Recons Redux
Another few panels from the now (I assume) in continuity Batman: Year Two:
I attribute the fact that Batman is getting his ass kicked by a senior citizen to the fact that Joe Chill is in continuity. And as a result of this brutal beating Batman decides that using a gun is the best way to fight crime. He nearly blows a guy's head off. That's not cool. And that's all thanks to Joe Chill.So yeah, you've probably figured out that I don't like Joe Chill being in continuity. The idea of making the Waynes' killer unknown was -- in my eyes -- the best thing to come out of Zero Hour.
For me it seems a masterstroke. The Waynes' murder becomes one of those unsolvable crimes that grow dusty in police stations around the country. There really are so many of them. And the idea that "every criminal he catches might be the one" is also a very appealing idea to me. For me it makes Batman's story make sense.
When I read Batman: Year Two and saw Batman pointing a gun at Joe Chill's face it didn't seem like Batman. And it didn't seem like it was about justice. It sure looked like revenge to me. Now I know most people think it's the other way around. But I can't see it that way. Joe Chill will always represent vengeance over justice to me. And I can't explain why.
Oh, and Joe Chill is an incredibly stupid name.
posted by Diamondrock @ 9:26 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
At least on the strength of the Alan Davis first issue, I think when it came out I liked Year Two more than year one. Sacrilege, I know.
If it helps, think of this as Rookie Batman getting asskicked by Unique Reaper. And Joe Chill being brought to justice makes a helluva lot more sense than Metallo killing the Waynes.
True, it does. But the whole "Metallo killed the Waynes" turned out to be a ploy by Luthor to distract Batman.
And I did *love* Year Two. The Reaper was totally awesome and rookie Batman is always great. But I hated seeing Batman with a gun in his hand. It felt so wrong...
Now I will admit that Batman carrying a gun and teaming up with Joe Chill is uncharacteristic of the Dark Knight but in recent years the Batman has been doing such insane things that Year Two by comparison seems normal.
One of the most crazy things Batman did was leave Gotham City in the hands of Azrael, totally unlike the Bruce we know. You would think that Bruce would have learned his lesson. However very recently Bruce left Gotham City in the hands of the reformed criminal Two-Face for a whole year. I mean damn Bruce have you totally lost your brains.
This is all horrible but then you remember how Batman manipulated Spoiler to try to get back Tim, let Spoiler become his sidekick as yet another Robin, let her have total access to his computer and let Spoiler execute a fail safe plan the Batman had created. Worse of all, Batman took forever during this time to figure out what was going on, you would think he would recognize his own plan. In the end things got so bad that Bruce was charged with being the Batman, his mansion was searched by the cops, his whole family turned against him and he told Catowman his secret identity. To me this Batman is a huge imposter, all this nonsense makes Year Two seem like a normal Batman by comparison.
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