Batman #48 Recap/Review

Batman #48 Recap/Review – Rise.

Batman #48 Comic Book Recap

Deep underground, something is going terribly wrong. The Powers Corporation’s Hadron Collider is malfunctioning, and the workers are struggling to turn it off. High above this, in a Gotham park, Bruce Wayne asks if he knows his new companion, as he seems… familiar. The man replies that it seems they are destined to fight to the death over this park bench, but he is only kidding. He wants to show Bruce something… it will only take a minute.

Elsewhere, Jim Gordon struggles to get up. Julia and Daryl are unresponsive, and it’s safe to say they are not alright. Bloom’s saplings ask if they can kill Batman, but Mr. Bloom has other plans. Meanwhile, the man shows Batman he is carrying a gun. Wayne is surprised, but the man didn’t mean to startle him. See, he was hurt in the Joker’s attack, just like Bruce was. He was one of the last rescued, and the whole thing… changed the man. He felt lost, as if he didn’t know who he was.

So he bought the gun, and came here to this place to use it on himself. He had it in his mouth. Sometimes, when he smiles, he can still taste the metal. But then it struck him. This place was quiet and calm. This was the one place in the city where, perhaps a gun couldn’t and shouldn’t be fired. Perhaps it should be left at rest. So day after day, he started coming here. And now, he works at a butcher shop. He has an apartment. He’s happy. And he sees Bruce here, with the same haunted expression he had. Or he did… but, lately, the man seems calm… at rest. Bruce acknowledges this feeling, and so the man begs him not to do it. Don’t become who you were before.

<DEEPENING BLOOM VOICE> “Up and up and up… great view, eh Jim? It’s time to show them your pretty face”

Bruce becomes frantic, and grabs the stranger. He demands an explanation for how this man knows so much about him. The man panics, and says he recognized Bruce Wayne as the famous billionaire. A person who can stop things from going back to the way they were before. Bruce goes into a tirade. He’s in love! He’s happy! Why would he want to go back? Why should he? Why isn’t this enough? Why?! The man begins to panic, and explains that he was just talking about the lake. Surely Wayne Enterprises could keep this lake preserved and unpolluted! Calming down, Bruce explains that he is no longer in charge of Wayne Enterprises, and is powerless to help. Besides, Bruce wonders what the point of it all is. Everything dies. Everything decays. Why does it matter? Perhaps it’s all one big…

The man replies that perhaps this is all that is. We have to make the most of what we have. We were here, and that’s enough. Even if what we do fades, or turns ugly… maybe that’s okay. On the other hand, they could always quit while they’re ahead. Heh. <BOOM> Bruce and the man hear something going down in the Narrows, and Wayne rushes off to find Jules. The other man watches him leave, in silence.

“Sorry to interrupt your day, folks! But my name is Mister Bloom, and my friends and I are here with a public announcement. The city is about to die. Happy Tuesday! Yes, Gotham is going down today. The garden will rot. Because what is a garden, really, but a big, beautiful lie. It’s just a natural plot of land, unnaturally twisted and whipped and reshaped to look pretty from far away. But the thing about a garden, if you ever get up close to one? <HELICOPTER CRUNCH> It’s warefare, folks! Plants that don’t belong next to each other, wildflowers that are born combatants, living side by side, vying for water, for sunlight. It’s robbery and murder… gang life in slow, slow motion. <MIC TAP> Is this thing on? No? Eh… <HELICOPTER CRASH> See, I don’t need a mic. Because I know you hear me, people… admit it. In a garden, the gardeners pretend to take care of you. Look how pretty they make your lives. The police shoot you unarmed. Then shoot you again. And again. Your politicians. They take your money, and let you wither. Business poisons you. They say you can do well here, but you’re poor as hell. Aren’t you? Still, the gardeners… they put their favorites up front. The biggest, happiest blooms. The dumb, hungry rose. And the biggest rose of all is right here in my hand. Offered to you. Batman. Their Batman. He was the one who brought me to life, so to speak. The one I couldn’t resist. Jim Gordon. Former head of the police. They tried to make him our superhero so that we would feel safe with them protecting us. Watching over us.

“Now, the men and woman behind me, my friends, each is from one of Gotham’s most vicious gangs. Each is someone Jim Gordon put away en route to becoming Commssioner. And each was set free not long after. It’s the illusion of safety. There’s your proof. See, this Batman, their Batman, he’s not what the real Batman was about. The real Batman was about doing it for himself. He was about taking power into his own hands. He was a wildflower. A weed! Like me, like you!

“<SIGH> Tin Batmen. Now, I worked for my city my whole life. I believed the lies.

And you know where I was headed just before I became who I am today? Where I was literally being taken, as I lay dying? The Potter’s Field. Forgotten. A grave with no name. Back to the dirt. Don’t let what happened to me happen to you friends. Be me today. Be this me. I’ll give you the chance. See, I’ve given seeds to these good folks behind me, and to members of their ilk. Because I respect their independence, their grit. Fighting their way up through the harshest turf. But the thing is, I respect you too.

“Which is why I’ve hidden over a thousand seeds all over the city. I’ve hidden them under floors… in dirty corners… you’ll sense them when you’re near, like a slight tingling. You find one, you make a small incision in your skin, you plant it in your bloodstream. And in no time at all, your body will twist with new powers. Me, my body is a black field of seeds! So stop lying to yourself. The city, it’s a failed experiment. Gotham isn’t some tame garden! It’s a wild, bloody landscape. You like your neighbor? No, you don’t. You hate them. They hate you. You smile, you nod, but you know what? Say damn them. Do it. Damn them. That’s right. And you. Say it: damn the people here illegally, driving up your taxes. And if you’re here illegally, you say it: damn the people who helped screw up your home and then want to send you back there.

“Say it. “Damn all of them. There’s only me.” Say it. SAY IT! Because the city was built on divisions. Dead flower dolls. Gotham isn’t a garden! It never was! It’s a wild, bloody meadow! So stop wasting your lives! Don’t take the pennies! Come to the land of giants! Got get what’s yours GET IT! And let what’s here die as it should, and grow something wonderful in it’s place!”

Jim begs for the city to see reason, but in the words of Mr. Bloom, it’s time to be quiet now… and he snakes a tendril into Gordon’s mouth.

Bruce arrives at the rec center. Things are okay but they need to get the kids out of here, as the entire city is about to erupt into chaos. But a young girl refuses. They can fight Bloom. She can do it… <BODY MORPHING SOUNDS> she’ll be Batman. <BOOM>

The city erupts into chaos. Civilians battle in the streets over seeds. The entire brigade of Batmechs are deployed. The collider is getting unstable and the workers can’t do anything about it. In an unknown facility, Duke Thomas is finally reunited with his parents, but he can’t believe what he is seeing. Bloom’s tendril has reached deep into Jim Gordon, and the man’s heart stops.

Alone, in the manor, Alfred watches this all unfold. <SLAM SLAM SLAM> <PAUSE> <SLAM> No… this can’t be happening… <SLAM SLAM SLAM> <SLAM> Alfred can’t be hearing this! <SLAM SLAM> <DOOR CRASH SFX>

Take me to my cave.

Batman comic books new 52

Batman #48 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island! My name is Arden, and this is my recap and review of Batman #48.

So, here we have another great issue of Batman. Scott Snyder knows how to write, and Greg Cappullo really knows how to draw. Both men are doing phenomenal work here and are a great creative team. Here, as all the plot points converge and we near the climax of this story, things are really coming together.

I liked a lot of this issue, from the way everything builds up to this comic’s amazing ending to the complex and nuanced conversation between the Joker and Batman. It’s all well done and I do recommend this comic. There are flaws, I can see them and I assume they will bother others more than me, but on the whole I like the good aspects of this comic and expect Things are looking to be interesting for next issue and overall, I’m excited for what happens going forward.

But there’s one thing that I really want to talk about today. This week we found out that DC is doing another reboot, because of course they are. Mid-summer, it seems like most of the comics are resetting to a new universe closer to the movies and with biweekly publications. Which is… horrifying to be honest. The New 52 was problematic enough and I think speak for everyone when I say we are sick to death of reboots. It was annoying enough that we had to deal with this in Marvel so recently with basically the exact same idea behind it, but now DC is apparently following suit.

Coupled with this, and the reason I’m bringing things up here, is the news that Scott Snyder will be leaving the core series and instead moving to the Detective Comics title and giving him the creative freedom with Batman without being as tied to DC’s editorial mandates. My reaction, well, is pretty obvious. I like the guy and I’m kind of more interested in this title over the core Batman series. I mean, if this is what he’s like under DC’s editorial authority, I want to see him go nuts with this comic. I want him to go full tilt and show us some really creative content. But that’s just my opinion, let me know what you think about all this in the comments section below, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.

Batman #48 Recap/Review