, it would not surprise me if Marvel hires a big name writer/artist and decides to shake things up a bit.

Since I haven't been reading alot of Morrison's other work on Batman, it was hard to follow RIP, but overall it looked great. It was hard as hell to figure out just what happened. I had to Wikipedia the plot summary before I had a solid understanding of the storyline, especially the ending. When I get home from the break, I might dig up some of the previous issues and read the story, start to finish.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by Thomas

that was a great commercial.

For those who don't remember it:

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[ryoneo]

Can someone sum up R.I.P storyline please. I'm backed up in other comic book stories. And I'm an old man that can't keep up anymore.

 

[Mute]

This sounds almost as idiotic as Marvel's Civil War storyline.

 

[AntiHero84]

a la wikipedia:

The story begins with a scene of two figures standing on a rooftop, dressed in the costumes of Batman and Robin but with their features are obscured by shadow. The figure in the Batman costume shouts "You're wrong! Batman and Robin will never die!"

Six months earlier, at an unknown location, a group of international supervillains gather at the behest of the Black Glove, represented by Dr. Simon Hurt, the man responsible for the isolation chamber experiment that nearly ended Batman's career and for the creation of the three replacement Batmen. They are planning a danse macabre for Batman and arrange the delivery of an invitation to the villainous Joker.[7]

Meanwhile Commissioner Gordon tries to stop a Gotham newspaper from running a story on a dossier allegedly compiled by a detective hired by the parents of Martha Wayne, which contains many shocking allegations: testimony that Thomas Wayne was a drunk who addicted his wife to heroin, insinuations that Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's true biological father, and photographs depicting an orgy involving Thomas and Martha Wayne, Alfred, and the stars of John Mayhew's noir film "The Black Glove" and the theory that Thomas Wayne may still be alive, the "murder" of the Waynes was in truth an elaborate hoax, arranged by Thomas Wayne in order to kill his unfaithful wife and fake his own death.

After one of Le Bossu's gargoyle henchmen drugs Batman with librium on the blade of a knife, Batman has the Batcomputer analyze all of his data on the Black Glove and Simon Hurt. The Batcomputer responds by displaying scenes from all over Gotham City in which the phrase "Zur-En-Arrh" has been spraypainted. The combination of the hypnotic drug and the trigger phrase "Zur-En-Arrh" causes Batman to collapse just as the Club of Villains descend upon the Batcave.

Doctor Hurt injects Batman with "weapons-grade" crystal meth and heroin and sets him loose to wander the streets of Gotham, confused and deranged. Bruce Wayne, having encountered a hallucination of a homeless man who died earlier that day, repeats the phrase "Zur-En-Arrh" and sews a new Batman costume out of scraps of cloth: the red, black, purple, and yellow costume of the "Batman of Zur-En-Arrh," (which is a reference to a story from the Golden age time period of DC Comics in which a Batman from another planet: "Zur-En-Arrh" meets the Bruce Wayne Batman. This Batman from the planet Zur-En-Arrh bears a very similar costume to the one Bruce creates for himself out of the scraps of cloth) who, with Bat-Mite by his side, sets out into Gotham City to stop the Club of Villains. It's revealed, through Bat-Mite, that years earlier Bruce Wayne, as a defense against psychological attack, created a "backup" personality, a "Batman without Bruce," the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (using a hallucination he suffered after exposure to Professor Milo's gas as a basis), to take control in the event that Bruce might one day be mindwiped. Upon hearing of Batman's "return", Dr. Hurt relocates to Arkham, bringing Jezebel Jet to the asylum and overseeing the release of the Joker.

Back at Arkham the Joker taunts Batman, saying Batman can never truly understand his insanity no matter how hard he tries. He then shows Batman that he has Jezebel locked in a room with his poisonous red and black flowers. As Batman tries to save Jezebel, however, she reveals herself to be a member of the Black Glove, and the unmasked Batman breaks down upon the revelation. The defeated Batman is buried alive, while the Black Glove go inside to celebrate. However, Joker turns on the group as he mocks their burial of Batman and predicts (rightfully so) that Batman has already regained his sanity and in the process of escaping from his shallow grave. Joker then uses the Bat-Radia to broadcasts a code (designed by Batman) to override Arkham's security system and lock the Asylum down.

As Nightwing awakens just as he is about to be lobotomized, Robin meets up with the Club of Heroes, who vow to get rid of the Club of Villains' henchmen as Robin heads off to meet up with Batman. Meanwhile as Batman escapes his grave, there are flashbacks revealing that Batman has been aware of the existence of the Black Glove since the "Thögal" rite he underwent during his year of absence in 52. It's also revealed that Batman had long suspected Jezebel was a villain, citing the fact that he is notoriously attracted to evil women and has been faking being in love with her in order to keep Jezebel under his thumb.

The Joker vows to destroy the Black Glove and flees in an ambulance, but is knocked into the Gotham River when Damian Wayne nonchalantly rams the ambulance with the Batmobile. Now free, Batman confronts Jezebel, who as a child was "won" by her dictator father as part of a wager with the Black Glove. Batman also reveals his revenge against Jezebel, stealing the last letter her mother sent her which she considers to be her most cherished belonging.

Leaving Jezebel and her goons to Nightwing, Batman runs to Simon Hurt, who persists with the claim that he is truly Thomas Wayne (Ã la Detective No. 27)and orders (possibly another control-phrase) the Batman to "put away his Batman costume and retire from crime-fighting". Batman discards his cape and cowl and refutes the claim, believing that Hurt is Mangrove Pierce, star of the "Black Glove" movie who John Mayhew framed for the murder of his wife. Hurt denies that he is Pierce (claiming instead to be "the hole in things", the "piece that can never fit") but extends an offer to Batman: a complete retraction of the slandering forgeries about his parents for servitude to the Black Glove. Batman refuses and leaps aboard Hurt's helicopter, causing the craft to crash into the water in a fiery explosion. As Nightwing clutches Batman's discarded cowl, Talia dispatches her Man-Bats to bring down Jezebel Jet's airplane.

Six months later a disfigured Le Bossu is shown torturing a cop, free to act since Batman was not seen since his fight with Hurt. However, the Bat-Signal shines through a window in the roof, drawing a smile out of the policeman, and leads directly to the first page of the story.

As a final piece of the puzzle, the origins of the Zur-En-Arrh phrase are revealed as the misheard remarks of Thomas and Martha to their son seconds before their deaths, that if ever a caped vigilante would appear in Gotham, they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham, thus foreshadowing the final showdown.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

I read that last night but I never really understood the last section. Why would they be talking about Zorro seconds before their deaths? Were they attempting to comfort little Bruce?

Granted, I've only read the summary, so if someone can shed some light on the matter. *coughantiherocough*

 

[AntiHero84]

I think Morrison was alluding that the Wayne's had watched The Mask of Zorro the night they were murdered. As they walk out of the theater Bruce asks what would happen if Zorro were real and lived in Gotham. The mother responds that the citizens of Gotham would eventually throw Zorro in Arkhem. It is then assumed that Bruce misheard his mother, instead hearing "Zur-En-Arrh."