Jim Lee goes Batty

[RooJay]

Again, not to pick nits - but does this have to be the "non-Star Wars" comic thread? I've always been of the impression that all comics were allowed to be discussed in the comics section, which would make this thread now officially off topic. Just my thoughts.

Regardless,

I would imagine El Chux, that like most other comics - time does not travel in a typical fashion in the G.I.Joe comic. Otherwise, in order for Snake Eyes to have been a Vietnam vet as he was said to have been in the original G.I.Joe comic series - he would've had to be between thirty and forty years old back in the '80s when he was created. He therefore would have to be in his fifties, possibly pushing SIXTY in the current book! Ninja or not...that's still pretty durned old to be fightin'! They'd probably have to be drawing Scarlet a bit differently also.

[El Chuxter]

The proprietor of my local comic shop has an interesting theory on the mastermind: Jason Todd. Scary thing is, after re-reading the issues so far, I think he's right!!

[Eternal Padawan]

HELLO! That is a far out theory Grand Master Bear. I'll go back and reread it from the beginning. Wouldn't this negate the phone in poll which promised that if they voted him dead, it was permanent? On the other hand...

...Jason Todd as THE new Batman Villain would be shockingly wonderful. The fallen angel aspect would be worth years of stories alone.

[El Chuxter]

Okay. . . here's his reasoning, which I might've come up with if I would ever have thought of Jason Todd not being dead.

1) The villain obviously knows who Batman is, and has extensive knowledge of his foes.

2) The villain uses a Batarang at one point.

3) In the latest issue, Batman goes way overboard in blaming the Joker for Jason's death, including extensive flashbacks. (Prepping the new readers for who Todd is?) The last time Bats went this nuts was shortly after Jason was killed.

4) The first time we see the villain, he's standing beside a billboard that reads "Robins."

5) The second time, he's holding a scarred coin, just like the man who murdered Jason's father years earlier: Two-Face. (Foreshadowing the next pawn in his game?)

6) Superman appears in A Death in the Family and brings Bats back from the edge. In Hush, Bats does the same for Superman.

7) When the Huntress finds Batman in the alley, she describes him as feeling broken--exactly how Batman described Robin II.

8) Though Robin hasn't appeared, there have been a ton of references to him, and few or none specifically pointed toward Dick or Tim. One in particular by Harley refers to Catwoman as being a replacement or understudy for "Robin, the Boy Hostage." I'm not sure, but I don't think Harley's ever been involved in any story where Tim (the only Robin she's dealt with as Robin) was captured.

9) Batman checked the pulse of Jason and left the closed-casket funeral early. Grasping at straws, but Jason had the training and the street-smarts to fake his funeral if he'd survived the Joker's beating.

10) By the time of his death, Jason was already going over the edge. IIRC, that's why Bats allowed him to look for his mother. If Jason were alive, he'd blame Batman for getting him involved in a life that led to his severe beating at the hands of the Joker. Also, if he's completely insane (which he would most likely be), he'd probably blame Batman for creating Two-Face and the Joker, who killed his parents.

11) Both times we've seen this villain, he's been bandaged. Jason's face was pretty much destroyed by the Joker.

As weird as it sounded at first, I'm thinking more and more that he's onto something. . . .

[Eternal Padawan]

Yes. Yeessssssss. I can see it now. Verrrrrrrrry Interesting.

I had forgotten the Two-Face connection to Jason Todd. Man this is a GOOD storyline. Jim Lee just makes it even better. It's too bad he probably won't stick around after it's done. If there was a way to clone Jim Lee and have him draw every single comic book, I'd be a happy camper.

[El Chuxter]

I wish Andrew Wildman had hit it big and drawn Batman at some point. With the weird-but-cool way he tends to exaggerate chins and grimaces, I'd imagine his Joker would kick serious butt.

Jim Lee's definitely up there in artists, Batman or otherwise. Back in my time, I really loved Batman comics drawn by Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane, Jim Aparo (his style jarred me at first, but I learned to love it), Norm Breyfogle (my personal favorite Batman artist), Brett Blevins, and Joe Quesada. I'm undecided as to exactly where Jim ranks, but I definitely can tell you he ranks.

[Eternal Padawan]

That's funny, because Aparo is the yardstick for me. He was drawing Batman when I first started reading it, so later artists compared to his style. I think my first issue was the John Byrne book that had no dialogue except for Commisioner Gordon saying "Get out." Other than that, the whole issue was told with just pictures.

I really liked Breyfogle, too. I started collecting Detective with the #600th issue/50th Anniversary thing, and Breyfogle took over with #601. Very stylized, like bleeding the cape into the background for very cool negative images and stuff. Plus his arched Batbrow look is a classic.

And in Non-SW comic form, I bought the first issue of Namor for a quarter. Not bad, Not bad. He's nekkid though! Nekkid through the whole book almost!

[RooJay]

That's a very intersting theory El Chux, supported by a lot of decent evidence. It also happens to be one I've heard spoken about often (especially on the DC Comics message boards). The only thing that leads me to think otherwise is the fact that 'Hush' has always been represented as being a rather fully developed adult, even larger physically than Nightwing. For that alone, I don't seeing this as being a possibility. Even according to DC's twisted timeline Jason Todd would still undoubtedly be a scrawny young teen of about fifteen or sixteen at the oldest.
I have recently come up with another intersting notion, however: I have a theory that all of what we are seeing may not actually be happening in the real world. I know it's a bit crazy, but think about it - Bat's was shot in the head at the very beginning of this storyline, and nearly everyone who read those early issues of the story agrees that his recovery was depicted as having happened a bit too quickly. Even the characters inside the story have more or less made mention of that fact. In the latest issue, as Bat's is laying the smack-down on the Joker he makes mention of the notion that he himself is responsible for the existence of the Joker and all of Gotham's other local cuckoos. We also see flashbacks of various traumatic events from Batman's career - the aforementioned death of Jason Todd, the end of Barbara Gordon's career as Batgirl, the death of his parents in earlier issues, etc.. You might also note that 'Hush' has been depicted at various times cackling like the Joker as well as flipping Two-Face's coin in this latest issue. I was also struck by how much the villain's bandaged head (remember that this is the same body part Bruce was shot in ) resembles Batman's masked countenance. Now, I know this is not a fully formed, or even a particularly well thought out theory, and I admit that I haven't even actually read each issue from cover to cover (I have scanned over each issue, but I tend to save my comics up until I can read the complete story from start to finish, all at once), but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if, at the end of this, the bandages come off and Bruce comes face to face with himself and all of his past traumas, and this whole thing turns out to be some fevered dream of his as he lay unconscious and recovering from his head wound. I could easily see this storyline becoming a personal examination of Bruce's perceived past failures, and some of the defining moments and elements of his career; a story of Batman facing his personal demons and coming to terms with his role in life and his destiny.

...then again, maybe not. Just a crazy notion. One which I will have to examine more closely...


On another note - Jim Lee just did an in-store appearance/signing in one of my local comic shops earlier today. I would've gone, but the place looked packed when I passed by and I didn't feel like waiting outside in the rain! I'm told that he also pencilled an exclusive insert for the Hush hardcover especially for the appearance at this store.

[Eternal Padawan]

It could all be in Batman's head, but somebody cut the batrope at the beginning. And Croc, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy were all involved before the head trauma. And why would Bats turn to SuperDOG in his subconscious?

[RooJay]

Well, obviously someone cut the rope - even if it does turn out that this is all in Batman's head, and he's always had run-ins with Croc, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy; maybe the fact that they were involved prior is why they have figured so prominently up to now. Maybe Krypto is a manifestation of how Batman tends to view Superman - few things to me literally scream 'boy scout' than the image of 'a boy and his dog'. I never said it was a sound theory! It makes every bit as much sense as that whole Jason Todd thing too.