In which Batman fights the Kool-Aid man's star pupil.
As a new fight nears, in the past Mother sneers, and as the shroud disappears on dark deeds in past years, it all ends in tears. The shocking truth is revealed about Harper and Batman's bungled gamble in the eighteenth installment of DC's weekly Batman chronicle. Dick, Tim, Jason, and the rest are in the worst possible place for an outbreak of a virus that turns kids into killers, Mother ends up on top even while at rock bottom, there's panic in the panic room, and... is that Poppy Ashmore in the tube next to Orphan? Huh. Anyway, a lot is revealed, some of it we didn't even already know! (Like, apparently, Harper's mom was part of her father's criminal activity, albeit reluctantly.)
Batman holds the record for sacks in the superhero community.
Well, Batman's made some pretty bad blunders in the past before. But his underestimating Mother and believing to have outsmarted her so thoroughly has led to the complete ruination of at least two children in the form of Harper and Cullen Row. While Orphan is a strong and capable fighter, Batman's able to overcome him fairly easily, whereas Mother's real trump card is already in play back in Gotham in the form of Cassandra. It's of a small consolation that Cass was devastated by her first and only kill, letting a fleeing Marcus Row, dedicated scumbag, go. If you're unfamiliar with Harper's situation, he's a longtime criminal and currently in Blackgate (he helped out the warden in the last weekly, though). His victory against Mother is a hollow one, because while she appears to have killed herself (she must've been revived by her cohorts), and maybe her current plans have been halted, she's nevertheless hurt Batman badly.
"You're not even the first I've stabbed with this Epipen. Th-that was me, by accident."
This completely recolors much of Batman's interaction with Harper since her introduction in the pages of Scott Snyder's own Batman work. Before she was this alt-girl eager to help Batman because he saved her and her brother from attackers, and using her ingenuity she managed to get him out of a few scrapes, before finally becoming Bluebird during a time of crisis in the gang war and Cluemaster's manipulations in Eternal. He was always reluctant to engage her enthusiasm, like he would anyone wanting to get into the vigilante game without training, but now we get the added layer of Batman's guilt over his actions leading to her mother's death. This is especially poignant because not only was she intended to be his new "better" Robin by Mother, but he was unable to stop the tragedy that led to her current life, basically taking care of her brother on her own (though their apartment did get an upgrade by Bruce Wayne, which is another recolored thing). There was an issue after Damian's death where Batman tried especially hard to keep Harper out of the game, but she ultimately inspired him to hope again. What he must have been thinking seeing her try so hard to become a partner for him given what pain he caused her (without her knowing)!
I guess this is what they call "ugly sobbing".
I can only imagine that this will probably be, you know, a setback, in the relationship between Harper and Cassandra, seeing as how the latter murdered the former's mom, and all. None of that hinting towards romantic feelings is going to pan out well now that Harper knows what Cass did directly to her and her brother. Before she'd been willing to forgive Cass for her training to kill, because, as the Sculptor said, she was brought up into that, and now she regretted it, but that was when the concept of Cass killing somebody was in the abstract. It'll be interesting to see if she in fact becomes an enemy of the Robin group because of this, disillusioned that her hero inadvertently caused the death of her mother, and never even told her about this. It must feel like a terrible betrayal, especially since she can't even really lash out at Batman (Bruce Wayne is still recovering his memories of being Batman).
The artwork in this issue is, for the most part, really solid, from a pencils, inks, and colors perspective. However, towards the end it begins to falter a bit, leading to a really awful few pages where Dick Grayson and Tim Drake are both drawn very strangely. It seems like maybe Scot Eaton was rushing to meet a deadline, but then the final page is actually really well drawn with Harper's sobbing. Very tragic. But all in all, a great issue, one of the best in this run.
;_;
Next issue will probably see a lot of action, since the kids in the spy school all have the virus Mother's been using recently to make her killer kids. I guess since Flashback Batman (Flashbatman, I call him) has been doing most of the heavy lifting in the action department, it was finally time for the kids to do some work again.
- Penguin Truth
(2016)
Next: School's Out For Summer (Or Whenever This Takes Place)!
Story: James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder
Script: Ed Brisson
Artist: Scot Eaton
Inks: Wayne Faucher
Colors: Allen Passalaqua & Gabe Eltaeb
Lettering By: Saida Temofonte
Cover: Tony S. Daniel & Tomeu Morey
Editor: Chris Conroy
Asst. Editor: Dave Wielgosz
Group Editor: Mark Doyle
Batman Created By Bob K--wait...
