Welcome back to Bat Chat with Matt (and Will!). This week we’re back to just one book with the conclusion of the Ghost-Maker story, as Batman faces off with his foe and Harley has a heart-to-heart with Clownhunter in Batman #105 by James Tynion IV, Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez & Christian Duce and David Baron. And stay tuned after the review for a discussion of some recent Bat news about the post-Future State slate of books.
Matt Lazorwitz: So after three issues of this story we get Batman breaking free, Harley talking Clownhunter off the homicide ledge, Batman and Ghost-Maker having a shirtless sword fight and then … dead stop?
Will Nevin: Sometimes you realize that the person actively trying to harm you and ruin all your work is actually your friend and you work it out because … of reasons. Yeah, that wasn’t good. But after the news this week, think of all the Joker books we’ll have next year. [Something, something, something, Three Jokers joke.]
Who Doesn’t Love an Inconclusive Shirtless Sword Fight?
WN: Finally, we have arrived at the conclusion of the “Ghost Stories” arc, and I’ve gotta say, it was four issues that felt like six and could have been compressed into two. Not something I’m going to remember with any fondness.
ML: So, was the whole point of this thing to give Batman a new pal who could snark at him? Since Alfred is dead, and it looks like he won’t be resurrected right away, Tynion decided the best thing to do was give Batman a new bestie who can give him shit? That’s a long walk for a short trip.
WN: And as we’ve hit on more than once, he is as generic now as when he started, and not a thing about him is interesting. We got some handwaving in yet another flashback about how he’s “broken” and that he views crime fighting as an “art,” but other than that, he remains a goofy guy in a bedsheet with a stupid name. I guess we got two letters of his real first name … so that’s something.
Please don’t give him any regular attention. Do me that one small kindness, DC.
ML: I had a flash of hope when Batman started talking to him as they began their sword fight. Tynion gives Batman some good dialogue about why he doesn’t kill that is more than the standard, “It would make me as bad as the people I fight,” response. The line about not judging someone by the worst day of their life is actually something that works for the Batman that Tynion started setting up at the end of “Joker War” and in issue #101, the Batman who wants to change Gotham for the better. But the speech isn’t good enough to change a 30-year vendetta. If Tynion had given us any indication that Ghost-Maker had any human feelings, I could almost buy it. But he’s just short of being a self-confessed sociopath.
WN: I don’t know if Khan (we’ve got a “Kh” and I refuse to use that stupid name) has enough depth to label him a sociopath. He doesn’t have a rule against killing, and he’s willing to do some dark stuff … but does that really make him any different than, say, Red Hood? I wish the guy was a monster — that would at least give us something to talk about with him other than the absence of things to talk about.
The dialogue in this issue was hit-n-miss. Harley’s monologue was great — too wordy and too long, probably, but it really captured a genuine feeling for the character and what felt like her voice. Khan’s was empty and off-putting, and Batman’s tone didn’t seem to be quite right. In general, this issue would have been served better by about 10% to 20% less: fewer pages, tighter scenes and shorter, better edited monologues.
ML: Also, I need to directly address it, but this issue suffers from the same problem we’ve seen with this arc: It intentionally homages better comics. Batman in a shirtless sword fight is a call to the end of the original Ra’s al Ghul epic by O’Neil and Adams. And trying to liken the introduction of Ghost-Maker to the introduction of one of the greatest antagonists in the Batman epic does no favors for Ghost-Maker.
WN: Matt, we don’t work for DC. You don’t have to use that name.
But I want to go back to Harley. I think she might be the one good thing I take from this arc: that her character really shined in what was an authentic way.
ML: You are absolutely right. I like the way Tynion is having Harley reckon with her past here. He has her really looking into the mirror, looking at her sins and taking stock. The line in response to Clownhunter calling her stupid — “My brain works a little sideways, but it’s a good brain” — is on point for how Harley should be written; it’s quirky but insightful, and we see her insight through every interaction she has with Clownhunter in this arc.
WN: And — to go back to another point we’ve made — this was Harley at her most serious. There are laughs, yes, but her pain is right there, and it’s real. I think Tynion’s best destiny might be fewer Bat books and more Harley books. And much, much, much more Department of Truth.
ML: And more Wynd and Backstagers. Tynion writes a great all-ages creator-owned book, too.
State of the City: Gotham Edition
ML: We’re now five issues into the new status quo after the end of “Joker War” and about to take two months off for “Future State.” DC also just dropped the above image for the future of the Bat titles. So where do we think we’re going?
WN: Well, son of a bitch, there’s our good friend up there in the left corner. Joy. Also, I do like the costume for Damian — seems appropriately dour for that little bastard. But, yes, the merits of your question. I think where we’re going is largely the same place we’re already at; while there might have been some version of the DC slate that envisioned Bruce handing over the cowl to Tim Fox, I think we get that in Future State and nothing more. Alfred is still dead. The disappearance of the Wayne fortune is a joke or a talking point that pops up but doesn’t seem to go anywhere aside from that. Plus, while ‘Tec is getting a shakeup, this creative team of Tynion and Jimenez (when he can find the time, I guess) is staying on Batman. So I see more of the same.
ML: The fact that Tim Fox is spotlighted, but there’s no sign of either Lucius or Luke (either as Batwing or out of costume) is something to note. And between her comment to Bruce in last week’s Death Metal tie-in about the implant allowing her to walk failing, and her with the Oracle laptop, it looks like we’re going back to Babs as Oracle, which is good by me.
WN: I have long given up on Death Metal, but literally putting Barbara Gordon back in a chair is … a choice.
ML: I think it’s more, “I can’t count on it to function properly,” so they’re trying to have their cake on this one.
WN: My standard policy? The less I have to think about her trauma, the better.
ML: A good policy, with the way it is handled.
There does seem to be one new character there, the armored cop between Grifter and Ghost-Maker. I wonder if that’s something coming out of Future State, since Gotham is an anti-mask police state in that arc. I figure that will play into the mayor of Gotham stuff from over in ’Tec sooner rather than later, but I’ve been wrong before. It does seem like Future State: Dark Detective is going to be Batman at his least rich, on his heels, so we might get some of that story we’ve been hoping for from this book in there.
WN: I was just thinking about that — the “Zero Year” suit does say “I’m broke as fuck,” doesn’t it?
ML: Definitely does. And this preview image seems to not indicate much in the way of villains. I mean, Joker and Punchline are there (more on them in a minute), but aside from them and maybe Robo-Cop, we only have Scarecrow. It’s been quite a while since we had a decent Scarecrow story, actually. He’s been a secondary villain a couple times since Rebirth, but I can’t remember him being a major antagonist in this period.
Also of note: No Clownhunter.
WN: If I *had* to pick a new character to carry forward, it’d have to be Clownhunter, but really only because I like the lettering bit and feuding with other family members could be fun. (He really seems to be in Damian’s weight class, and I can’t believe I said two almost nice things about that brat in one column.) But they also seem to have blown through his story, which feels like a little bit of a shame. This arc could have been a fine “Joker War” coda with only Batman, Harley and Clownhunter … and yet it wasn’t.
The Long and Winding Joke
ML: So, a Joker ongoing, huh? DC tried this in the ’70s and it failed, they’ve tried to make him a lead before and it failed. Why will this time be any different? I don’t think it will be.
WN: Hooooo boy, I don’t know many folks who are looking forward to this. On its own, I don’t see anything particularly offensive: Jim Gordon on the last manhunt of his career, Joker causing mayhem all over the world and maybe as little Punchline as possible. But we’re at maximum Joker saturation. He’s a central figure in Bat/Cat. There’s some looming Three Jokers sequel that seems like a threat. Now he’s gonna have his own book? That’s too much for an already overworked character to carry.
ML: If this book was “Gordon of Gotham” or “Gordon: Manhunter” (Well, maybe not Manhunter, since DC has a couple dozen of those running around, but you get my drift), I’d be all over it. Do a grizzled noir focusing more on Jim hunting Joker, and I would be first in line (Well, maybe not first with Guillem March on pencils, but I’d be there). But my concern is that Joker is going to drown out Jim, and he’s going to be just this bumbling foil for the Joker, since he can’t catch him or it kills the whole point of a Joker book. Gordon post-”Year One” has always been competent, and putting him in the position where he had to fail regularly? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
WN: You’re also forgetting the excellent Michael Mann/William Peterson/Brian Cox “Manhunter.” In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby.
ML: Damn, that is a good movie. The minute you started typing it, I started humming that song.
WN: You’re welcome. But, yeah, outside of the central problem of a “Darth Vader”-type title in which you’re taking a big bad antagonist and turning him fundamentally into a protagonist, my central question is do we need this? And unless we’re responsible for DC Comics’ bottom line (which we’re not), I think our answer has to be “no.”
ML: I go back to something our fellow writer Robert Secundus wrote in our final “Three Critics Read Three Jokers” review said, which I will quote here verbatim:
“…now we’re told that no, that’s a bad idea, and that the Joker should be an empty void. Pure chaos. And weirdly, the story actually does, by doing this, manage to communicate something about the Joker. It emphasizes why, when he’s not used very carefully, very intentionally, and adjusted to the particulars of a story, when he’s not directly invested with meaning, the Joker is such a difficult character. It’s because the Joker at his core is boring. Nothing is boring. Emptiness is boring. You can have interesting stories about The Riddler, or Poison Ivy or Kite Man. The Joker can be in interesting stories, but the Joker can’t be the interesting story.”
With that in mind, then no, Joker does not need more stories “about” him. Joker is a black mirror who is there to show how others respond to his chaos and madness. In a final reflection on “Manhunter,” Hannibal Lecter was at his best in the books Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs and their original adaptations when he was at a minimum, when Will Graham and Clarice Starling had to play his game and look into his eyes. When Thomas Harris made the books about him, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, that mystique and terror were gone. Maybe it’s time to put Joker back on the shelf so he can pick up some of that mystique again.
WN: That’s what they promise — that this will be the last Joker story, that he’s going away for a while, etc. He never does.
Bat-miscellany
- The art is a step in the right direction for this issue of Batman, but I really hope Jorge Jimenez is using these months off to bank some issues so we get a consistent look after Future State.
- In Gotham’s alternate future police state, does Mayor Nakano create a Brother Eye system?
- In Manhunter, the character’s name is “Hannibal Lecktor.”
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
