Batman #47 Comic Book Recap/Review

Batman #47 Recap/Review – Memory

Batman #47 Comic Book Recap

Rookie continues to choke the life out of Jim Gordon. Batman begs his partner to let him go, and Mr. Bloom commands the mech to obey. The machine launches Jim high into the air. Gordon finds he is on a direct course towards a news copter, so, thinking fast, he takes out his grappling hook, launches it at the roof, and pulls himself to the ground, barely missing the helicopter’s blades.

Hurtled back towards the building, Jim breaks through the roof, landing on a crate of Mr. Bloom’s seeds. Still under control after Bloom put transmitter into the suit, Rookie lunges at Batman. Gordon knows his stealth tech won’t work on the mech, but the molecular contractor in his fingers are effective in sabotaging Rookie’s missile tubes. Batman leaps into the air and shoots at Rookie’s feet. Now immobilized, the mech activates its missile technology.

“Aw, after all you’ve been through together… that’s a whole lot of cold, Jim.”

Over in the Iceberg Lounge, Duke Thomas remains trapped. He grabs an acidic compound, and throws it at the Penguin’s goons, distracting his captors and giving him the opportunity to escape. As he flees, the Penguin is impressed. But around here, the house always wins.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bloom stands over Batman, victorious. “Such a short career… over before you hit your stride. I know you must be wondering if you made any difference. If what you did mattered to anyone. Well, it did. Hugely. To me. All this is possible because of you. If only you knew what you were up against. What’s hiding in me. The change… I want so badly to keep you alive to see it. What’s coming… a whole city, re-grown. With brand new seeds.”

Jim Gordon laughs, and Bloom is shocked to see his seeds are being electrified. His seeds really are electromagnetic shells wrapped around radioactive cores. When exposed to an electrical current from Rookie’s head, the seeds overload, while Mr. Bloom’s powers are rendered inert.

Over in the waters around the lounge, Duke emerges from the sea, having survived Penguin’s attack. As his goons look on, amused, they prepare to kill the kid, when they are knocked out cold by Bruce Wayne. He found Duke using the rec center’s computers, which Thomas had used to investigate the Penguin, and is able to save his life. He takes the young man home, but on the way, he lectures Duke on his recklessness. The boy however, is distracted by a text from Daryl, who says he has info on Duke’s parents. Bruce tries to get the boy to open up to him, and, frustrated with everything going on around him, Duke admits he has a problem with Wayne. Bruce deduced where Duke was. A normal worker at the rec center couldn’t do that. He figured out how to turn a garden of Joker’s horrors into a playground. He figures out riddles like nobody else, better than any man on the world. But he won’t admit who he is, and Duke can’t stand it any longer.

Bruce is baffled at these words, but Duke doesn’t want to hear any more denial. He thinks the former Batman is being selfish. <SUBWAY> He leaps down into the track of a subway, and, Bruce, concerned, follows. Though Wayne still doesn’t understand, Duke continues to vent his frustrations. Anyone could be the man Bruce is now. But the man Bruce used to be larger than life. He inspired everyone to do more. Duke demands that Wayne look at his life. That he look at the shadows. The train gets closer, and Bruce begins to panic. But Duke insists that Bruce think about the missing space in his memory, and what shape it takes…

During this time, Jim has badly beaten a now exposed Mr. Bloom. Grateful for Rookie’s sacrifice, he arrests the villain. As they take Mr. Bloom away, the people of Gotham applaud him. Though Jim is badly beaten, he smiles, proud of the work he and his team have done. He thanks Julia and Daryl, but Mr. Bloom is not impressed. Curious, Jim decides to unmask the villain, but before he can, Batman is impaled. “Hi there.”

Alone, on a park bench, Bruce reflects on what just happened. He can’t believe it. But he forces himself to say it. He… he is…

Bruce’s train of thought is interrupted by another man passing by. The man says he’s seen Bruce sitting here a few times now, but he understands. We all need some alone time. Bruce says he was in an accident near this place, and the other man says that’s funny. So was he.

Batman #47 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island! My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review of Batman #47.

So, this review will be… difficult. Batman 47 feels like a polished piece, pulling out it’s usual epic art and storytelling. And that’s hardly a surprise anymore. Snyder and Cappulo just keeping nailing Batman. Issue after issue, I get something new, fun, and enjoyable. It’s a great comic overall.

But there’s one thing that’s bothering me. It’s been announced, and was quite clearly telegraphed in this issue, that Bruce Wayne will return as Batman very soon. And that’s okay, I can’t help but wonder what the point was of making Jim Gordon Batman in the first place? I see the point of Mr. Bloom. He’s a villain with a plan and a history, and even though we don’t yet know what these things are yet, it’s interesting and I’m looking forward to learning what’s going on with this character.

I also get what’s going on with Bruce Wayne, Duke Thomas and a good chunk of the supporting cast. But Jim Gordon, and all the stuff with the Powers Corporation, doesn’t feel like they have any purpose. I can’t help but feel that this would have been a strong introduction for the new Batman. If we settled into a new status quo, I think this story line would have been the perfect introduction to a series of story arcs. Mr. Bloom would make a great first villain, and all these cool new ideas could have been explored with a little more depth over a few more stories. Drama, tension, stakes, and epic action are earned through context and build-up, and that’s just not happening here. That’s a serious problem in storytelling, and because I know Scott Snyder is a competent writer who I assume knows better, I strongly suspect this is an editorial decision on behalf of DC, because well, god forbid we go a year with only, like, only three comics featuring a Bruce Wayne as Batman.

SIGH! I suppose I’m just being bitter. Between DC and Marvel it seems like we’re constantly getting five minute changes to characters that get swept away in no time at all. Superior this, superior that, Girl Thor, Black America, powered down Superman, powered up Robin, it’s all losing it’s edge because nothing sticks and nothing matters. It all just feels like both Marvel and DC are trying to grab headlines and make a quick buck. And while that’s nothing new in comics, it does feel like we’re reaching critical mass with this.

So it’s not Batman that I’m annoyed with. Like I said, the comic is good. I recognize the high quality of Batman #47, and I do recommend this, I just find it frustrating in the context of the ongoing editorial climate of modern comics. Which is pretty much how I’ve felt since the very beginning of this story arc. It’s good. It’s a well made comic, if not currently one of DC’s best. But it’s hard to ignore the whole… temporary nature of everything. We barely got a year of new Batman, and I can’t help but wonder why they even bothered. Other, than, you know, the obvious desire to sell more comics. Which sadly, probably worked. I don’t know what the sales of new Batman have been like, but I can only imagine how explosive things will sell they will be when Bruce Wayne returns. Oh well, let me know what you guys think in the comments section below. And don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.