RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2004-02-04 06:00 am
ratcreature) wrote2004-02-04 06:00 am
Entry tags:
examining Batverse origin stories -- a work in progress, post two
The first post is here.
The first section on Batman (of which this post is the first part) covers stories/issues I'm aware of which deal containing information about Bruce Wayne/Batman's childhood, his years of training and travel, as well as key moments early in his vigilante career that formed the present day Batman. Like I explained earlier, I'll deal with key first encounters separately.
Issues/stories are listed in order of their first publishing date. The ones I haven't read (yet) are marked with a "*" (For those I linked to the sites I took the information from, the numbering of the resource sites is the one I used in the first post.):
Now a more in-depth look at these stories, starting with the central Year One storyline, which I'll also use as a "baseline" to compare other stories to, because it is at the core of modern Batman continuity. As is often pointed out [1] [3], Batman didn't get a "clean" break in his continuity during Crisis with a neat retelling like Superman, however Year One has a similar function, even if there was no full rewrite.
Year One, i.e. Batman #404-#407 (Feb - May 1987), gives us the following information (I won't summarize the whole plot about corruption and organized crime in Gotham, but just highlight some stuff, especially since I'll cover the early history of Batman, Dent and Gordon in a separate post. I guess everybody just a little interested in the comic version of Batman -- and who else would read detailed comparisons of information on his origins? -- will have already read Year One anyway):
On January 4 Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham (#404 p.2). He is 25 years old, heir to the "Wayne millions," making him Gotham's richest native son, and has spent "twelve years abroad," according to the public press coverage (#404 p.3). As context, we also learn: Harvey Dent is Assistant District Attorney, Gillian B. Loeb Commissioner, James Gordon arrives in Gotham on the same day as Bruce, he is Lieutenant and made "mistakes" in Chicago, which are not further specified. Bruce's welcomed at Wayne Manor by Alfred Pennyworth. According to Bruce, Wayne Manor was "built as a fortress, generations past, to protect a fading line of royalty from an age of Equals." (#404 p.4) The first thing Bruce does after arriving is kneeling on the grave of his parents (here with two gravestones, and it seems implied that their grave is somewhere on the grounds of the Manor, though it's not established without a doubt).
On February 12 we see Bruce training martial arts outside in the snow, he thinks of himself as not ready yet: "I have the means, the skill -- but not the method...no. That's not true. I have hundreds of methods. But something's missing. Something isn't right. I have to wait. I have to wait." (#404 p.7)
On March 11, Bruce is at a turning point, he is about to find his method. He makes his first attempt at crimefighting, actually intended as a reconnaissance mission only, without combat. He is disguised, but not yet masked. He establishes an alibi for Bruce Wayne, by being seen by a parking attendant at a hotel where also a "Hollywood sex queen" stays, to generate rumors of his whereabouts. He dresses differently, adds a "memorable, distracting detail" to his face, i.e. the make-up of a scar. He walks towards the East End, a seedy red light district with prostitution, cheap hotels, and adult entertainment.
Other not terribly relevant, yet interesting Gotham City details: obviously Robinson Park at that time is a place for anonymous gay sex in Gotham, there is an open drug scene, while welfare organizations are overwhelmed, as Bruce says of his walk "It's been educational. I was sized up like a piece of meat by the leather boys in Robinson Park. I waded through pleas and half hearted threats from junkies at the Finger Memorial. I stepped across a field of human rubble that lay sleeping in front of the overcrowded Sprang Mission. Finally the worst of it. The East End."
His disguise isn't very successful, Holly's pimp suspects him to be a vice cop, and says "That crazy vet bit -- thas old man." (#404 p.10) Selina Kyle says he can't be Vice, because the Vice cops are bribed. Bruce goads the pimp into a fight, is attacked with a knife, disarms the pimp, but doesn't pay attention to Holly who stabs him in the thigh, after he kicked the pimp (#404 p.12). A fight ensues, Bruce against Holly, two other prostitutes and Selina Kyle, until the police shows up. A cop shoots him in the shoulder (? it looks most like the shoulder anyway), hits an artery, but the cops don't call a doctor but just handcuff him, and put him in the back of the police cruiser (#404 p.14). He briefly looses consciousness, but awakes quickly, asks the cops to stop, which they don't, breaks the handcuffs, causes them to wreck the car against a truck, pulls out the officers and escapes (#404 p.14-16). He makes it to his Porsche, and drives back to the Manor, nearly hitting Gordon as he drives like a maniac, also his car is recognized as Bruce Wayne's by drivers in another car (#404 p.17).
During this drive he realizes that he has to make criminals afraid: "...God...fear of God...fear...I have to make them afraid..." (#404 p.17). He drags himself into the Manor, collapses in an armchair in the study. Next to him is a bell that will call Alfred, yet he waits, and talks to his father in his mind, while he looks at a bust of (presumably) Thomas Wayne: "Father...I'm afraid I may have to die tonight. I've tried to be patient. I've tried to wait. But I have to know. How father? How do I do it? What do use...to make them afraid? If I ring this bell, Alfred will come. He can stop the bleeding in time. Another of your gifts to me, father. I have wealth. The family manor rests above a huge cave that will be the perfect headquarters...even a butler with training in combat medicine...yes, father. I have everything but patience. I'd rather die...than wait...another hour. I have waited eighteen years..." (#404 p.20) Interestingly in the first panel, when he starts to with "Father" I briefly thought he was praying, because of the stuff about God earlier, I only realized he was talking to his father when I noticed the bust he stares at in the second panel.
That starts a flashback sequence in which we first see Martha and Thomas Wayne happy in a cinema, with Bruce sitting in between them, than a man shooting first Thomas Wayne, who stands protectively in front of Martha and Bruce, then Martha Wayne (who wears a pearl necklace, however in this version we don't see her break it), and finally Bruce kneeling between his dead parents under a streetlight while the shooter runs away. The voiceover continues during the flashback: "...eighteen years...since...since Zorro. The Mask of Zorro. Since the walk. That night. And the man with frightened, hollow eyes and a voice like glass being crushed...since all sense left my life." (#404 p.21)
Back to present day, where a bat crashes through the window, and lands on the Thomas Wayne bust that stands in front of the window. Bruce remembers that a bat has frightened him before as a boy, and decides that he will become a bat: "Without warning, it comes...crashing through the window of your study...and mine...I have seen it before...somewhere...it frightened me...as a boy...frightened me...yes father. I shall become a bat." (#404 p.22)
On April 6 we see the familiar Batman silhouette over Gotham's rooftops. Some sites like [2] list April 9 is the first appearance of Batman, however the panel of the Batman silhouette is before the April 9 date, so I assume this panel belongs to the April 6 sequence that showed Gordon with his pregnant wife, and that only the first confrontation we see is on April 9, while he at least tested his costume/equipment on a patrol before that. (#405 p.6/7) At that point he isn't secure in his abilities yet, as become obvious during a fight with three small time criminals. He's very critical of himself, describes himself as a "Lucky amateur." after that incident.
On May 15 the police takes notice. The descriptions of him vary from a more Man-Bat like appearance, to fairly accurate portrayals of his costume. Gordon says "Our vigilante -- or Batman, as he's called -- has apparently committed seventy-eight acts of assault in the past five weeks." Gordon also describes Batman's methods: "While the vigilante has been careful to remain unpredictable, choosing neighborhoods for his assaults at random--he consistently operates between the hours of midnight and four a.m. [...] He is working his way from street level crime to its upper echelons, from junkie mugger to pusher to supplier--and along the way, to any cops that might be helping the whole process along--" (#405 p.9/10) Descriptions of Batman from the (dirty) cop Flass who had a run in with him are met with amusement by the other cops, who don't quite take him seriously yet. Apparently by that time Batman has developed small batarangs with a paralyzing agent. (#405 p.11)
On May 19 Batman states "The costume--and the weapons--have been tested. It's time to get serious." (#405 p.11) and confronts the mob and corrupt Gotham establishment during a dinner at the mayor's mansion, makes a dramatic entrance through a broken window and partly destroyed wall, and announces "Ladies. Gentlemen. You've eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. Its spirit. Your feast is nearly over. From this moment one--none of you are safe." That ends the tolerant attitude of the officials, especially the police commissioner, who thought that a vigilante disrupting street level crime would be good for public spirit, despite the concerns of the mob bosses that it's costing them money. (#405 p.13/14)
From then on Batman is hunted by the authorities. He meanwhile terrorizes the mob bosses like Roman Falcone, whose home he invaded on June 5, stripping him, tying him up naked in his bed in a humiliating position, and pushing his Rolls Royce into the river. (#405 p.16)
On June 6 we see him hiding in Harvey Dent's office as Gordon comes in to question Dent, checking out whether Dent might be Batman. (#405 p.16) In this version Batman works with Dent before he works with Gordon, but the topic of the early Batman-Dent-Gordon teamwork will be covered in the later post covering Two-Face's origin story.
Based on a suggestion of Lt. Sarah Essen (who's apparently more familiar with Gotham's famous citizens than the non-native Gordon) Gordon also investigates Bruce Wayne, who has both the wealth and the motive to turn to vigilantism. As Gordon visits Bruce appears in his public persona as a playboy, in the company of a (scantily clad) woman, and gives dates with other women as alibi, however Gordon's suspicions aren't fully dispelled. (#407 p.8/9)
When I first read Year One I was a bit unclear on the interpretation of the role the kidnapping of Gordon's son played for the relationship and trust that develops between Gordon and Batman. Other webpages [2] suggest that Gordon makes the assumption that Batman saved his son, which is true, but Bruce didn't wear a mask and Gordon doesn't see much without glasses (#407 p.23), the only passage indicating that is that Gordon says "You must be wearing some armor under that jacket." Bruce answers "Yes." and the Gordon says "You know, I'm practically blind without my glasses. Sirens coming. You'd better go." I now think that interpretation is what we are meant to take away from that exchange, especially since it explains Gordon's remarks at the end when he refers to Batman as a friend, however when I first read Year One I just didn't make that connection.
So much for Bruce/Batman in Year One.
tbc...
The first section on Batman (of which this post is the first part) covers stories/issues I'm aware of which deal containing information about Bruce Wayne/Batman's childhood, his years of training and travel, as well as key moments early in his vigilante career that formed the present day Batman. Like I explained earlier, I'll deal with key first encounters separately.
Issues/stories are listed in order of their first publishing date. The ones I haven't read (yet) are marked with a "*" (For those I linked to the sites I took the information from, the numbering of the resource sites is the one I used in the first post.):
- Batman: Year One in Batman #404-#407 (Feb - May 1987)
- "Did Robin Die Tonight?" in Batman #408 (Jun 1987):
Flashback to the night of his parents' murder, Batman's memorial routine is shown, some other Wayne family info. - Batman: Year Two in Detective Comics #575-578 (Jun - Sep 1987) (*):
Introduces the villain Reaper, Batman's confrontation with Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents. [3], "new look" chest sigil, Batsignal. [1] Construction of the Wayne Foundation HQ, Leslie Thompkins knows Bruce's secret. [2] - The Wall in Batman #431 (Mar 1989):
Information about Bruce's martial arts training In North Korea before becoming Batman - Blind Justice in Detective Comics #598-600 (Mar - May 1989) (*):
Bruce studied martial arts in China under master Chu Chin Li. [2] - The Many Deaths of the Batman in Batman #433-435 (May - Jul 1989):
More information on tutors Bruce had before becoming Batman. - Blood Secrets in Detective Comics Annual #2 (1989) (*):
Bruce is apprentice of detective Harvey Harris, an acquaintance of Chu Chin Li. [2] - Shaman in Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5 (Nov 1989 - Mar 1990) (*):
Bruce works with detective Willie Dogget in Alaska, who dies on the case, Bruce is saved by a shaman. [2] - Prey in Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15 (Oct 1990 - Feb 1991) (*):
First encounter with Hugo Strange, construction of the first temporary Batsignal, first Batmobile. [1] Also begin of the excavation of the Batcave, Hugo Strange finds out Batman's identity. [2] - The Man Who Falls in Secret Origins TPB (1990):
Flashbacks to Bruce's childhood, his parents murder, his travels and training before becoming Batman, also flashbacks to events from Shaman and Year One. - Venom in Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20 (Mar - Jul 1991) (*):
Batman temporarily uses the steroidal drug "Venom" to become more effective. [2] - Faith in Legends of the Dark Knight #21-23 (Aug - Oct 1991) (*):
Leslie Thompkins learns Batman's identity, Flying Graysons cameo. [1] - Tao in Legends of the Dark Knight #52-53 (Oct 1993) (*):
More information about Bruce's training he studies Taoism under the monk Shao-La. [2] - Creature of the Night in Batman #0, Shadow of the Bat #0, and Choice of Weapons in Detective Comics #0 (Oct 1994):
Zero Hour retelling/retcons of the origin story. The some of preceding Zero Hour x-over issues also touch upon his origin story, like Batman #511 and Detective Comics #678. - Ghosts in Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #3 (1995):
Flashbacks to childhood halloweens and Bruce first meeting with Lucius Fox, in present day Bruce meets with Lucius Fox and decides to start the Wayne Foundation. - Shadow Job in Batman Chronicles #6 (Fall 1996):
The young Bruce Wayne works (under a different name) with a private investigator in Chicago to learn. - Secrets of the Batcave: Dinosaur Island in Batman Chronicles #8 (Spring 1997):
Backstory on how the trophy collection got started. - Gazing Back in Batman Secret Files & Origins (Oct 1997):
Another retelling of his origin story with some changes, but (fortunately) not "all-new" like the cover claims. - Oblation in Gotham Knights #7 (Sep 2000):
Background on Leslie Thompkins role in his upbringing. - Got a Date with an Angel in Batman Chronicles #19 (Winter 2000):
Set during his first days after donning the Batman costume, Bruce decides Batman has to have priority over his social life as Bruce Wayne. - Close Before Striking in Batman #588-590 (Apr - Jun 2001):
Flashback to early in his career when Batman has trouble to establish an underworld alias, and he assumes Matches Malone's identity after Malone skipped town. - Shot Through the Heart in Batman #591-592 (Jul - Aug 2001):
Flashbacks to Bruce's childhood around the time of his parents murder. - Hush in Batman #608-615 (Dec 2002 - Nov 2003):
Flashbacks, some childhood background. - Batman Tenses (Oct - Nov 2003):
Bruce restructures Wayne Enterprises. - Batman Ego (2003):
Sort of an identity crisis early in Batman's career.
Now a more in-depth look at these stories, starting with the central Year One storyline, which I'll also use as a "baseline" to compare other stories to, because it is at the core of modern Batman continuity. As is often pointed out [1] [3], Batman didn't get a "clean" break in his continuity during Crisis with a neat retelling like Superman, however Year One has a similar function, even if there was no full rewrite.
Year One, i.e. Batman #404-#407 (Feb - May 1987), gives us the following information (I won't summarize the whole plot about corruption and organized crime in Gotham, but just highlight some stuff, especially since I'll cover the early history of Batman, Dent and Gordon in a separate post. I guess everybody just a little interested in the comic version of Batman -- and who else would read detailed comparisons of information on his origins? -- will have already read Year One anyway):
On January 4 Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham (#404 p.2). He is 25 years old, heir to the "Wayne millions," making him Gotham's richest native son, and has spent "twelve years abroad," according to the public press coverage (#404 p.3). As context, we also learn: Harvey Dent is Assistant District Attorney, Gillian B. Loeb Commissioner, James Gordon arrives in Gotham on the same day as Bruce, he is Lieutenant and made "mistakes" in Chicago, which are not further specified. Bruce's welcomed at Wayne Manor by Alfred Pennyworth. According to Bruce, Wayne Manor was "built as a fortress, generations past, to protect a fading line of royalty from an age of Equals." (#404 p.4) The first thing Bruce does after arriving is kneeling on the grave of his parents (here with two gravestones, and it seems implied that their grave is somewhere on the grounds of the Manor, though it's not established without a doubt).
On February 12 we see Bruce training martial arts outside in the snow, he thinks of himself as not ready yet: "I have the means, the skill -- but not the method...no. That's not true. I have hundreds of methods. But something's missing. Something isn't right. I have to wait. I have to wait." (#404 p.7)
On March 11, Bruce is at a turning point, he is about to find his method. He makes his first attempt at crimefighting, actually intended as a reconnaissance mission only, without combat. He is disguised, but not yet masked. He establishes an alibi for Bruce Wayne, by being seen by a parking attendant at a hotel where also a "Hollywood sex queen" stays, to generate rumors of his whereabouts. He dresses differently, adds a "memorable, distracting detail" to his face, i.e. the make-up of a scar. He walks towards the East End, a seedy red light district with prostitution, cheap hotels, and adult entertainment.
Other not terribly relevant, yet interesting Gotham City details: obviously Robinson Park at that time is a place for anonymous gay sex in Gotham, there is an open drug scene, while welfare organizations are overwhelmed, as Bruce says of his walk "It's been educational. I was sized up like a piece of meat by the leather boys in Robinson Park. I waded through pleas and half hearted threats from junkies at the Finger Memorial. I stepped across a field of human rubble that lay sleeping in front of the overcrowded Sprang Mission. Finally the worst of it. The East End."
His disguise isn't very successful, Holly's pimp suspects him to be a vice cop, and says "That crazy vet bit -- thas old man." (#404 p.10) Selina Kyle says he can't be Vice, because the Vice cops are bribed. Bruce goads the pimp into a fight, is attacked with a knife, disarms the pimp, but doesn't pay attention to Holly who stabs him in the thigh, after he kicked the pimp (#404 p.12). A fight ensues, Bruce against Holly, two other prostitutes and Selina Kyle, until the police shows up. A cop shoots him in the shoulder (? it looks most like the shoulder anyway), hits an artery, but the cops don't call a doctor but just handcuff him, and put him in the back of the police cruiser (#404 p.14). He briefly looses consciousness, but awakes quickly, asks the cops to stop, which they don't, breaks the handcuffs, causes them to wreck the car against a truck, pulls out the officers and escapes (#404 p.14-16). He makes it to his Porsche, and drives back to the Manor, nearly hitting Gordon as he drives like a maniac, also his car is recognized as Bruce Wayne's by drivers in another car (#404 p.17).
During this drive he realizes that he has to make criminals afraid: "...God...fear of God...fear...I have to make them afraid..." (#404 p.17). He drags himself into the Manor, collapses in an armchair in the study. Next to him is a bell that will call Alfred, yet he waits, and talks to his father in his mind, while he looks at a bust of (presumably) Thomas Wayne: "Father...I'm afraid I may have to die tonight. I've tried to be patient. I've tried to wait. But I have to know. How father? How do I do it? What do use...to make them afraid? If I ring this bell, Alfred will come. He can stop the bleeding in time. Another of your gifts to me, father. I have wealth. The family manor rests above a huge cave that will be the perfect headquarters...even a butler with training in combat medicine...yes, father. I have everything but patience. I'd rather die...than wait...another hour. I have waited eighteen years..." (#404 p.20) Interestingly in the first panel, when he starts to with "Father" I briefly thought he was praying, because of the stuff about God earlier, I only realized he was talking to his father when I noticed the bust he stares at in the second panel.
That starts a flashback sequence in which we first see Martha and Thomas Wayne happy in a cinema, with Bruce sitting in between them, than a man shooting first Thomas Wayne, who stands protectively in front of Martha and Bruce, then Martha Wayne (who wears a pearl necklace, however in this version we don't see her break it), and finally Bruce kneeling between his dead parents under a streetlight while the shooter runs away. The voiceover continues during the flashback: "...eighteen years...since...since Zorro. The Mask of Zorro. Since the walk. That night. And the man with frightened, hollow eyes and a voice like glass being crushed...since all sense left my life." (#404 p.21)
Back to present day, where a bat crashes through the window, and lands on the Thomas Wayne bust that stands in front of the window. Bruce remembers that a bat has frightened him before as a boy, and decides that he will become a bat: "Without warning, it comes...crashing through the window of your study...and mine...I have seen it before...somewhere...it frightened me...as a boy...frightened me...yes father. I shall become a bat." (#404 p.22)
On April 6 we see the familiar Batman silhouette over Gotham's rooftops. Some sites like [2] list April 9 is the first appearance of Batman, however the panel of the Batman silhouette is before the April 9 date, so I assume this panel belongs to the April 6 sequence that showed Gordon with his pregnant wife, and that only the first confrontation we see is on April 9, while he at least tested his costume/equipment on a patrol before that. (#405 p.6/7) At that point he isn't secure in his abilities yet, as become obvious during a fight with three small time criminals. He's very critical of himself, describes himself as a "Lucky amateur." after that incident.
On May 15 the police takes notice. The descriptions of him vary from a more Man-Bat like appearance, to fairly accurate portrayals of his costume. Gordon says "Our vigilante -- or Batman, as he's called -- has apparently committed seventy-eight acts of assault in the past five weeks." Gordon also describes Batman's methods: "While the vigilante has been careful to remain unpredictable, choosing neighborhoods for his assaults at random--he consistently operates between the hours of midnight and four a.m. [...] He is working his way from street level crime to its upper echelons, from junkie mugger to pusher to supplier--and along the way, to any cops that might be helping the whole process along--" (#405 p.9/10) Descriptions of Batman from the (dirty) cop Flass who had a run in with him are met with amusement by the other cops, who don't quite take him seriously yet. Apparently by that time Batman has developed small batarangs with a paralyzing agent. (#405 p.11)
On May 19 Batman states "The costume--and the weapons--have been tested. It's time to get serious." (#405 p.11) and confronts the mob and corrupt Gotham establishment during a dinner at the mayor's mansion, makes a dramatic entrance through a broken window and partly destroyed wall, and announces "Ladies. Gentlemen. You've eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. Its spirit. Your feast is nearly over. From this moment one--none of you are safe." That ends the tolerant attitude of the officials, especially the police commissioner, who thought that a vigilante disrupting street level crime would be good for public spirit, despite the concerns of the mob bosses that it's costing them money. (#405 p.13/14)
From then on Batman is hunted by the authorities. He meanwhile terrorizes the mob bosses like Roman Falcone, whose home he invaded on June 5, stripping him, tying him up naked in his bed in a humiliating position, and pushing his Rolls Royce into the river. (#405 p.16)
On June 6 we see him hiding in Harvey Dent's office as Gordon comes in to question Dent, checking out whether Dent might be Batman. (#405 p.16) In this version Batman works with Dent before he works with Gordon, but the topic of the early Batman-Dent-Gordon teamwork will be covered in the later post covering Two-Face's origin story.
Based on a suggestion of Lt. Sarah Essen (who's apparently more familiar with Gotham's famous citizens than the non-native Gordon) Gordon also investigates Bruce Wayne, who has both the wealth and the motive to turn to vigilantism. As Gordon visits Bruce appears in his public persona as a playboy, in the company of a (scantily clad) woman, and gives dates with other women as alibi, however Gordon's suspicions aren't fully dispelled. (#407 p.8/9)
When I first read Year One I was a bit unclear on the interpretation of the role the kidnapping of Gordon's son played for the relationship and trust that develops between Gordon and Batman. Other webpages [2] suggest that Gordon makes the assumption that Batman saved his son, which is true, but Bruce didn't wear a mask and Gordon doesn't see much without glasses (#407 p.23), the only passage indicating that is that Gordon says "You must be wearing some armor under that jacket." Bruce answers "Yes." and the Gordon says "You know, I'm practically blind without my glasses. Sirens coming. You'd better go." I now think that interpretation is what we are meant to take away from that exchange, especially since it explains Gordon's remarks at the end when he refers to Batman as a friend, however when I first read Year One I just didn't make that connection.
So much for Bruce/Batman in Year One.
tbc...