There's mysterious ghouls, Harper breaks a rule, Joker's Daughter is cruel, and a villain's renewal in this sixteenth issue of DC's weekly Batman epic, which, as usual, has very little actual Batman. In fact, for the second week in a row, it's mostly the adventures of Jon Corrigan and... uh... whatshisface. You know. Batman Beyond. No, that isn't Batman Beyond? Oh. Uh... you know, Lucius Fox's kid, Batborg, I think. Really, who gives a damn? He's fairly irrelevant, save for his fight with Maxie Zeus.
First of all, this fizzle of a new character, Mr. Bygones, who I guess brings out the regrets of his victims, and brings them to life as spectral figures. And this frightening figure creates figures that look a lot like The Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance that lives inside of Corrigan. But that's about it. It just projects what Corrigan regrets. They don't seem to do much. One kind of reaches into a wound he has, but he just stops it. Mr. Bygones is taken out with a single punch and Corrigan not giving a rat's ass. Well, I guess that was a useful reveal at the end of the previous issue. What a spectacularly interesting and tense showdown with a fresh new compelling villain. Congratulations, writers.
I guess you have to let Bygones... be Bye-Gone. *puts on shades* YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!
Joker's Daughter continues to be... Joker's Daughter, a complete waste of time and space. Actually, it looks like Joker's Daughter and Batwing are having a contest over who can be the less enthralling character. I think I'd rather see Killer Moth and The Cavalier have a farting contest than this. Apparently JD hears voices, or according to her, the voice of Joker, who tells her to burn their houses down, burn them all! I mean, something about remaking people, taking their arms, blah blah blah. Fortunately she calls in another C-lister, Denny O'Neil creation Maxie Zeus.
Downloading your savior? I hope you seed.
I have to be honest, though, the fight with Maxie Zeus, the crazy guy who usually insists he's a Greek deity (never really took off as a character, probably because actual Greek deities exist in the DC universe), is actually pretty cool. I mean, it's just a bit of jumping around and strangling, but it's good to see Batwing not be completely worthless. Maybe Deacon Blackfire should rethink what vessel he wants to use for his spirit if it was just downed by the water boy of the Bat Family. I'll explain Deacon Blackfire next time, but just know that he was a villain in Jim Starlin's Dark Knight Returns-aping story, The Cult.
Well, Batwing's book is dead, so...
In Akihabara, Tokyo, because of course, that's one of the only places that actually exist in Japan according to everything, Red Robin comes very close to being violated by tentacles and... oh boy, are we going to see Tim buy a body pillow with his anime waifu in the next issue? Because if that happens, I'm dropping this book. Anyway, Harper, predictably disobeying Tim's standby order, disables the tentacles with some sonic device and the old Russian guy with the monkey from Zero Year appears and tells them they've passed the test. If I were Tim, I'd start wailing on the old prick fast and hard until he coughed up some answers before he sics AKB48 on him.
"Grifter would have listened!
"No he wouldn't!"
"Actually, I don't know, because I'm not a shitty Wildstorm comic book fan."
Also, something about Batman spying on Bard and Professor Pyg also being exposed to supernatural stuff. Whatever.
Next issue: Pass the collection plate for Deacon Blackfire!
Batman actually knew it wasn't really Batwing. But he didn't give a crap.
Story: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Script: Ray Fawkes
Consulting Writers: John Layman, & Tim Seeley
Pencils By: Dustin Nguyen
Inks By: Derek Fridolfs
Colors By: John Kalisz
Lettering By: Rob Leigh
Cover By: Dustin Nguyen
Editor: Katie Kubert
Asst. Editor: Matt Humphreys
Group Editor: Mark Doyle
Batman Created By Bob K--AHAHAHAHA, NO. Batman Created By Bill Finger
