Batman 364
Detective Comics 531
“Chimera”
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| Batman is a shithead at the zoo. |
Batman's not doing so well. Because he
was an inattentive douche, both his new ward Jason Todd as well as
long-time girlfriend Vicki Vale bailed on his ass and left him
high and dry. While Bruce is sad about Vicki, since she a least had
the decency to stay in Gotham City he makes the choice to go after
Jason since the tire-boosting kid
made the incredibly 12-year-old-who-wants-to-be-Robin choice to run
away and join the circus.
Jason did not join
a traveling circus to be a cliche, instead he'd seen a pattern
between towns visited by the circus and a rash of violent robberies
occurring. Solving a crime and possibly helping people is secondary
to Jason's main task of impressing Batman and proving to him that he will make a good Robin. It just can't be healthy the amount of
pressure Bruce has unknowingly put this kid under and then to
abandon him to punch psychopaths. Look at Dick Grayson as Robin, he's
going through all kinds of identity-crisis shit in Teen Titans. And what did Bruce do in response? Throw him out of the manor. It's not really a big
surprise then that, to delve into the future a little bit, Dick will
have a chip on his shoulder for the next ten years of stories and
Jason....well, Jason gets a raw deal.
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| Robin was really hoping to kick Bruce but got confused. |
As a mystery, this
story is a complete failure, which is kind of a shame that it's a
mystery. The title, 'Chimera' refers to the name of the man
perpetrating the robberies that follow the circus: he uses different
masks and identities. Jason is convinced the robber is part of the
circus and even investigates and interviews a list of suspects: Strong
Man, Bearded Lady, Waldo the Clown, who could it be? The answer turns
out to be irrelevant because midway through Jason's investigation
Batman appears, because, really, did the kid think he could hide from
Batman? Batman lends his own expertise to the search for Chimera in
the form of a punch to the face. Once Chimera is down, Jason agrees
to go back to Wayne Manor with Batman who also agrees to give
training Jason a chance to train as a teen sidekick.
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| I'm making that sound-effect next time I punch a man in the back of the head. |
The only kind of
mystery that makes a big deal regarding the identity of the criminal
and then completely dropping this story thread is a shitty mystery.
'Chimera' is one of those comic book stories, and we will encounter
more, that have completely worthless and terrible main plots where
the only reason to read would be the advancement of the sub-plots of
the continuing series. If 'Chimera' had just been about Bruce talking
through his damaged relationships instead of just enticing an
impressionable child with promises of teen-sidekick superhero action,
maybe it would have been construed as a boring story. I contend it
would have been a better and more worthwhile story.
In a last bit of
sub-plot development, while Bruce is able to win Jason back to his
fold, Vicki Vale, doubly upset at being unable to get a hold of Bruce
to perhaps talk through the issue that have arisen over the course of
their fairly lengthy courtship, decides to ditch him and demands a
photographer assignment overseas. By the end of the story, she's
trashing her personally autographed photo of Bruce Wayne and
jet-setting her way to Guatemala. I really do enjoy the way Vicki
Vale refuses to take Bruce's shit. Although, Bruce still isn't as
much of an asshole as the Flash, who I still can't believe
would allow his fiancee to languish in a mental hospital in an
attempt to protect his own secret identity. Perhaps I should be
writing a side essay on how horrible superheroes are at interpersonal
relationships.
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| When in doubt: look cool. |
Yes. Perhaps you should...
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