Batman Incorporated v2 #3 Annotations
Annotations
Cover - On the regular cover, Burnham uses the well-worn 'shadow of the Bat' device to loom large over the unexpected return of Batman's long-standing undercover alias, Matches Malone, cool as ever in the face of danger. Jason Fabok's variant takes inspiration from J. H. Williams III's design-heavy covers from Batman Incorporated volume one, with the Leviathan sigil looming over a beaten and bloodied Batman. Fabok talks a little more about the process of creating the cover over at his blog.
Page 1 - A behind the scenes look at Leviathan's recruitment techniques; kidnap, mind control and violent indoctrination of the young and vulnerable. The classroom scene echoes a similar one that played out in the epilogue of Batman Incorporated #5. Back then it was in the shanty classrooms of Mtamba that Leviathan was taking hold, now its made it all the way to Gotham City.
Like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Rises, Morrison invokes the divisive politics of the 99%/Occupy movements, albiet in an extreme form, as the philosophy of the villians of the piece. One hopes he's more succesful than Nolan in resolving it on a more satisfactory level than 'and then a rich guy beats everybody up'.
Most, likely led by Bleeding Cool's article on the subject that appeared on the day the comic was due out, consider this the scene that led to the issue's temporary withdrawal. Whether it was or not is largely a moot point now, as it was unchanged when the comic was eventually released.
Page 2 - Just like Batman Incorporated #7's hospital administrator, the 'recently appointed principal' and newly transferred detective allow Leviathan's field agents to spread the word unhindered. Keystone City, incidentally, is (or was, pre-New 52) the home town of the Golden Age Flash, also recently referenced as Lois Lane's alma mater in Action Comics.
Commisioner Gordon eyes the new recruit up suspiciously.
Page 3 - Another replacement. Leviathan is extending its tentacles into both the highs and lows of society. The hot dog vendor and busker highlighted in panel 3 suggest a super-terrorist spin on Project Mayhem from Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.
The song that Lumina Lux strikes up, "Warm Heart, Cold Town" is, if not written by Morrison himself, another in the 'so obscure that the lyrics have never been written down on the internet' collection that we kicked off with "Lay Your Pillow Down Amongst the Pussy Willow", way back in Batman Incorporated v1 #1 (though according to the notes in the hardcover collection of Batman, Inc., that one is actually a real song - some sort of variation on the theme from Felix the Cat. Anyone know anything else about it please let me know)
BATMAN INCORPORATED v2 #3
The Hanged Man
DC Comics, September 2012, Color, 32pgs, $2.99
Written by GRANT MORRISON ; Art by CHRIS BURNHAM; Cover by CHRIS BURNHAM & NATHAN FAIRBURN; 1:25 Variant Cover by JASON FABOK
The DC COMIC – THE NEW 52 debut of...MATCHES MALONE?? • BATMAN is hot on the trail of whoever is trying to kill DAMIAN – and he’s not going to like what he finds!
Commentary
Originally due for release in late July, the latest issue of Batman Incorporated was printed and shipped to retailers before being pulled from the shelves just prior to release by DC in light of the horrendous mass shooting during a screening of The Dark Knight in Aurora, Colorado.
When issue three eventually hit the shelves in August, it was the same copies that had been held back a month prior - no reprints, no re-drawn or re-written scenes, nothing of the sort. It's not easy to see that there was any one specific scene that necessitated withdrawing the comic - especially given that it was published the same week that DC released a comic where Black Mask shoots up the opening night of a theatre gala (in Batman: Arkham Unhinged #35) - but I suppose we should applaud DC for reacting so quickly to an extremely sensitive situation, and doing it's best to prevent the gutter presses pouncing on the scapegoat of an admittedly pretty violent Batman comic in the wake of the tragedy.
Page 4-5 -"Eyewitnesses spoke of a grisly bullet-ridden cadaver" Alongside the mention of Scarface as the alleged murderer over the page, this is a reference to Brian K. Vaughan and Scott McDaniel's 2001 three-parter 'Close Before Striking' from Batman #588-590 (collected in the Batman: False Faces trade paperback, and - completely incidentally - probably three of the lowest, if not actually *the* three lowest-selling issues of the Batman title ever published). Vaughan and McDaniel's story is a retcon of Matches' origin that contradicts totally the origin Denny O Neil gave him in Matches' first appearance in 1972's Batman #242. In O'Neill's tale, Matches was a small time hoodlum killed by a stray ricochet whilst shooting at Batman. Coinciding with a period where Bruce Wayne was thought dead (a typical early-70's O'Neill move to shake up the status quo), Batman adopted Matches appearance and mannerisms as an 'in' to Gotham's underworld, using the identity to recruit a crack team of experts to move against the recently introduced Ra's Al Ghul.Vaughan and McDaniel framed Matches as an arsonist who accidentaly killed his wayward brother on the job. Batman, thinking the brother was Matches himself, co-opted Malone's identity as his own, little realising that Matches was actually still alive and in hiding. He resurfaces years later and is killed by the Ventriloquist's men, only for Batman to lose his shit and resume the Matches Malone identity in order to get revenge. It's certainly not Vaughn's finest hour, revolving as it does on framing Batman as the world's worst detective with a poor grasp on reality to boot, though McDaniel's artwork is very good. 'Close Before Striking' was seemingly retconned itself a scant 3 years later in the War Games arc, to which Matches' 'Whiskey Road days' comment refers. Regardless of the origins of the song, the payoff panel of Matches' reveal is a good example of Morrison's oft mentioned technique of appropriating the rhythms of music for his stories.
Page 6 -Small Fry and Bully are a Batman-ized version of Bully Beef and Chips from the soon-to-be cancelled Dandy, a Scottish children's comic and something of a British institution that's been running since the 1930's. Thanks to @IainLaurie for pointing that one out on Twitter! Matches 'goons', who we'll meet on the following page, can be seen seated just to his right.
George Michael, like fellow 80's rock/pop relic Bonio, is rarely seen without sunglasses these days, as without them their soulless Outer Church nature would be revealed for all to see.
Photosensitivity (an aversion to light) is one of the symptoms of porphyria, an ailment often put forward as the possible root of the legends of vampirism and lycanthropy. It's also one in a long list of heridatary illnesses often attributed to the British royal bloodline.
Of course, Batman doesn't drink. STD's indeed...
Page 7 - We encountered Tony and Joe, the Brothers Grimm, briefly in issue one.
"Hold it right there, child of the universe." Matches' schtick involves a healthy dose of Stan Lee-esque hyperbole, much like his contemporary, Funky Flashman.
Page 8 -Gonzalo, or El Bastarde, is a disguised Gaucho; Bulldog is The Hood, and Ogo is Batwing. We last saw them all in issue one, holding a party to celebrate their supposed deaths at the hands of Leviathan.
Lumina Lux - both of her names refer to the Latin word for light, and come from the same root as Lucifer (thanks RetroWarbird!) - could be a kind-hearted counterpart to Jezebel Jet or, more likely, a slight return on the theme of Bruce's weakness for a glamorous girl with a hidden agenda. Colourist Nathan Fairburn uses red as a signifier for Leviathan later on in the issue, an artistic choice Lumina's red dress is likely telegraphing.
"I'm like true love and nuclear war -- There's no way to prepare for "Matches"" - Excellent.
Page 9 -Betaferon is a real life immunosupressant used in the treatment of MS. It's not illegal in the real world; maybe the 'Z' gives it an extra kick. Pretty surprising that DC have let this one through given that it's a brand name and not the generic chemical name for the drug.
A nice flourish from Burnham, Batman's looming presence has him towering over Matches, even though it's Dick in the suit, who's usually drawn as leaner and more athletic than Bruce. The Trigate Bridge (and the Riverside district mentioned earlier) are two more landmarks featured on Eliot R. Brown's ubiquitous map of Gotham City.
Page 10 - Good to see Dick in the Batman suit again, even if it's just for a cameo. I haven't been reading Kyle Higgins' Nightwing but I'm fairly sure the cape hasn't made an appearance there. Could be that the addition of a cape is a bit of a wizard wheeze from Morrison and Burnham, as adding a cape to Nightwing's New 52 costume makes Dick look all but identical to Chris O'Donnell's Robin from Joel Schumacher's widely lambasted Batman and Robin movie.
"How does it feel to be the new dead Robin, Damian?" Previous Robins Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown were both 'dead' for a time (in Todd's case about 15 years) before it was revealed that they, like Damian, had cheated the Grim Reaper. The dynamic here between Damian and Dick, established by Morrison in his own Batman and Robin run, is a delight - Dick's efforts to make Damian take himself a little less seriously, Damian's disdain masking a deep respect.
Okay then, Talia's web...
On art duties we have Chris Burnham (Leviathan, Ra's Al Ghul, Ninja Man-Bats, The Heretic, Otto Netz, Kathy Kane, The Hood, Dedalus' Labyrinth, Jezebel Jet, Wingman, Johnny Valentine and Una Clairmont), Yanick Paquette (El Gaucho, Oroboro, Borromean Rings, Lord Death Man's henchmen, SPYRAL, El Papagayo, El Sombrero and Scorpiana), Tony Daniel (The League of Assassins, The Sensei, the Seven Men of Death), J.H. Williams III (Lord Death Man, John Mayhew, The Club of Heroes, The Black Glove), Cameron Stewart (The School of Night, Doctor Hurt, the 99 Fiends), and Frank Quitely (The Red Hood, Scarlet, Professor Pyg and the Circus of the Strange).
If you need me to explain how everybody in the web relates to each other then you clearly haven't been paying attention. Start with David Uzumeri's annotations and then come back here when you get to Incorporated volume 1...
Page 11 -The return of Bat Cow! I wonder if Morrison watches Fringe?
Poisoning Gotham with junk food laced with mind-control drugs, what better way to quickly and quietly get the poor and disaffected onside?
Dick's question about Pyg a pointer that he'll return before the run wraps up perhaps? Talia took control of the League of Assasins last issue, though she's been leading breakaway factions for the last ten years or more.
'Kill Box' is a term used by the US military meaning a coordinated strike zone where the enemy can be attacked by ground forces and in the air with minimal contact between the two. Bruce's plans, of course, are as opaque as ever. Though the world thinks Robin dead, Talia clearly doesn't, which Batman must already know. There's a great deal of plot and counter plot going on - I can't wait to see how it all pans out.
An obligatory 'Hh' at the suggestion that Talia is trying to flush Bruce, not Damian, out into the open.
Page 12 - Back to the bar from the opening pages. 'Three Eyes Jacks' suggests a sort of mutant Twin Peaks (the bar there was One Eyed Jacks), an entirely appropriate milieu for this home stretch of Morrison's Batman tale.
RetroWarbird put forward another intriguing theory - "Personally I thought "Three-Eyed Jacks" was a pretty oblique reference to Joker, who Morrison himself gave a third-eye and the ability to see the plot in action. He's a Jack in a lot of ways, his original alias "Jack of Knaves", film addition of the first name Jack (Napier), etc..."
I wonder if the BEP graffitti is Chris Burnham's tag? Maybe some much needed props for the Black Eyed Peas...?
Page 14 -Two things about the third panel on this page - Where would Alfred have taken Bruce if Lumina hadn't called? Does he already know Talia's holed up in Crime Alley (as the comment earlier about the flooring suggested)? And why is the weather curious enough to warrant a mention? Is the rain carrying another of Leviathan's biological agents? (Thanks again to RetroWarbird for reminding me that the rain was weaponized with Joker venom in the '666' segment of Batman #700, a future we're due to revisit in a couple of issue's time)
Camouflage glass doesn't exist yet, but it's probably not far off. Check out this clip of a tank that can turn itself invisible to infrared for a glimpse of where all your tax money goes.
Page 15 - "It's not a wake. It's some kind of masquerade" The debauched decandence turn that Leviathan have taken is highly reminiscent of Pyg and Simon Hurt's antics in the last arc of Batman and Robin. With the revalation last issue that Talia had a mole inside the Black Glove, maybe Hurt will make a reappearance too before the story's done.
Sir Galahad indeed. Batman can't resist a damsel in distress.
Page 16 -On the door knocker, the inverted star of Baphomet, as featured heavily a couple of issues since.
Page 17 - Acting on Dick's comment earlier regarding him breaking free of the Robin role to become Nightwing, Damian adopts his new costumed identity, Redbird. That clears up one of the mystery guests for issue four, but who's Wingman?!
Page 18 - So the three sacrifices; Matches, Small Fry and... is the other hanging corpse his son maybe? Yikes.
Scapegoat is an English translation of the Hebrew word 'Azazel', which some Bible scholars think refers to a fallen angel rather than an actual goat.
"This is not a tree. I am not the gardener." comes from this traditional script to a Punch and Judy show, until fairly recently a common site at British seaside amusements. Jack Ketch, the hangman from the show, is based on a real, famously incompetent or particlarly bloodthirsty, executioner who lived in the 17th Century. The giant heads worn by Matches' captors resemble the classic interpretations of the Punch and Judy characters, and recall similar masks worn by some of the townsfolk in Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer's The Wicker Man.
Page 19-20 -Someone on Twitter (sorry!) nailed it when they described Damian's assault on the house as resembling Ridley Scott's Alien - an unseen horror picking off the henchmen one by one from the shadows. You can get a really good idea of how well Burnham has paced it by watching this video (courtesy of @theMAC) of the 'guided view' version from Comixology. Really fantastic stuff.
(Update: After a week-long guessing game on Twitter, @dieFalkenator nailed Chris Burnham's specific comic-book inspiration for the scene - this page from Strange Tales #179, an early chapter in Jim Starlin's Warlock saga.)
Page 21 -Damian hasn't just been listening to Dick about striking out on his own either, the escrima sticks he's carrying are Nightwing's weapon of choice.
So, the schedule's gone to pot in light of the delay (the zero issue will now come out before issue four; originally it was the other way round), but it's a minor quibble at best as issue zero was always 'outside' the main flow of the story anyway. Next up, a tale of how Batman Incorporated was formed, co-written by Chris Burnham no less. Join me in 30 for more annotations, until then, look after yourselves, and each other...
Comments, corrections, additions, let me know!
Page 13 - The goats go all the way back to Pyg in Batman and Robin, as do the references to Kali, Lilith and Tiamat. Both computer games ('Nightnmares in Numberland' from Inc. v1 #8) and mythology (the Dedalus/Labyrinth thing) have featured heavily in the run so far. And yes, this is all creepy stuff I look up on the internet...
Given Grant Morrison's recent comments regarding his absence from the internet, Batman's "[it's] too slow for how I do business" feels like an affirmation. Amusingly, "feel[ing] every twist and turn and corner, like muscle memory" in reference to being blindfolded in a car recalls prehistoric computer hacking movie Sneakers, from 1992.
The Heretic is presumably the Frankenstein's Monster built using Batman's DNA; another point in favour of him being the clone of Damian from Batman and Robin #9.