Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Wait, so Man-Bat flew through Bruce's window?

Apologies for the scan, tough one to fit in there.
...and inspired him to become Batman? I'm confused.

Actually, this is a more-symbolic vision of Batman's origin, since Bats is recovering from a gunshot wound, in Son of the Demon, written by Mike W. Barr, art by Jerry Bingham.

Better known as the one where Bats fathers a son with Talia, this was out-of-continuity for some time, but seems to be back in since Damian's introduction in Grant Morrison's run. Actually, if I had to guess, it seems less in-continuity not because of Batman getting some, but because he seems a bit more laissez-faire about killing than usual. In the first twelve pages, several terrorists die as Batman tricks them into shooting each other, one gets a faceful of toxic waste, and others die in a helicopter crash. Later, when working with R'as al Ghul against the greater evil of Qayin, Batman encourages his men not to kill, but doesn't seem too broken up about Talia gunning some down, or leaving the bad guy Qayin to live or die on his own. Compare that to the Batman that has to bend over backwards to keep the Joker alive.

Still, it's a fun read, and I have the old version that I got for three bucks at a used bookstore. It's been reissued, but it'll cost you now.

I was thinking about the continuity issues of this one, since Batman: Year Two seems to be out right now, and I'm not positive I still have my copy of the trade. Year Two is thus out of print right now, so we'll see if I turn it up.

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