MASSIVE SPOILERS — for this week’s issue…
I don’t dig on spoiling comics at all. Not in the least. But as a Batman fan for 90 percent of my natural born life, I can’t exactly ignore what’s breaking all over the web today about Batman #24, out 6/7.
Tom King said in April that the final page of the issue would be something discussed and shared for decades.
He’s right.
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TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED
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Because on that page, Bruce Wayne asks Selina Kyle to marry him.
Not Earth-Two Bruce Wayne or any other alternate version. The Batman has asked the Catwoman to join him in matrimony (Batrimony? Catrimony?).
Like so:
Now, I’m kinda proud that I called this one. (Click here.) But far more importantly, I love the way it was handled.
Batman #24 is a historic issue wrapped in a breather issue. Almost the entire thing is a conversation between Batman and Gotham Girl. Their discussion is frank and Bruce allows himself to open up about his fears and desires. It’s a risky venture by King given Batman’s taciturn reputation but it feels real in the reading.
(Though I do think Bruce would be more likely to have this candid conversation with someone else, Gotham Girl gets the nod because this story is ostensibly an epilogue to the first two dozen issues written by King.)
Regardless, it’s the end sequence that’s the killer.
Batman (as he does) chases Catwoman across rooftops (as they do) and, like they did so beautifully in Issue #15, they bicker lightly over how they met. (Click here.) His version lines up with their first encounter on a ship in 1940’s Batman #1, hers with the mean streets of Batman: Year One. It’s fitting that his recollection is more romantic, hers harsher.
From Batman #15. Art by Mitch Gerads.
But he wins the argument in Batman #24 when he tells her that after he got back the diamond she stole on the boat, he bought it — because he knew he’d need it for this moment, he knew from the beginning that she was the one.
My lord, is that brilliant.
Will Selina say yes? We likely won’t know for a while. Next issue starts the months-long War of Jokes and Riddles, which is an early-years story that I hope will finally start addressing that two-year-old tease of the Joker’s “true name.” (Click here.)
Besides, we can wait. It took Batman 77 years to pop the question. I don’t think it’ll take 77 years for Catwoman to answer.
June 7, 2017
The “Earth-2” Batman was the Golden Age Batman – the same one that appeared in Detective 27, Batman #1, and all of the comics until 1964, when the “New Look” (or Silver Age) Batman appeared. He is not an “alternate” Batman – he is the Batman my Dad grew up reading. The Golden Age Batman married Selina Kyle in the Brave & the Bold # 197 in the story “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne” by Alan Brennert. The story is considered a classic and has been reprinted countless times. They had a daughter, Helena Wayne, who became a Huntress.
Now, DC may have retroconned this story out of its continuity. Frankly, I have lost track at how many times DC has retroconned its universe. But, that doesn’t change the fact that for years, DC comic stories stated that the Earth-2 was the Golden Age Batman and that he married Selina Kyle. So, this is not new and we did not wait 77 years for Bruce Wayne to pop the question.
June 8, 2017
Oh, Malteseterp, I’ve written thousands and thousands of words about Batman. I’m well aware of the history, including Mr. Brennert’s wonderful work, which I’ve highlighted before. The fact remains that the main Batman, the one chronicled in the main titles, has never done this. By the time the Earth-Two concept was introduced, it was the alternate reality, supplanted by Earth-One and its descendants.