So, I just picked up Batman: Gotham Knights #154 and, well…
I’ve actually never been in the comic books scene, right now I’m just filling the void that was left in my life when Angel got cancelled, so, I need to be brought up to speed.
Anyhoo, in GK 154, first off, did the Joker origin story really need to be retconned again? I liked the version in “The Killing Joke” just fine thanks. Also, I picked this book up thinking it was a stand-alone issue, but the title page reads “Pushback: Book Five”. From what I can find in the DC website, apparently it’s a part one of two, but the storyline seems to be picking up in media res and with the aforementioned title page, I’m just wondering if this is a story that’s crossing over from other titles- Green Arrow, maybe? About the first thing that happened was that Oliver blowed Prometheus up real good (and who is this Prometheus guy, anyway?) Then we find out that Hush is back in town, and apparently still very pissed at the Batman, but there’s no background about what’s going on. And Tim Drake is apparently Robin in this one, so are we outside the timeline/in the past here?
Oh, and another thing… is it my imagination or are the Batman and the Green Arrow hanging out together an awful lot lately? Is this a post- TDKR thing because the editorial staff at DC figured out that the fans like the Batman/Green Arrow combo? (I sure do, but who am I?)
But I digress… I seem to have picked up a story in the middle of an arc, and have no clue where to find What Came Before.
You’re right, I meant # 54. I don’t know what that “1” thinks it’s doing in my post. Oh, BTW, in case you hadn’t heard, the War Games story is going to cross all** the Batman titles. So, if you want to keep up, you’re going to need to be reading *Batman, Detective Comics, Legends of the Dark Knight, Gotham Knights, Batgirl, Catwoman, Robin *and *Nightwing. *
… and on the rearead, I realize it wasn’t Prometheus that Oliver blowed up. It was the door to his motel room, to facilitate entry by a SWAT team. Seems Ollie had wounded Prometheus previously, and Hush had patched him up.
I figured the recent “retcon” of the Joker’s origin was more of a “clarification,” since it’s more or less consistant with the origin we saw in Killing Joke, and it’s more than possible that the inconcistant elements are the Joker’s own flashbacks/memories, which are distorted by his years of insanity. (I think we’ve seen things like this before, with the Joker “remembering” a family portrait of his two clown-faced parents and a young, clown-faced Joker.)
As he himself said in Killing Joke:
Ranchoth
(And I couldn’t help noticing that he sounded a lot more…sane, when discussing his wife’s murder in Gotham Knights. Maybe he’s staying on his meds.)
