The adventure begins! Batman: Wayne Family Adventures has been keeping Steph and Ian on the edge of their seat and the mini-arc is about to wrap up.
Steph: Oh man, Ian, I don’t know if I’m ready for today!
Emotionally, that is.
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures has so much going on I can hardly deal!
Ian: This is going to be an intense review! A LOT happens that wrings the heart!
Steph: Hold on, let me turn on some chill lofi to help me out. 🎵 Okay. Let’s go!
We’ll start with where we left off…episode #129: The Man Who Has Everything
We get a bit of Joker flashback where he bemoans that in the early days, Batman was alone and had nothing to lose. But now, he has a whole family that Joker can mess with and torture. These seemed pretty on brand.
Ian: I kind of like the nod to the classic Superman story, and how it fits into Bruce’s fears. It’s kind of chilling how Bruce became Batman because his family was murdered, and he’s slowly but surely been building a new family, and Joker sees that and sadistically threatens to take them away again. I like it a lot more than “Joker just wants Batman to pay most attention to him like some kind of strange love story”.
Steph: Yeah, Joker’s a Pick-Me for sure. It’s a little gross.
Ian: Extremely gross. Poisoning whole buildings! Attacking children! Bad!
Steph: After Batman comes back from saving Gordon he sees his worst fears realized – Joker and Nightwing missing and blood everywhere.
I’ll admit, I was a bit shocked too!
I didn’t lose faith, but it was scary.
Ian: Even though they keep the blood relatively minimal, it’s still quite dark!
Steph: For sure! This was also an episode that didn’t have a lot of side story going on! It was Joker vs Batman and some Joker backstory, but that was it.
I’m pretty proud of Bats for letting Nightwing stay behind. Again, even though he has his loner mandate, he’s not going to let innocent suffer because his family disobeyed him.
Ian: I think it’s good to keep the focus on the main action here – it really highlights the drama and intensity of Batman, Nightwing, and Joker’s fighting.
Steph: Yeah. For sure. I’ve very glad that the blood wasn’t a cliffhanger either. We get to see that Dick is still okay and holding his own again Joker.
I wonder where Joker learned to fight? I feel like a crazy clown wouldn’t have too many moves against a child trapeze artist with Batman fighting training.
Ian: Indeed. There was some clever uses of Joker’s love of knives and Dick’s escrima sticks in the stairwell fight. I wonder if the team had some inspiration from Daredevil on Netflix for this!
Steph: Well, the fight picks up right away in episode #130: Too Much to Lose. Jokers knives vs Nightwing’s escrima sticks. I will say, I did have some Injustice flashbacks where Damian accidentally kills Dick by throwing the stick just like Dick does here.
But Joker is okay (sigh).
Ian: I am very curious to see if they will get rid of Joker on a more permanent basis. I kind of don’t think so, but I do wonder!
Steph: After a Joker’s dirty knight boot kick to the side, Nightwing kicks Joker off the stairs. I have to say, that looked painful. Both of them.
And Joker looks way to happy about it.
Ian: Joker with blood streaming down his face was terrifying!
Steph: Obviously, he disappears (couldn’t have a whole season about him if he got caught).
What did you think about Batman’s “Easy Chum. Iv’e got you.”?
I love the nod to Adam West’s Batman ’66.
Ian: I am a bit torn. I like the reference, but it doesn’t feel right for this Bruce and Dick. I dunno. I admit I’m not a huge Batman 66 fan, though. I’m happy that WFA gives the nod – it definitely feels appropriate.
Steph: What did you think of Damian’s concern for Dick?
Ian: I think it’s very nicely written – calling back to how Damian was Dick’s Robin first, before he worked with Bruce or the other Batfamily members. He’s one of the only people Damian will lose his iron grip on his emotions, and I think it’s very fitting.
Steph: AGH! I can’t even with this boy. He’s such a turd and then he pulls this sweetness.
Ian: Haha. The appeal of Damian indeed.
Steph: And in this scene we get a very clear picture of what is driving Batman – fear.
And Orphan, being the body language reader, sees this and calls Bruce out on it.
Someone has to take Dick to the Batmobile, and Bruce is making his choice out of fear.
Ian: Yeah. Fear is the mind killer, to quote another franchise. And Batman Begins is such a great story about Batman learning to face his fear – but without a family to protect. So seeing him having to deal with that here – an important story for Bruce to grapple with!
Steph: And that wraps up this mini arc. We find out the precincts are okay, many injured, some buildings unusable, but things are better than they could have been. Calculator’s location is known and he can be picked up.
But now we’re coming to an emotional head, and Bruce goes to Barbara who is with Jim in the hospital.
Ian: The Precinct Fight is indeed a good mini-arc. But I’m very curious to see the fallout – because even though Nightwing is ok, he’s pretty badly hurt, so in some senses, Bruce has had his fears validated.
Do you think that he is right to be so afraid when Joker does indeed hurt Dick viciously?
Steph: I think so, but at the same time, he’s willing to be hurt and the family is too. They’re not babies (Damian is nine, so maybe he shouldn’t count) but they all can make their own decisions. Getting hurt is part of the job. It’s a risk they know they take.
You can’t grow if someone is controlling your actions and protecting you.
Loss is a part of life. You can’t live assuming you’ll never lose anyone.
Ian: Yeah, I think maybe part of this arc will push Bruce to figure out how to let his kids grow up. It’s hard! Especially for Bruce!
Steph: Oh, haha. I just realized Bruce’s clothing colors match Batman’s!
He needs more color variety.
Ian: No, Bruce should always just wear black. And very dark grey. 😄
Steph: I also noted that the injury Jim has is his ankle…where the Bat-grapple caught him. I’m glad we’re finally understanding that and appendage being caught by a rope from a 300 feet drop can cause SERIOUS INJURY!!
He’s lucky his spine is okay.
Ian: indeed!
Steph: #ComicScienceGripe
Ian: Physics are the most dangerous weapon! To misquote Mass Effect.
Steph: Most of the episode is Babs dropping truth Bombs on Bruce. They are both very angry.
Ian: Indeed! I think here again we have maybe a bit of a problem with Babs being the voice of the author without any flaws, but I think they’re still pretty fair to Bruce.
Steph: For sure. He blames Barbara for making Dick make a promise to protect Gordon, which I think is really unfair on several counts.
And she calls him out on those too.
Ian: Indeed. Bruce is still very much acting out of fear. I hope that we see the bravery we know he has come to the fore soon!
Steph: I also think it’s silly for Bruce to think that “off the field” and “out of costume” means safe
Joker has never let that stop him.
Ian: Indeed. Though I think that in WFA world, Joker doesn’t know anyone’s secret identity, so it would at least be less targeted.
Steph: Possibly.
Despite Bab’s pointing out his shortcomings, he threatens to take the Clocktower away from her. What do you think of that? I assume he pays for it, so he techincally can do that.
Ian: I doubt it – Babs almost always pays for her own stuff, ever since Birds of Prey started.
Steph: That would explain why she’s so sure he won’t. Maybe she’ll throw pens at him till he goes away.
That’s how I get my cats away from the snack table.
Ian: I bet she has more planned that that! I think Batman isn’t the same as Catman (Thomas Blake) 😄
Steph: Ugh. Catman
What do you think of the parallels between all that’s happened, and Barbara’s talk with her dad when he wakes up?
Ian: Hey, don’t know Secret Six till you try it! (just not the awful New 52 version).
I think it’s great seeing Babs shifting gears from Bruce, who knows all of the secrets, and her struggling to express her true emotions without being able to tell Jim secrets. And the question of which relationship is more honest and more important to Babs. Obviously Jim is more important, but she can’t tell him the truth for his own sake!
A great bit of code switching, as the kids say these days.
Steph: I liked that Babs is practicing what she’s preaching. She knows Jim can’t promise to be okay. You can’t live a life of crime fighting/policing and promised tomorrow. She knows all she can ask is that he does his best. Something Bruce can’t do right now.
Ian: That’s a good analysis! It’s a hard thing, knowing that your loved ones work a dangerous job, and Babs is being very mature in not begging Jim to quit. Well done.
Steph: The episode ends with Bruce coming home looking very sheepish and afraid facing Alfred. I thought that was amazing – the real man of the house continues to assert dominance.
Ian: I am very curious to see how Alfred and Bruce’s conversation will go! And I love that WFA knows that it’s not just action and blood that get us readers excited to keep reading. It’s the relationships – the FAMILY!
Steph: For sure. Man. I’m so excited. But you know…I have noticed there is one person missing who has a bit more say in Bruce’s life…a certain feline female. I hope she pops up soon or I’ll be super bummed.
Ian: Well. If you are an impatient paywall person like me…you may just find out something soon!!!!!!
Steph: 🥰
Ian: 😻
Steph: Talk to you soon!
Ian: Have a great night!
Steph: Night!
