#BATMAN no.139

[nfcomics]

BATMAN no.139 • cover art • Otto Schmidt [Nov 2023]

NEW STORY ARC BEGINS! BATMAN VS. THE JOKER, MORE BRUTAL THAN EVER! Following the cataclysmic events of The Gotham War, Batman finds himself completely isolated from his family, struggling to keep the rage of Zur in check. But he can't stop, because he's out there, haunting the city, taunting the Dark Knight: The Joker. And the new Batman is ready to stop him once and for all. Mindbomb begins!

(W) Chip Zdarsky (A) Jorge Jimenez (CA) Otto Schmidt

[mydarlingbat]

Batman #139

[blurrilines]

Batman 139 spoilers

I love contingency

[batenjoyer]

oh god. i have so much to say about this entire issue my mind is just racing. IM WRITHING AROUND ON THE FLOOR SOMEONE HELP

[hood-ex]

Having a Homer Simpson "d'oh!" moment because I missed/forgot some pivotal information on the Zur situation that happened a few issues ago.

Zur created Failsafe and erased the memory of how to stop him. He also created a batcave under Bruce's batcave. (Batman #127 / Batman #136)

Bruce literally mentioned that Zur "poisoned the well" and put doubt in Bruce's head and heart. Bruce questioned, "What else has he done?" (Batman #136)

Bruce locked Zur away in his mind, and they were at odds with each other because Bruce didn't want Zur taking over, and Zur wanted out because he perceived Bruce's insecurities and doubts as his mind being "under attack." He wanted out to fulfill his purpose. (Batman #136)

In a flashback, Zur took over Bruce's body without Bruce even knowing. One minute, Bruce was trying to solve a case, and in the next, Zur was doing his own thing. When he gave up control to Bruce again, Bruce simply carried on with his previous thought as if he hadn't been personality swapped at all. (Batman #136)

Zur tried to tell Bruce what to do. Bruce snapped and yelled at him, reminding Zur that he (Zur) was in a cage. Bruce reassured himself, "He's in a cage. I'm in control." (Batman #137)

Now there was a moment in Batman #136 where Bruce started to panic because he couldn't see the future or whatever, so he didn't know how he could save everyone he loved, and he wondered how far he could go before it all burned away.

And then in Batman #137/Catwoman #57, Bruce realized that he no longer owned the manor, and he kinda started spiraling and talking about how even if he lost the manor/his wealth, he wouldn't lose his soldiers.

"They can't be bought. But they can be saved."

Notice the fact that Bruce used the term "soldiers." Because guess what? In Batman #127, Zur referred to Tim and the other members of the family as soldiers, and Bruce angrily corrected him.

"And Tim isn't my soldier! HE'S MY SON!"

SOOO. Do you see where I'm kinda going with all this? Bruce not knowing when Zur takes over? Zur being able to erase memories? Zur using "soldier" in his own dialogue color, and Bruce using the term "soldier" in his own dialogue color? Bruce saying that Zur "poisoned the well."

AND NOW, in today's issue, Zur forcibly took over to try and kill Joker again. And you know what was said?

Bruce: No! I'm in control! I'm--

Zur: You're not in control, we (Zur) are.

BRUCE CANNOT CONTROL ZUR. HE CANNOT. He thinks he can, and he thought he had it under control, but Bruce doesn't have shit under control!

[oh-there-she-goes]

Batman 139 spoilers

Joker regarding Zur as the real one when back in #129 he immediately called out that Zur wasn't his Batman will never sit well with me.

Granted, he later acknowledged in #130 that there was this murderous alter ego inside Bruce. But to have him truly believe that Zur is the real deal is rather upsetting.

Unless, of course, Zdarsky has Joker planning something in mind while luring Zur out.

I will be sorely disappointed otherwise as I refuse to believe Joker will ever favor a Batman who's so readily willing to take lives. If anything, he has a history of holding a strong aversion toward them.

But for now, I'll let Zdarsky cook.

[redasuree]

So this is spoilers for Batman 139

Notice that Red Hood/ Jason isn't included yet everyone else is?

[clownprince]

hmmmm hnmmmmmmmm

[dispatchdcu]

Batman #139 Review

Batman #139 Review #DCEU #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #dcu #dcuuniverse #art #info #NCBD #amazon #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #batman #darkknight #capedcrusader #brucewayne #detectivecomics #batmaninc

Writer: Chip Zdarsky Art: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles Publisher: DC Comics Price: $4.99 Release Date: November 7th, 2023 Following the cataclysmic events of “The Gotham War,” Batman finds himself completely isolated from his family, struggling to keep the rage of Zur in check as Batman #139 begins to unfold by Chip Zdarsky. But he can’t stop, because he’s out there, haunting…

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

Okay so hear me out what if he stayed dead for 100 years ... thoughts?

[nfcomics]

BATMAN no.139 • cover art • Mike Deodato Jr [Nov 2023]

NEW STORY ARC BEGINS! BATMAN VS. THE JOKER, MORE BRUTAL THAN EVER! Following the cataclysmic events of The Gotham War, Batman finds himself completely isolated from his family, struggling to keep the rage of Zur in check. But he can't stop, because he's out there, haunting the city, taunting the Dark Knight: The Joker. And the new Batman is ready to stop him once and for all. Mindbomb begins!

(W) Chip Zdarsky (A) Jorge Jimenez (CA) Mike Deodato Jr

[mydarlingbat]

Batman #139

[umbrellacam]

ok sorry I just have to yell about this real quick -

Nightwing (Vol. 2) #139 - The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, part 6 Dick: "I let you make the choice for yourself...because I knew you'd make the right one."

Dick didn't know shit, lmao!! "Because I knew you'd make the right one" my ass lol.

Let's rewind two minutes shall we:

Dick: "Tim... Listen... There are no easy answers... But you have the right to make the choice for yourself." || Dick (internal narration): "No-win. If I stop him, I don't trust him. If he goes through with it, I shouldn't have trusted him. C'mon, Tim..."

He doesn't know what choice Tim is going to make, whether his grief will overcome him and he'll take the Lazarus water or not, and has in fact been physically fighting Tim this entire issue to stop him by force. But ultimately he knows it's Tim's right to choose for himself, and decides to hope, and have faith in his brother.

And he has that faith rewarded, and reaffirms it afterward, despite the fact that he wasn't sure.

And paralleling that moment of "yes of course I knew you had it":

Red Robin (2009) #12 Dick: "How'd you know? How did you know I'd be there to save you?" || Tim: "You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me."

TIM DIDN'T KNOW SHIIIIIIIIT HGKLJDKFLSD

At least not consciously! Being caught by Dick is certainly not something he planned for, as he seems to be trying to imply.

Again, rewind:

Tim (internal narration): "I did it. I saved the people he loved. I saved everything he worked so hard to build. No compromises. He won't say anything, he never does. But I know. I know that Bruce will be proud of me. Not a bad day." || Tim: (in the midst of pASSING TF OUT) || Dick: (swoops in and catches him)

Tim may not have actually known that Dick would be there. But that catch... A falling Tim being caught by Dick is a motif that occurs over and over and over across the years of their relationship. Why do I feel like there's a part of Tim, faint as he faded out, and much stronger when he woke up, that went, "Oh, it's Dick - of course if it was anyone, I knew it would be Dick"?

After their conflicts and miscommunications in this arc, after Tim sweeping back into town and explaining not a single thing as he races to thwart Ra's, despite Dick's frustrated pleas, after cutting Dick off with a simple, "Batman...trust me," and Dick's responding, "Of course"....

Tim feeling like he knew, even if he didn't know, or plan, or expect. Because that's his brother. And choosing to express that trust, after Dick chose to trust him...

Just. Dick and Tim. Verbally reaffirming their faith in each other, even after in-the-moment doubts. BROTHERS. My emotions.

[angstandhappiness]

WILD

Here's the fascinating thing about this providing context to Gotham War and vice versa: Bruce says it's just him, that he's in control, but we see that he's an unreliable narrator, that Zur-En-Arrh has far more control than he realizes. There's a reason the opening comics for Gotham War took pains to show us Zur rattling at the cages of Bruce's mind and made sure to thread his commentary all through the event--he had way more influence than Bruce realized. To the point that, when Joker calls to Zur to come out and play, Zur can step easily into his body, that's how close to the surface he was. Which is now being paired with just about the only Joker story I've ever been vaguely interested in because ohhhhh yeah this is the perfect time for a story because this is everything the Joker has ever wanted from Batman--get rid of the riff raff that was distracting you, making you care about things outside of our little game! No more people you love to take you away from our little cat and mouse game! Now all that's left are Joker and "Batman", the most pure form of Batman in Joker's eyes, nobody else will have to matter now, now Batman will no longer hold himself back when it comes to really trying to obsess over and kill the Joker! All right, Zdarsky, I still don't like grimdark loner Batman or Joker-centric stories, both usually are some of my least favorite things, but you have my attention, show me just how rough "Mindbomb" is going to get, because you've clearly been tying this back to a dozen different things and I'll even check "The Knight" out of the library since you were bringing back characters from that series, too. (I think that's what gets me about Zdarsky's writing--for all that Gotham War ramped up and ended way too fast--but I strongly suspect that was editorial trying to make it an Event rather than what was supposed to be a story as part of the ongoings--he has tied in a LOT of other comics for context, which makes me feel like this wasn't just a sudden snap, but that Zdarsky is relying on us to be familiar with just how much shit the characters have been through and why they're at a breaking point now. And I want more "this comic will give context to this other comic" in DC, so I'm cautiously going to give this one a chance!)

[vechter]

dick grayson & tim drake: siblings

nightwing (1996) annual 1 // batman: battle for the cowl (2009) #1-3 // identity crisis (2004) #7 // batman: battle for the cowl (2009) #1 // red robin (2009) #1 // batman: gotham knights (2000) #26 // nightwing (1996) #6 // nightwing (1996) #138 // detective comics (1937) #874 // nightwing (1996) #25 // nightwing (1996) #110 // nightwing (1996) #139 // blackest night: batman (2009) #1 // red robin (2009) #12 // blackest night: batman (2009) #3 // red robin (2009) #11 // quote by erica e. goode (x)

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