Batman #43 Comic Recap/Review

Batman #43 Recap/Review – Whatever happened to Bruce Wayne?

 

Batman #43 Comic Book Recap

Bruce Wayne is surprised at Jim Gordon’s words, but the new Batman knows that Wayne was always connected with the original Dark Knight.  Bruce tries to brush this off, but Gordon insists that he show Bruce one of the seeds that were used earlier to kill the criminals.  But Wayne says he isn’t that person anymore.  He’s doing good work here at the Recreation Center, a place for wayward children set up years ago by Lucius Fox.  When Gordon tries to push for some help, they are interrupted by the art teacher Miss Madison.  She invites Jim to lunch with them, but he politely refuses, leaving the seed with Bruce Wayne.

Outside, they are covertly observed by Clark Kent and Alfred Pennyworth.  Superman can hardly believe what he is seeing, and he declares that the man in there is not Bruce Wayne.  But Alfred corrects Clark, saying that if anything, this man is the only true Bruce to ever walk the Earth.  Alfred says he will explain what happened, down in that cave with the Joker.

[Related: Click Here For More Dc Comic Book Reviews]

It took three weeks to dig Bruce out, and by then, Alfred knew.  The man he raised was gone.  Julia had him in a body bag, even, when suddenly, he came back to life.  It seems the Dionesium healed Bruce, but the former Batman experienced extensive damage to his brain.  He is still Bruce, but with no memories or history.  Alfred told Wayne about his life story, but before he could get to the part about becoming a bat, Bruce had the butler stop.  Wayne already could tell that his old self was gone.  He knows he loved his parents, but doesn’t feel their loss.  He may not be the man he once was, but he wants to help.  Bruce’s mother worked in schools, while his father was a doctor.  That feels right, and Bruce wanted to help people face to face.  So he got a job at the rec centre and established a connection with a girlfriend from his youth – a woman named Julie Madison.

The city of Gotham never gives anything back, but on that day, it gave Bruce a place and a purpose.  And Alfred couldn’t be happier.  Superman isn’t satisfied with this, and says they must tell him about his life as Batman.  So the butler pulls out a ring made from Kryptonite.  He tells Clark that Bruce has no knowledge of his combat skills or abilities as a detective.  Every bit of his training and experience is gone.  It’s a new brain, and the old memories are gone forever.  Asking Bruce to be Batman now is like Alfred asking Clark to fly while in the presence of Kryptonite.  And while Superman might think that Bruce can just re-learn what he has lost, the loyal butler reminds Clark that Batman was born out of the screams of a young boy in a dark alley.  He gets his strength from that moment, and without it, he can never be Batman.

To cement the point, Alfred takes Clark to a device that Batman was working on before he died. It was designed to keep his legacy alive through cloning.  Again and again, Batman would have risen under the care  and guidance of an older Bruce Wayne.  This device was never completed, but if it were, it would mean generations of suffering and an endless war for justice.  But Batman wasn’t meant to live forever.  The cycle has been broken before it could even start.  Batman died, and Bruce Wayne came back.  That man Clark saw is the person that Alfred, Superman, and everyone else could never save.  His restoration was a miracle, and the butler begs Clark to let him rest… and let someone else suffer for this cursed city.

Elsewhere, Jim Gordon has begun a mission that was not authorized by the Powers company.  As such, he and Julia are forced to avoid using any of Batman’s new technology.  She warns him that like this, the suit is little more than a costume, but Jim insists that they need to learn more about this mysterious Mr. Bloom.  He infiltrates a facility that smuggles contraband through frozen fish on behalf of a gang called the Devil pigs.

[Related: Click Here For More Dc Comic Book Reviews]

Gordon finds evidence of Mr. Bloom, when he is suddenly attacked by the gang.  Batman manages to avoid their attacks and knocks most of them out with Batarangs, but a shark tank is destroyed in the process.  As a result, many of the sharks and gangsters are killed, but the leader of the gang survives and activates a trap door.  Jim falls into a furnace, and Julia panics, as the suit cannot possibly survive that level of extreme heat.  But before she can do anything, her face is slammed against the car door, and Gordon loses contact with her.

Over at the rec center, Bruce looks over Duke’s file, and comments that the boy still has it in for him.  Julie says that he and Duke have a history, and it must be difficult for the boy to see his mentor so heavily changed.  While Bruce still feels uneasy, Ms. Madison comforts her lover and the couple go home together, while Duke sneaks into their office, and steals the seed.

In a dark warehouse, the Penguin is having a meeting with Mr. Bloom.  The mysterious new villain insists that the Penguin is not a part of this story, and refuses to share a seed.  But the thing is… Cobblepot doesn’t take no for an answer.  He has his men shoot Mr. Bloom in the head, and burn his carcass.  As they move to leave, all four of his henchmen are suddenly killed, and the Penguin is impaled.  “Funny thing about weeds, Mr. Cobblepot… we’re not so easy to kill… and we grow very, very fast!”

Batman #43 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap and review of Batman #43!

Alright, sports fans, so here we are with the next Batman title, and boy am I feeling very… eh?  Don’t get me wrong, the art is pretty fantastic, and we get some amazing moments thanks to Scott Snyder’s writing and pacing, but am I the only one who’s already starting to get a little bored with the whole Jim Gordon thing?

I’m not sure what it is exactly.  For one thing, this doesn’t feel like that original of an idea.  A superhero working for the government, only to be forced to work outside of the law for the greater good – the whole thing reminds me a lot of the Agent Venom story, and even that has been done in lots of other ways before.  Plus, this whole Jim Gordon thing doesn’t feel like it is offering all that much that really interests me.  Mr. Bloom looks cool but feels a little generic so far, while the new Batman is already starting to come across as a bit… boring?  For a comic about an all new Batman, with a fantastic bit of action concerning a gunfight involving mutant sharks being flung at people, it’s a bad sign that the most interesting part of this comic is about Bruce Wayne.

Luckily, all the stuff with Bruce kind of makes this comic worth reading.  I did not expect this, at all.  His memories are so gone, and so altered that I actually am not sure they’re going to bring him back as Batman.  Now, don’t mistake this for an assumption that Jim Gordon is going to permanently be the new Batman – that’s not going to happen in the long term.  I just don’t believe that.

[Related: Click Here For More Dc Comic Book Reviews]

But I’m starting to think they didn’t just introduce that cloning machine for no reason.  See, this comic has me thinking that down the road, somebody, be it Clark or maybe Julia Pennyworth, or someone entirely unexpected – someone is going to finish that machine.  They’re going to make a new Bruce Wayne – one ready and willing to take up the cowl one more.  That’s my theory, and I kind of like the idea.  A brand new and cloned Batman could be very cool, and let the creative teams over at DC start fresh while also keeping every bit of Batman that’s happened so far still in continuity.  And with the old Bruce Wayne lacking any of his memories as Batman, we’d essentially have one new Batman, figuring out his place in the world and learning how to operate effectively.

It could be a great change of pace and a significant development in the Batman mythology, but right now, it’s just a little theory of mine.  I’d like for it to be true, but I don’t have any inside information or anything, so this is just me guessing.

Now, as for the comic itself, well, I think I still recommend it.  This isn’t a good sign for Jim Gordon, as I find myself already paying more attention to Bruce Wayne, but it is still a good comic and worth reading if you are a Batman fan.  Please feel free to comment and let me know if you think my little idea has any merit, and whether or not that is something you’d like to see.  And, as always, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.