lucean: (Default)
[personal profile] lucean posting in [community profile] scans_daily
Batman 49 came out this week, setting up Bruce Wayne's return as Batman for the big next issue. And what a path it was to that point in this issue, so much that I kind of felt the need to post that return in the last three-ish pages because it was a thing of art.

Couple of things before the scene itself. The issue is extremely dense and there are no side plots going on, it is healthy Bruce Wayne and Alfred debating about the return of Batman with Alfred being vehementely against it. He has finally seen his greatest dream come true, after all, the Bruce Wayne who grew to be a man not haunted by past traumas and who become a truly great man, compassionate and helpful to those in need while being able to enjoy his own happiness. Yet the nobility of that same man will not allow him to just stand around watching the city burn under Bloom's attack while knowing that he could do something to help. I cannot do justice to their scenes with that explanation

So they make their way to Bruce's backup machine where he had stored his memories and skills to be implemented on clones of himself so that there would be a Batman. It is messed up and it is totally Batman once you understand that Snyder's Batman is a thing of tragedy and hence would never want his children to have bear that legacy. Anyway, the project never worked as a human mind could never handle being Batman, projections showing that the brain would simply die unable to handle the amount of mental trauma required. In addition, Alfred trashed the machine to prevent Batman's return, but of course Bruce figures out that there was a backup program.

At this point Bruce enters the machine to have Batman's program imprinted on his mind, convinced that he can be the better Batman, the one without all the trauma weighing on him, the one who is capable of being happy. Yet as they start the simulation, the imprint continuously fails as Bruce's mind cannot handle it, constantly nearing brain death only to be pulled back. Finally Bruce understands that tragic truth: For there to be a Batman there cannot be a Bruce Wayne. The same mind cannot hold both of them and begs Alfred to have the program to go through and wipe out his mind. Alfred of course refuses, but then they are joined by a third party.







I have to praise Paquette's art in that last panel as you can just feel the difference to Bruce Wayne we saw before, see the the darkness in him again. And while it was clear from the beginning that Bruce Wayne would be Batman again, I never saw it coming like this which makes it so great. Notice that last page. That is not a scene of triumph, that is not a hell yes moment. That is sadness, as for Batman is a story of tragedy. A great child of Gotham had to be sacrificed for it to have its greatest protector.

As a last word, I've seen a lot of grousing online as we got Bat!Bruce back all dark instead of having a bright Batman and I feel there are two important points to be made of that. First, Snyder's Batman has always been a tragic character, actually the most popular version of the character has always been a tragic character. Yet here, Snyder is direct about it, he makes it clear to the reader that nobody in their right mind would want to be Batman in a way that hasn't really been been done before. This isn't us knowing the kid Bruce dying, this is us seeing the awesome human being Bruce Wayne would have been without Batman. Second, there is always an important distinction on the story being bad and the story not being what one wanted it to be. And I don't think this story can be argued to be bad.

Date: 2016-02-13 04:14 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] beeyo
First read through, I was blown away. Emotionally, I was drained. I needed time to reflect, so I retreated to the area where I do my best contemplation: the shower.

I'm not sure if that's just me, but I've heard Stephen King describe the shower as somewhat of a "womb" situation, so maybe that's what it is for me.

So I'm there, reflecting on what I've just read. Really trying to process the emotional weight behind what I had just read, when it hit me:

The fuck happened to Bruce's beard in that last panel?

Re-read it. Yup. That shit just spontaneously exploded off of his face halfway through the book. Hilarious.

Date: 2016-02-13 05:54 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] beeyo
I get why they did it; the beard was was the physical signature of Happy Bruce. The beard was Happy Bruces Bat Symbol. And as we get closer and closer to the idea that Happy Bruce and Batman can never coexist, the beard has to go.

But in an issue filled with personality imprinting, mind wiping, and wildly different interpretations of how Batman might exist in different environments, "beard exploding off of Bruce's face in a moment of heavy handed symbolism" is the most comic book-y of all.

And I didn't even notice it the first time. That's how well it was done.

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Date: 2016-02-14 08:50 am (UTC)
beyondthefringe: (Default)
From: [personal profile] beyondthefringe
That's kind of amazing. I mean seriously, Bruce's beard EXPLODES from the experience of becoming Batman again. Nothing else, just the beard.

Date: 2016-02-13 04:24 am (UTC)
lieut_kettch: (Default)
From: [personal profile] lieut_kettch
Bruce was happy, dammit, or as close to happy as he could get after declaring his love for Selina following the Heart of Hush arc. Then Flashpoint happens and wipes it all away.

Date: 2016-02-13 06:04 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] beeyo
As grimdark as Flashpoint was, it did end with Barry giving Bruce a letter from his father. I think they were trying to start Bruce off with something of a positive note, it was just kind of ignored when the New 52 started up.

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Date: 2016-02-13 06:00 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] beeyo
"That is not a scene of triumph, that is not a hell yes moment"

That brings to mind the Comicosity review of this issue. The reviewer points out the big differences between Grant Morrison's "The Return Of Bruce Wayne" and Superheavy. One being that while Morrison made Bruce's inevitable return to the cowl a triumphant moment, Snyder paints it as a the worst thing that can happen to Bruce.

It really is an amazing review, and I can't do it justice. I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a read.

http://www.comicosity.com/review-batman-49/

Date: 2016-02-13 07:09 am (UTC)
sadoeuphemist: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sadoeuphemist
What? Did you miss the final issue of Morrison's run? Batman is tragic because he cannot die and cannot change and he will keep going on and on and on even as his children die before him.

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Date: 2016-02-13 06:10 am (UTC)
dr_archeville: Doctor Arkeville (Default)
From: [personal profile] dr_archeville
... so this just made the “Bruce Wayne died when the Waynes were killed, the boy was Batman since that moment” interpretation a more solid thing? There's no room for the “Batman is Bruce Wayne’s desire for a better world where eight year old children don’t lose their parents to criminals” interpretation?

Date: 2016-02-13 07:59 am (UTC)
sadoeuphemist: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sadoeuphemist
But Synder has him inventing a machine specifically to create another one like him, so...

I haven't read the issue, but...

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Re: I haven't read the issue, but...

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Re: I haven't read the issue, but...

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Re: I haven't read the issue, but...

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Re: I haven't read the issue, but...

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Re: I haven't read the issue, but...

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Date: 2016-02-13 10:28 am (UTC)
icon_uk: (Default)
From: [personal profile] icon_uk
That's clearly your Old 52 mindset breaking through. report for reconditioning to the DC Offices at once.

Date: 2016-02-13 02:06 pm (UTC)
deh_tommy: (Default)
From: [personal profile] deh_tommy
I imagine 'Story over Continuity' would allow for any interpretation to be told.

Date: 2016-02-13 06:23 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] joetuss
Hell yeah Bats is back

Date: 2016-02-14 01:56 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] joetuss
What? Lol

Date: 2016-02-13 06:53 am (UTC)
glprime: (Default)
From: [personal profile] glprime
"So they make their way to Bruce's backup machine where he had stored his memories and skills to be implemented on clones of himself so that there would be a Batman."

It's plot device summations like that which bring my attention to a screeching halt. Great setup, very invested in a Bruce Wayne healed and brought whole, now struggling with temptation to be Batman again (for legitimate reasons). And then this hokey thing.

Date: 2016-02-13 07:44 am (UTC)
beyondthefringe: (Default)
From: [personal profile] beyondthefringe
I have to agree. We all knew that Bruce would become Batman again somehow... but when you resort to cloning and/or brain backups for Batman, you're stepping fairly far afield of the character's innate sensibilities.

Yes, he's a billionaire martial artist detective crimefighter who battles mentally ill costumed freaks in a noir city of the damned while wearing a bat costume. Yes he has a car and a boat and a plane and a secret cave and a series of sidekicks. Yes there's an element of science fiction to him... but the classic Batman is still grounded in a sense of comic book realism. Sure, sometimes he has a satellite and a teleporter and a closet full of alien toys, but -still-, he's grounded. He fights crime with boomerangs and fists and gimmicks. He's not a super-scientist capable of cloning himself, he's not a computer genius capable of storing brains on disk--that's what you have other, more specialized scientist characters for.

Tell me that SOMEONE ELSE did this, that they brought him back because he was needed, that his brain was stored by Will Magnus or Niles Caulder, and then I can believe you. But saying this was all Batman's doing just feels like a reach too far in the "Batman can do anything" trope that has both defined and hurt him in recent years.

Date: 2016-02-13 04:26 pm (UTC)
sagrada: Clan sigil of Rahab (Default)
From: [personal profile] sagrada
Hopefully this turns out to have been Cyborg's plan all along. Why? Doesn't matter to me, hope it doesn't to you.

Date: 2016-02-13 10:26 am (UTC)
icon_uk: (Default)
From: [personal profile] icon_uk
He says he only ran simulations, never on an actual close, which would have had me sptting feathers, but yes, the notion that Bruce would ever do such a thing is inconceivable.

This is the thing that Makkari and Simyan did in the Morrison run, they tried to create Batclones by downloading the recorded memories of Bruce Wayne into cloned bodies, and they all ended up dying from the traumatic shock.

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Date: 2016-02-13 02:51 pm (UTC)
ext_3679: (Default)
From: [identity profile] fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com
I think I was okay with that bit because I had read Snyder's backup story in the Detective Comics #27 Special Edition that DC released last year. In the story Batman had set up a never-ending supply of Bruce clones to continue being Batman, with all of them programmed to think they were waking up from the night the bat had flown into the study. Two hundred years in the future, the latest Bruce clone gets a choice whether to become Batman or not.

Date: 2016-02-13 11:35 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] owlbrigade1
I'm just glad we finally got to the reset button, when can we get Clark's?

Date: 2016-02-13 02:04 pm (UTC)
deh_tommy: (Default)
From: [personal profile] deh_tommy
They already did, didn't they? Superman solved his powerless issue by dousing himself in green kryptonite (which is now slowly killing him, but still).

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