Batman's dead body, take #125
I had never read quite so many comics a week ever before as I do now. These weeks I'm reading anything from 4 to 8 comics, depending on what comes out, which is crazy because some weeks are loaded, but some other weeks are pretty slow (3 lonely comics! that's sad). I'm really enjoying skund's 'I read comics' posts and I tweet my comic thoughts as I read them (@dreamkraken, if you wanna tweet with me!) or well, either tweet or talk about them without end but there's one thing that has been bothering me for a yearrrr now. A year! can you guys believe Bruce has been dead a year? Well. He has.
I miss him.
The preview for tomorrow's Batman and Robin shows a Batman (Dick Grayson) carrying another Batman's corpse (supposedly Bruce Wayne's corpse.) But I've been trying to keep track of that body -in part for fic purposes, in part because I'm just OCD like that- and... so, how many dead Batman's do we have?
When Bruce dies in the hands of Darkseid's Omega sanction, his whole body fries and all that's left is a skeleton/mummy in a batsuit. We see Superman cradling his body on the very next page after Lois, Kara, Jimmy Olsen and Captain Marvel of all people send the rocket with the mementos left from the Trophy Room and the last edition of the Daily Planet, which contains the story of how Batman took down Darkseid. Now...
That means Lois and company already knew Bruce was dead when they sent the rocket, even though Clark doesn't find his body until after that page. Of course everything is kind of crazy at that point, so let's suppose we're not seeing things chronologically. Anyway, the rocket is sent to the past with the Batsignal, the daily planet's last edition and a Superman cape.
In the end of Final Crisis, Bruce is stuck in the past -and, from Grant's interviews, has amnesia- and the same rocket is in the background, and he's wearing his uniform -he leaves his belt over Anthro's dead body once Anthro dies of old age- and then starts painting in a cave wall. So far. So good?
Okay, so, IF the omega sanction's real effect is to make someone live through a bunch of lifetimes forever suffering, the questions stands on whether any of these lifetimes are real, or if they are just sort of.. virtual dimensions, since I don't think it would qualify as alternative Earths. Still, Bruce is a)In the past, b)With the rocket, b)Able to affect physical matter. So he's not energy, and he's not a ghost.
So he must have a body. Especially because there's evidence in the present of Bruce affecting the past somehow, since that's what Tim's found in Red Robin (but we don't know what it is yet, whatever.)
Now, in the Batman Blackest Night tie-ins, Dick and Damie and Tim are confronted by Dick's and Tim's dead parents who come back as zombie lanterns. Bruce's grave has been disturbed and the skull is missing -Black Hand stole it for licking purposes. Alfred finds the opened grave after going to visit it with flowers, so one could pretty certainly guess that Alfred *thinks* that's Bruce's body in the grave. Since everyone thinks Bruce Wayne is still alive and hanging out doing crazy shit thanks to Tommy Elliot having his face now -will.. not.. get... angry...- there would be no need to have a 'front' grave. So. Alfred believes that's Bruce's body down there.
So he tells Batman!Dick about this (Barry and Hal also make a stop by Bruce's grave and are all 'holy shit Bruce's grave has been opened!') and Dick takes Robin Damian to the grave, sees his parents grave is also open but empty, and orders Damian to pack Bruce's bones to take them to the cave. Damian is pretty upset about this, actually, and Dick is all 'okay whatever I'll do it.' I think they also pick up Bruce's parents bones? Whatever.
In Blackest Night (was it #6? or #5?) Nekron brings forth 'Bruce Wayne' to get an emotional reaction out of his friends and thus being able to control them and turn the ones who died and came back into black lanterns. Bruce never says a word -which would contribute to this being Lump and not Bruce, I guess- and then burns out or vanishes or something. Anyway, it's the only Black Lantern who doesn't have agency, isn't actively evil, and returns to dust after a bit. (He has also been spilling Black Lantern rings, okay, I don't know about that).
Now, in last month's Batman and Robin, Dick and Jason are having another pissy fight and Jason tells Dick he just doesn't want Bruce back because he will be back under his shadow, that's why he hasn't dipped him in a Lazarus Pit, which makes Dick go all D: DX but then, he reconsiders and goes open a fridge with BRUCE'S BODY IN A BATSUIT.
Which is apparently the body he's carrying in the preview.
So. The body they picked from the graveyard was only bones and lacked a skull, so that's body 1. The body in the freezer is a skelleton/mummy and seems to me only Dick knows it's there, otherwise Alfred wouldn't be taking flowers to some unknown person's bones grave, and Damie would not have been upset at picking up some random guys bones in the graveyard. So the body in the freezer looks like the body Superman gave Dick for burial, so that's body 2.
And Bruce is alive. In the past. With a body that is able to affect physical matter and paint caves and move around and leave evidence that has survived to the present for Tim to find. Sooooo. That's body 3.
....so. I can sort of explain Body number two being a continuity nonsensical thing because Grant isn't writing that and Blackest Night is not exactly an excellently plotted event, and the tie ins are half assed at best, especially the Batman tie in which was SUPER BAD. So let's say.. that body... puff, isn't actually there. There has always only been one dead body, and that's the one Dick has in a fridge.
Does Bruce have a body in the past, is he tripping, is he living through crazy time travel as energy?
For the sake of Dick not being a complete jackass I really hope the body that is lacking a skull isn't a decoy he planted there without telling anyone else. Because the whole thing happened before Blackest Night, so they didn't know there were gonna be zombies rising from the grave, but even if he feared as much and decided Bruce shouldn't be just buried in a graveyard... He should have just freaking cremated the body.
As for Lump being either body 1 or 2. While Bruce is being tortured in Apokolips, Lump is combing his mind for memories, and in the end Bruce is able to turn him to his side to help him escape, so I suppose it's possible Lump could *think* he was Batman at some point, given that he has all his memories. But at least during the whole thing, Lump never manifests like Batman, he's manifesting as Alfred to Bruce, he actually dies as Alfred in his mind, so. If I had a case of two Alfreds I would point to Lump, but I have a case of two dead Bruce bodies and one living Bruce body.
This has been giving me headachesss all year!
:D I love comics, though X)
I miss him.
The preview for tomorrow's Batman and Robin shows a Batman (Dick Grayson) carrying another Batman's corpse (supposedly Bruce Wayne's corpse.) But I've been trying to keep track of that body -in part for fic purposes, in part because I'm just OCD like that- and... so, how many dead Batman's do we have?
When Bruce dies in the hands of Darkseid's Omega sanction, his whole body fries and all that's left is a skeleton/mummy in a batsuit. We see Superman cradling his body on the very next page after Lois, Kara, Jimmy Olsen and Captain Marvel of all people send the rocket with the mementos left from the Trophy Room and the last edition of the Daily Planet, which contains the story of how Batman took down Darkseid. Now...
That means Lois and company already knew Bruce was dead when they sent the rocket, even though Clark doesn't find his body until after that page. Of course everything is kind of crazy at that point, so let's suppose we're not seeing things chronologically. Anyway, the rocket is sent to the past with the Batsignal, the daily planet's last edition and a Superman cape.
In the end of Final Crisis, Bruce is stuck in the past -and, from Grant's interviews, has amnesia- and the same rocket is in the background, and he's wearing his uniform -he leaves his belt over Anthro's dead body once Anthro dies of old age- and then starts painting in a cave wall. So far. So good?
Okay, so, IF the omega sanction's real effect is to make someone live through a bunch of lifetimes forever suffering, the questions stands on whether any of these lifetimes are real, or if they are just sort of.. virtual dimensions, since I don't think it would qualify as alternative Earths. Still, Bruce is a)In the past, b)With the rocket, b)Able to affect physical matter. So he's not energy, and he's not a ghost.
So he must have a body. Especially because there's evidence in the present of Bruce affecting the past somehow, since that's what Tim's found in Red Robin (but we don't know what it is yet, whatever.)
Now, in the Batman Blackest Night tie-ins, Dick and Damie and Tim are confronted by Dick's and Tim's dead parents who come back as zombie lanterns. Bruce's grave has been disturbed and the skull is missing -Black Hand stole it for licking purposes. Alfred finds the opened grave after going to visit it with flowers, so one could pretty certainly guess that Alfred *thinks* that's Bruce's body in the grave. Since everyone thinks Bruce Wayne is still alive and hanging out doing crazy shit thanks to Tommy Elliot having his face now -will.. not.. get... angry...- there would be no need to have a 'front' grave. So. Alfred believes that's Bruce's body down there.
So he tells Batman!Dick about this (Barry and Hal also make a stop by Bruce's grave and are all 'holy shit Bruce's grave has been opened!') and Dick takes Robin Damian to the grave, sees his parents grave is also open but empty, and orders Damian to pack Bruce's bones to take them to the cave. Damian is pretty upset about this, actually, and Dick is all 'okay whatever I'll do it.' I think they also pick up Bruce's parents bones? Whatever.
In Blackest Night (was it #6? or #5?) Nekron brings forth 'Bruce Wayne' to get an emotional reaction out of his friends and thus being able to control them and turn the ones who died and came back into black lanterns. Bruce never says a word -which would contribute to this being Lump and not Bruce, I guess- and then burns out or vanishes or something. Anyway, it's the only Black Lantern who doesn't have agency, isn't actively evil, and returns to dust after a bit. (He has also been spilling Black Lantern rings, okay, I don't know about that).
Now, in last month's Batman and Robin, Dick and Jason are having another pissy fight and Jason tells Dick he just doesn't want Bruce back because he will be back under his shadow, that's why he hasn't dipped him in a Lazarus Pit, which makes Dick go all D: DX but then, he reconsiders and goes open a fridge with BRUCE'S BODY IN A BATSUIT.
Which is apparently the body he's carrying in the preview.
So. The body they picked from the graveyard was only bones and lacked a skull, so that's body 1. The body in the freezer is a skelleton/mummy and seems to me only Dick knows it's there, otherwise Alfred wouldn't be taking flowers to some unknown person's bones grave, and Damie would not have been upset at picking up some random guys bones in the graveyard. So the body in the freezer looks like the body Superman gave Dick for burial, so that's body 2.
And Bruce is alive. In the past. With a body that is able to affect physical matter and paint caves and move around and leave evidence that has survived to the present for Tim to find. Sooooo. That's body 3.
....so. I can sort of explain Body number two being a continuity nonsensical thing because Grant isn't writing that and Blackest Night is not exactly an excellently plotted event, and the tie ins are half assed at best, especially the Batman tie in which was SUPER BAD. So let's say.. that body... puff, isn't actually there. There has always only been one dead body, and that's the one Dick has in a fridge.
Does Bruce have a body in the past, is he tripping, is he living through crazy time travel as energy?
For the sake of Dick not being a complete jackass I really hope the body that is lacking a skull isn't a decoy he planted there without telling anyone else. Because the whole thing happened before Blackest Night, so they didn't know there were gonna be zombies rising from the grave, but even if he feared as much and decided Bruce shouldn't be just buried in a graveyard... He should have just freaking cremated the body.
As for Lump being either body 1 or 2. While Bruce is being tortured in Apokolips, Lump is combing his mind for memories, and in the end Bruce is able to turn him to his side to help him escape, so I suppose it's possible Lump could *think* he was Batman at some point, given that he has all his memories. But at least during the whole thing, Lump never manifests like Batman, he's manifesting as Alfred to Bruce, he actually dies as Alfred in his mind, so. If I had a case of two Alfreds I would point to Lump, but I have a case of two dead Bruce bodies and one living Bruce body.
This has been giving me headachesss all year!
:D I love comics, though X)