Spring is right around the corner, but Ian and Steph had some time to review the latest chapters of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures! Let’s find out all about the latest batch with our review of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #73-75.
Steph: Hi Ian! Before we dive into Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #73-75, are you keeping warm?
Ian: Not really! As we write this, the midwest has gotten DUMPED on by a huge pile of snow! Which is pretty appropriate for this first chapter we’re reviewing!
Steph: For sure…Texas is in the 70s, so I can’t relate, but I’m sure someone can. Ep. 73 – Snowfall (Part 2)…the battle has commenced. Do you think the kids were too easily duped?
Ian: I think honestly that the kids don’t tend to coordinate too well together, so I wasn’t too surprised by how Bruce was able to bamboozle them – especially since he had the most secret of all secret weapons, ALFRED!
Steph: Yes! I’d say using Alfred was the smartest move he could have made…cause he’s got automatic armor – the kids would never want to hurt him! A “love shield,” I guess.
Ian: Of course! And I always think Alfred would be a pretty deadly shot, at least with a snowball!
Steph: He did cheat again, though…what is “The Thrasher”?
Ian: Looks like a less ridiculous version of the Hellbat to me! or maybe Rookie from the JimBats era!
Steph: I loved that the only real “casualty” was Dick…quite deep in the snow with Tim frantically trying to save him and Jason losing it. Very true to form.
Ian: Dick always leaps before he looks!
Steph: Lol. True.
Ian: So I’m curious – do you think this works best as a two-parter, or is it more of a stretched-out one-and-a-half strip story?
Steph: I thought it was a stretched-out half strip, though I did like the build-up and anticipation the first story set up by taking longer. What did you think?
Ian: It did have a lot of good character interactions, but I didn’t think the payoff was worth the extra strip. Maybe if there were a few more character payoffs in the second strip, I would think it was more worth the length.
Steph: Yeah, that’s fair. Thankfully the next silly one was only one strip…and it featured little Dick as Robin! Ep. 74 – Lesson Learned. I tell you what, it wasn’t the lesson I thought it was going to be.
Ian: SAME
Steph: How old is Dick, do you think? This has got to be Robin: Year 1.
Ian: I think Dick is clearly supposed to be under 12, perhaps even 10? I’m terrible at guessing the ages of real people and comic characters, but he looks so tiny and cute here.
Steph: They say “16 years ago”, so if he’s in his 20s, he’s got to be under 10. Do you think Dick is in his early 30s in this strip?
Ian: No, I’ve always thought Dick had a late 20s vibe in WFA. So I could see him being ten or even eiht, though eight is pushing it.
Steph: Yeah, my math is terrible; I guess he could be ten, and that would be fine.
Ian: I know this is a world where the villains aren’t nearly as terrifying as the main comics or movies, but I’m still a bit “HMMMMM” at Batman taking an 8-year-old out to fight Poison Ivy.
Steph: So, what lesson did you think was GOING to learn?
Ian: I mean…DID Dick learn his lesson? It didn’t seem so!
Steph: LOL. For sure. I was thinking it was going to be something with pheromones or getting distracted by a pretty lady or something. But this was much more… 10-year-old Richard Grayson issues.
Ian: Impulse control, for sure!
Steph: I loved how patient Ivy was with Batman while he dealt with “the new guy”
Ian: I will say, I was a bit bummed that the gag was basically repeated instead of thinking of another way for Dick to get in trouble while Batman is facing Ivy. That felt a bit of a letdown of creative inspiration.
Steph: I was hoping it had more to do with his puns. But the brother bonding at the end made up for the slightly lackluster gag for me.
Ian: For sure – Dick and Damian are always such a delight – I think partly because they have such perfectly contrasting personalities, and both have such distinct voices that are pretty commonly grasped by writers.
Steph: The last one tonight is Ep. 75 – Worth (Part 1) – another serious one exploring the Signal, Duke Thomas.
Ian: Er…don’t you mean our first serious one tonight?
Steph: That too. I thought it was an interesting dilemma to have, and I loved that he was talking to Luke about it. What did you think? Is this an issue worth exploring?
Ian: I think it’s an interesting one. Duke is such an amorphous character in the various versions of the Bat-Family that he appears in – from Snyder’s puzzle solver to Murphy’s ex-marine, to Bermejo’s stereotypical street kid player, to King’s studious student, to Hill’s cipher, to Thomas’s brilliant combination of serious, swagger, and sweet – while WFA has mostly treated Duke like “the new kid” in the Bat-Family, which doesn’t really connect to any version of Duke (except perhaps the weakest of comic versions of Duke, the Tony Patrick version).
The problem of Duke’s powers is one that I still haven’t come to terms with myself, but I think it’s definitely worth the comic exploring! I wish there were SOME consistency in any aspect of Duke’s character and powers. As a huge fan of Batwing, though, I’m always super happy to see him show up! What did you make of this first two-parter for Duke?
Steph: I think it was so interesting that in a world of metas, the Bat-Family stands out as the few without powers, and that makes Duke self-conscious. It was an interesting exploration of an “odd” or “reverse” problem to have. It also introduced what I hope we’ll see next episode – “who determines your worth?” Do you think this is too much like the Steph episode a while ago?
Ian: I don’t think it felt the same, but perhaps because I have a different history with Steph and Duke in the other comics. Steph’s history is that of being rejected over and over again, and Duke’s generally been pressured to join rather than being rebuffed, and I think there’s an element of that still preserved in WFA. Duke doesn’t have specific negative histories to look at in his conversation with Luke – more anticipation rather than memory if that makes sense. I’ll be very interested to see how they will resolve the issue!
Steph: Me too! I’m glad we get to get these deeper emotional explorations of the characters! They need more love.
Ian: That is, of course, why we love Wayne Family Adventures! Characters focused, low drama, high humor, and emotional beats!
Steph: Yeah yeah yeah.
Editor’s Note: You can find Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #73-75 and all other past chapters exclusively on the Webtoon platform. You can find all other reviews from the series here at The Batman Universe.
