What Happened: While Damian takes Commissioner Gordon and Oracle to safety, Batman(Dick Grayson)and Red Robin(Tim Drake-Wayne)try to come up with a plan on how to defeat their Black Lantern parents, who are hanging out in a cemetery. Tim figures this is some kind of second chance and as his BL father replays his death scene from Identity Crisis, Tim jumps to his aid and attacks Black Lantern Captain Boomerang before he can kill his old man again. Dick on the other hand feels these Black Lanterns are simply trying to fool him and Tim, however he gets caught up in swinging from a trapeze with his BL folks like he used to do as a child. Meanwhile, Deadman heads to Jason Blood's home, possesses him and releases the Demon Etrigan. Back at the cemetery, the trapeze with Dick's parents break(like they did when he was a kid)and BL Tony Zucco(the man responsible for the accident that killed Dick's parents)shows up and begins to taunt Dick. With that, Dick flips out and tries to beat BL Zucco to death, while Tim does the same to BL Boomerang. With Tim and Dick both burning with rage, the Black Lanterns decide the time is ripe to kill them and they strike back, beginning to tear the hearts out of Tim and Dick's chests. Deaman(in the body of Etrigan)arrives and begins to burn every BL around. Dick realizes that the BL's just keep reforming and that even Etrigan's immense powers can't kill the BL's. Finally, Dick calls Damian and tells him to send one of Mr. Freeze's guns to his location on one of his old gliders. The gun arrives just as Etrigan expels Deadman from his body. The Black Lanterns try to attack Etrigan, but since he has no heart, they can't do anything to him. Etrigan, not wanting to be involved with this madness takes off. Dick turns Freeze's gun on Tim and freezes him solid before doing the same to himself. The Black Lanterns look at Tim and Dick's lifeless bodies frozen in the ice and not sensing any emotions emanating from either one of them leave. Once the BL's leave, Deadman possesses Tim and breaks him out of the ice before doing the same for Dick. This issue ends with Dick deciding that he will take the knowledge he gained from his battle with the BL's and spread it around the super-hero community, with the hope that the other heroes can figure out a way to stop the BL's permanently.
What I Thought: I liked this issue a lot, although the ending left a bit to be desired. So Dick decides to take what he's learned(which isn't much!)and pass it on? Oooook... I did enjoy the scenes with Tim and Dick and their respective parents, especially poor Tim. How he isn't in a padded cell in Arkham yet is totally beyond me. If I were him I'd be crazier then a bedbug! And anytime Etrigan appears is a major plus in my book as well. One thing that REALLY, REALLY bothered me though was Damian bringing Commissioner Gordon and Oracle back to Wayne Tower where they were patched up by Alfred... What the hell is that all about?!? After reading this mini-series, I honestly believe that Dick could care less if Gordon knows his secret identity or not anymore. Why doesn't Dick just wear a big sign around his neck while he's in his Batman costume that reads, "Hey everybody, I'm Dick Grayson!". Although not all that much happened over the course of this mini(well nothing really vital to the main Blackest Night story at least)I still enjoyed it and would give it a recommendation.
Score: 8 out of 10.
You know what? I have to agree with Etrigan, Gotham City does put hell to shame!
Lol I was so confused about why they would take Gordon back to Wayne Manor, I mean at least ACT like he doesn't know...
ReplyDeleteOh please explain this Crazier than a bedbug term, I've never heard it before.
Also...Why wasn't Etrigan rhyming?
ReplyDeleteI give up on the Gordon/secret identity stuff after reading the BN Batman mini. I mean all mini long Dick seemed to be going out of his way to reveal his identity to Gordon! I honestly don't get that at all.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could! That's one of those sayings my grandmother(I think)would use that's stuck in my head now. I really didn't know bedbugs were considered crazy by some people, but what do I know, maybe they are!
I don't think Etrigan was rhyming during the horrible Reign in Hell mini-series either, so maybe he out grew it or something(or more likely, the writers got sick and tired of trying to rhyme his lines!).
Yeah, I mean why just be so BLATANT, if thats the case lets have every take off their damn masks, tell him Barb used to be Batgirl, introduce him to Bruce's son and Grandson of Ras Al Ghul and tell him Bruce was murdered in an intergalactic war with the Tyrant Darkseid!!! Okay, rant over.
ReplyDeleteLol, well consider it stolen. Then again after watching years of JR on RAW I still say Crazy as a pet coon, so I know what ya mean.
I would agree with you yet he Rhymes in another current series. I won't say which because I don't wanna spoil his appearance for you. But dude was rhyming like Jay Z.
You know, I was talking to my sister today about this very subject, the Batman/Gordon identity thing, and she SWEARS that Bruce actually unmasked(!!!)to Gordon a few years back in some issue of Batman(maybe during the earthquake, she wasn't sure). She said that Bruce unmasked to Gordon and that Gordon turned away in disgust and told Bruce to put the mask back on. Now, take that for what it's worth, I don't have any proof or anything other then what my sister said she saw online.
ReplyDeleteIf that did happen though, that's actually REALLY interesting stuff. At first I couldn't figure out why Gordon wouldn't want to see Batman unmasked, but then the more that I thought about it, it makes perfect sense. Being a vigilante isn't exactly a legal thing to do. Although he does tons of good for Gotham, Bats is also committing numerous crimes. Jim Gordon is a great cop, and as such, if he knew who Batman was, he'd be duty-bound to bring him in for assault, destruction of property, speeding, assaulting police officiers, etc. I think the bottom line here is that Gordon obviously knows who Batman is/was, but as long as he has no completely, solid, airtight proof, he can always pretend that he doesn't know, and therefore he doesn't have to go to Wayne Manor and arrest Bruce for Batman's crimes.
Ooo, another Etrigan appearance? I can't wait to find out which comic he shows up in! Damn lost comic book package!
Yep, I recall reading that somewhere. It was after Joker killed Gordon's wife I believe and Bruce told Gordon he would unmask to show him he trusted him or something but Gordon turned away and said If he wanted to know who Batman was he would've known by now, and wouldn't look until he put the mask back on.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with everything you said. If Gordon had proof that Bruce Wayne was Batman he's have to turn him in. And by association he's know all of Bruce's Wards were Robin/Nightwing and eventually have to come to the realization that his daughter was Batgirl. Of course he probably knows that already though.
Well, without spoiling anything I will say that I'm pretty sure you haven't ordered it yet. But that truly sucks about your comics, I hope they come soon.
Yeah, I have no doubt that Gordon knows who Batman is/was, as well as all of the verious Robins. I do tend to wonder if he knows that Babs was Batgirl though. I guess he would have to, right? Batgirl dropped of the planet right after Babs was shot, so I guess Gordon should have been able to put 2 and 2 together.
ReplyDeleteDo you know which issue of Batman the scene with Gordon and Bruce happened in? That's one issue I'd love to get my hand son.
I think he said something about knowing she was Batgirl in The Cure's first issue if I recall but I may be wrong. But Jim's too smart to not know she was.
ReplyDeleteI actually wasn't sure so I looked it up, apparently it was in No Man's Land.
"In the middle of No Man's Land, Bruce unmasked for Gordon as gesture of how seriously he valued his friendship, but Gordon closed his eyes and refused to look, and said something along the lines of if he really wanted to know who he was he would have found out already."
Also, I believe he found out in Year One although he claims he didn't know who it was because his glasses weren't on.
Yeah, you're prob right about the Babs thing, the only way Gordon doesn't know she was Batgirl is if he doesn't want to know.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look around to see if I can find a No Mans Land trade or some cheap back issues somewhere.
Yeah, in Year One, Gordon all but finds out, Bruce was his prime suspect. Like you said, he actually comes face to face with an unmasked Batman but claims he didn't see anything 'cause of his glasses.
Gordon's a great guy in terms of character wise. Sometime he seems like the only good cop in Gotham, and I honestly believe if he had the chance and training he'd be Batman. Those two are so similar yet so different. I'd love an Elseworld where Gordon is Bats and Bruce is a young Cop and Gordon wants Bruce to take the mantle.
ReplyDeleteYou know, that's real interesting. I don't know if I could see Gordon operating outside the law like Bruce does. He's such a lawman that I can't see him doing the vigilante thing. I wouldn't mind an elseworlds where he and Bruce swapped roles though. I wonder how Bruce the cop would react to a masked vigilante.
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be a great twist
ReplyDeleteif Gordon became a Vigilante, because he used to be a criminal and robbed and subsequently killed Bruce's parents.
The same event that pushed Bruce into wanting to be a cop in the first place. Now I know you're thinking "Gordon wouldn't kill innocents." But that's why it's an elseworld. ;)
I can almost see the tense showdown on a rain-swept Gotham City rooftop with officier Wayne holding the Vigilante Gordon at gunpoint after discovering that it was Gordon who killed his parents all those years ago. My guess? After a fight, Bruce would emerge victorious and would wind up arresting Gordon.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, and once turning him in to the corrupt police officers that Gotham has I can still see him becoming Batman. I don't know why exactly but I can see him doing it to avenge his parents because although Gordon did kill them, he was right about there being no good besides Bruce in the GCPD.
ReplyDeleteMan we should write that, and get some Geoff Johns cash.
Oh yeah, some Geoff Johns cash would be sweet!
ReplyDeleteHells yeah it would, ya know he owns his own comic place?
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't know that. Then again, that doesn't really shock me, that dude seems to live and breathe comic books. Sort of like me, but he gets paid to do it! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah he said it in that article. I know you don't watch TV much but if you get a chance check out Titan Maximum on adult swim. You can really relate to it cause it's good Geoff Johns writing but it's very funny and he had a HUGE plot twist that was awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhy not, I'll check out the listings to see when this comes on. I might as well give it a look.
ReplyDeleteSweet, It comes on here on Sundays at like 11:30 but I'm sure if you have time to kill you could catch it at AdultSwim.com
ReplyDelete