#even in the tiniest of things like Batman telling Oracle 'call them'

[zahri-melitor]

No Man’s Land

I made it back through! As I said before, my last read through was over 15 years ago, so it was a lot of fun seeing what I remembered and what I didn’t. This really is one of the best Batbook events. The departmental level planning and plotting really stands out; there’s only a couple of times events are repeated between titles (most of the duplicates are actually in Azrael, now I think about it; particularly the Azrael-Catwoman storyline. Clearly they understood they couldn’t trust people to read Azrael) and the story flows with very few contradictions/out of order events/obviously skipped bits . The biggest overall ‘wait what?’ timeline issue is ‘how long was Tim actually IN No Man’s Land and how many times did he sneak back in after being rescued’, because the suggestion he was inside for 2-4 weeks before being airlifted out is hilarious given he then proceeded to spend over a month staking out Pettit and got back in for the Christmas Eve summons quite easily.

Highlights from my read: Bruce Wayne (as opposed to Batman) has some really good stories through Cataclysm-Aftershock-Road to NML. I adore when comics take the time to break out what Bruce can do as a Wayne compared to what he can do as Batman, and both are on show here.

Legends of the Dark Knight #125: the conversation here between Jim and Batman is something that’s been building for over 6 years, since Knightfall. And yeah, the payoff is worth it. They both used their words!

Being a big event, we got multiple 'day in a life' comics for outsider PoVs or minor characters, which are one of my favourite things. I'm a huge sucker for an outsider point of view. Lots of ordinary Gothamites just explaining why they stayed and what community means to them (and also that Gotham talks to you when you have bat rabies). I particularly adore the little red headed agent of Oracle's in SoTB #92 who is so EXASPERATED by Clark Kent ruining her stakeout. She's got a job to do! Stop ruining her report!

Among this is also some of THE defining Leslie characterisation in Chronicles #18, of why she's a doctor and her philosophy on care. Now, the way the story used Zsasz to frame it was irritating (please Leslie, O neg is in such short supply I PROMISE you there are half a dozen people in your hospital camp here right now who need it more than Zsasz), but what can you do. "I will provide treatment to everyone" doesn't have to mean "I'm using an invaluable resource on the least deserving/needy person in this hospital" but it does mean "everyone deserves my care and best effort".

Barbara is at her best, here. Not only does this run highlight her skills as an information broker, troubleshooter and dispatcher, but everyone finally starts turning up regularly to the Clocktower to hang out/have meetings! Early 2000s status quo behaviour has been ACHIEVED. The story would not have worked without her.

Just a BUNCH of Gotham Rogues have really good stories here. What Penguin contributes to the city's dynamics is just so very on display as he runs the entire city's black market. Two-Face's trial of Jim Gordon is some iconic storytelling. Ivy is mostly around via her physical absence - she only appears on page for Fruit of the Earth and in the Harley Quinn intro to set up the Harley & Ivy status quo - but she pins a lot of the territory warfare in place via holding Robinson Park, starts her road to redemption, FINALLY gets rid of those terrible 90s tights (ugh I dislike that costume) and honestly probably helped a lot of people survive NML. And uh Black Mask himself doesn't have the greatest storytelling but his HENCHES do. 

Harley finally gets her promotion to the main universe (and her intro doesn't suck). Joker is fine I guess...ok yes I do actually like Endgame and it's solid Joker storytelling, even as shooting Sarah Essen is the most cheap and lazy angst ever (And then! Jim and Bruce are there in front of Joker who is asking to be arrested after he hurts their family! Again! This story has never been told before oh wait it's the 10 year anniversary edition).

Every Bat vigilante (minus Steph) gets a lot of solid character work and stuff to do. Steph's stuck off in her pregnancy arc having Dixon Lectures On Ethics, but does get that Helena team up during Cataclysm at least. We get Cass and David Cain! JPV remains the saddest wet cat in Gotham and the universe causes terrible things to happen to him (seriously how did you end up getting blown up and in worse shape than HELENA for the finale)! Dick confirms he's back in the family full time and will come if Bruce asks! Tim and Dick have adorable sibling adventures together! There’s an entire Dick/Babs hurt/comfort storyline! Tim Having Parents is actually plot relevant and helps end No Man's Land (also his team up with Wally in Keystone is the funniest thing ever. Wally's like 'HOW DID YOU GET MY PHONE NUMBER...oh yeah you asked Dick')! Helena gets masses of page time even as the plot (and Bruce) does her dirty! Even the LANGSTROMS get page time and character changes (that scene where Man-Bat takes Barbara flying is just beautiful).

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt71

Inspired by @ozmav Maribat AU

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Viperion watched as his boyfriend opened a portal directly in Superman’s flight path and winced as he heard an echoing thud right before it closed. Man of Steel or not that sounded painful. Damian just moved to sit next to him and detransformed to recharge while looking at some sort of tracking device. He honestly didn’t want to know how he’d been able to be so accurate with the Justice League arrivals. When Tim had suggested this, he’d honestly thought it was just to give Damian something to do, something to focus on. He hadn’t actually thought they’d have League members coming into the city this fast.

He eyed the other boy as they sat. It always amazed him how calm Damian seemed when his song was complete chaos. It was almost like five different bands playing at the same time, none playing the same song and all of them different genres. He didn’t understand how anyone could live like that.

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing anymore for at least a few hours. Hopefully father convinced the others to wait for Ladybug to call a meeting.” He heard the slight catch on the word ‘Ladybug’ and pulled the other boy into a side hug. Damian gave a huff of annoyance but didn’t push him off which told him exactly how upset he was.

“Mari will be alright. She's very adaptable.” He just grunted. “It wasn’t your fault either, you know. Nothing like that happened in any of the other resets so even I didn’t know it was a possibility.” That hurt more than he was willing to think about. He still couldn’t believe she’d let things play out like that… well he could, it just pissed him off because he knew that if it was any one of them, she would have taken the second chance and dealt with the fallout.

“I don’t care, she made her choice.” The words were in direct opposition to the truth but he knew Damian wouldn’t admit how much he cared about Marinette. Damian barely showed affection to him, and they were dating. It was one of the cute but incredibly annoying character traits that made him who he was. Even if it did make him want to strangle the boy every once in a while.

“We should probably head back if you don’t think we’ll be needed to keep back the invaders.” He kept his tone light but Damian still scowled at nothing. “We need to update Ladybug about the situation.” No reaction. “If you don’t stop pouting you’re going to make me do something drastic.”

“I do not pout.” He spoke through clenched teeth and Viperion couldn’t help himself. He leaned over to kiss his cheek before whispering in his ear.

“Yes you do love, and it’s adorable in small doses.” He watched as Damian’s face went bright red and chucked at the reaction. Then Damian pushed him off the roof.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette had Tim contact Batman to arrange another meeting with the Justice League since she had in fact promised to update them. Honestly it was the last thing she wanted to do. Well, second to last. She’d take Superman’s attitude any day over having to tell her parents about all this. How was she even supposed to start that conversation? She wasn’t even certain which part would be worse; I’m paralyzed or I’ve been using magical jewelry to save Paris for the last two years. She didn’t see either conversation going well.

“Hey Mari, B wants to meet with you before the Justice League meeting. Not sure exactly why but apparently Wonder Woman will be there too if you agree to it.” She wasn’t certain what her face looked like but it couldn’t have been good. “I doubt it’s anything bad, and Wonder Woman may even want to apologize for your initial reception. Once everyone saw what you were dealing with, most developed a lot more respect for you. Not to mention they’re all freaking terrified of your cat.”

“They better be. I’ll end anyone who talks down to my bug.” Chloe didn’t even look up from filing her nails to make that comment. Tim still shuddered. Marinette couldn’t suppress a smile.

“What do you think about meeting with the Bat Family Chloe?” She waited while Chloe pretended to still be absorbed by her nails. She knew the other girl was thinking and given Chloe’s head for politics she didn’t want to rush her.

“Maybe we should all go. I know you want to meet Oracle face to face and it might give Damian the push he needs to talk to them as well.” In other words she thought Damian needed to suck it up and tell his family about Luka. Especially if he was planning on staying or traveling back and forth to see him. But it absolutely wasn’t their place.

“Chloe…”

“Don’t use that tone with me. I’m not suggesting anything but a meeting between heroes. If anything else comes of it then it does, if not oh well.” Tim looked completely confused, which in her opinion was a good thing. Damian’s family seemed pretty oblivious to things when they weren’t looking for them. They might be detectives but they still fell into the human failing of seeing what they expected to see.

“Alright… How about tomorrow? I’m going to have to go home tonight and hope my parents don’t kill me.” She was joking… at least she hoped. Chloe wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be with you the whole time. I think once the initial shock passes everything will be fine. We could do it over the phone to give them time to blow up before you face them.” Chloe was definitely joking. Marinette wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea though. She was going to throw up before this was over, she knew it.

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