Vadersville
Posts: 2905
Joined: 30/9/2005
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MASSIVE POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING BATMAN STORY! Hmmm. Still not sure what to make of this. At the moment, having read in just seconds ago, I don't think I like it. Interestingly, the only zero issue I have really enjoyed so far has been one for a title I've hated since the DCnU began. So what the big problem with this issue, well for one, it's not even a real story. Just a tease that never really gets off the ground before ending in an unsatisfying "To Be Continued in 2013..." which means it's not even going to be addressed in the next couples of issues. Although that said, it's made clear who the head of this Red Hood gang is going to become. For some reason the pill shaped helmet only covers 3/4s of his head so we constantly get a nice view of his contorted grin and a flower on his jacket is made the focus of more than one panel. Some will no doubt scratch their heads and ask how does this fit with The Killing Joke which has been confirmed as still canon? Well, in all fairness, The Joker did say that he remembers it different every time and isn't even sure how much is true anymore. My biggest problem is the Red Hood leader here seems to be The Joker already in all but name which means that he was always this way and that for me, kinda takes away from the character. I'm not saying we need a definite origin for him, in fact i would rather have no origin and just leave it a mystery. The opening of this isssue is the strongest part and there is something very horrific about the way Red Hood Leader casually points out that everyone around them is already dead. It's also cool to see Bruce doing some undercover work with the gang before he's adopted the Batman persona. But that in itself causes a bit of a continuity cock-up. In Detective Comics #0 we saw Bruce return home seven years ago. Which made the new Batman timeline a little better than the 5 years they had seemingly crammed it into. Only here, this story is set 6 years ago and Bruce still hasn't become Batman yet. Not only that, but Gordon explicity states that Bruce has been back in gotham three months... So this doesn't even fit with Detective Comics #0 that was printed the week before! The cock-up continues when you read the back story set 5 years ago (so arround the time of Justice League's first arc), Gordon refers to Batman as a myth, a legend. Fair enough, so this is obviously before he came into the public eye defeating Darkseid with the other super heroes. But then, Gordon refers to the events of Batgirl #0 with Babs meeting Batman as a week ago, when that issue was set 4 years ago! Is Gordon psychic? Can he see the future? Or are DC fucking up monumentally with keeping a consistent continuity within their current comics yet alone the already established history? I also found it wierd seeing Grayson, Drake and Todd all around the same age at the same time. And wait a sec, how old is Babs? In Batgirl #0 she's clealry mid to late teens, and she looks about the same in the back-up story, but Grayson looks and reads more like 12. Isn't he supposed to be the around the same age as Babs? In fact, oddly Todd looks the oldest out of all of the future Robins. Which reminds me, I am so confused. Did Todd kill that guy, or just beat him up? And was that Police Officer arresting him or letting him go? Overall though I preferred the back-Up story to the main one. At least it was a complete story and the idea of all the future Robins looking up and seeing the Bat signal for the first time I thought was quite an inspired idea.
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Confusion is a way of life, not a state of mind
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