It’s a Whole New DC Universe – And I Don’t Know if I Care

I’m serious about my Batman. I like him to be as brooding, angry and human as possible. I can tolerate some fantasy shit but I largely ignore him traveling to other worlds or participating in the Justice League (although I do like that he was a dick to everyone). I’ll tolerate Clayface but don’t bother me with The New Teen Titans or Batman opening franchises of caped crusaders all over the world.

I like when Bats gets his ass handed to him (see “Blind Justice” or “The Cult” arcs) and seriously questions why he’s doing what he’s doing. This might not make sense to many people but I don’t care.

My suspension of disbelief is whimsical and I’m okay with that. If DC can pull this umpteenth-time retcon, revisionist shit, then I, as a reader – the reader they want back so badly – can be selective in my purchases and selective in creating my own Batman canon. In my Bat-verse, there is only room for one Caped Crusader. The miscellany takes away from potential quality Batman stories.

Armed with my tunnel vision goggles, I decided on the following books out of the 11 (yes, 11!) Batman-related titles DC will be releasing: Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, Batman and Batman: The Dark Knight.

Detective Comics #1: This is the first of the new issues I bought. I didn’t know whether to expect a complete start from the beginning (Bruce’s parents’ murder, his years of training, etc).

The issue begins at a random time, perhaps six years into the Batman story (the first panel shows Batman musing over Joker’s six-year kill tally). Batman looks like a combination of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight and the Batman from the most recent two films.

Joker is naked (yes) and fighting off a man who appears to be wearing a skin mask. Joker dispatches the masked man in a most brutal fashion.

Gotham’s finest come in and we get the impression they’re still not okay with Batman interfering with police business. Batman meets with Commissioner Gordon and we see that at least Gordon is on Bats’ side. Batman and the cops continue to search for the Joker.

It turns out Joker wants to get caught! Batman roughs him up and dumps him at Arkham Asylum. In some shadowy panels, a man approaches Joker and Joker orders this man, whom he calls Dollmaker, to “get it over with.” The last page is totally fucked, as Joker lets Dollmaker cut his face off! In the final panel we see Joker’s face is hanging on the wall!

I’ll most certainly return for issue #2!

I give this issue two thumbs up. There’s brisk dialogue and sharp writing all around. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that this could have come during the larger Detective Comics run. The issue doesn’t immediately cry out that Batman’s world has started over, but it doesn’t not do this, either. I’ll see what unfolds over the next few issues.