Steph has been overseas, but she and Ian found a few minutes to discuss the latest three episodes of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures! Let’s find out all about the latest batch with our review of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #79-81.
Steph: IAAAAAAAAAAAAN!! Are you ready to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….review some Wayne Family Adventures?
Ian: Always rrrrrrrrrrrready! Let’s get into it!
Steph: Well, first we’ve got Ep. 79 – “Just Desserts” with my favorite NEW villain…Margie. She’s not Batman’s enemy, she’s got it out for Bruce Wayne, and it is gloves off, hitting below the waist at the PTA.
Ian: Ahahah, I think Margie needs to cross paths with Deb Donovan from Mariko Tamaki’s Detective Comics run!
Steph: No, I think she’s taking on the Billionaire Dad himself. She fights dirty.
Ian: Do you think there might be a SECRET ROMANCE MOTIVE? She can’t resist the Bruce charm, so she is mean to him instead? Like pulling the hair of the kid you like?
Steph: No, she’s mean. I don’t think this is seeking his attention. This is jealously at its nastiest.
Ian: Probably so. I’m just amused by how transparently silly she is and how much Bruce takes it personally.
Steph: And how petty he is in retaliation. There is something satisfying about not letting people like that win, though.
I love seeing Bruce’s un-batty side. It makes me happy.
Ian: It’s hard to know when to turn the other cheek and when you’re letting someone gain too much power over others! Bruce in civvies is a huge plus in this series! It really is Wayne Family Adventures, not Batman Family Adventures.
Steph: Yeah. We also got a two-parter (that we get to review at the same time!) Ep. 80 and 81 – “Holding Hope.” What did you think of this story?
Ian: It’s been a good long while since we got to put two pieces of a story together in these reviews! I thought it was quite a sweet story, though I’m not 100% convinced it needed to be a two-parter. It’s very nice for Dick Grayson to get a spotlight mostly by himself again – and I know you mentioned a few reviews ago that the Duke piece felt a lot like Stephanie Brown’s two-parter – but this one felt a lot more like Steph’s. That’s partly because of the close connection both have to Batman and his relationship to his Robins, but also it’s because the way they frame/storyboard the flashbacks feel a lot more like the way they storyboarded the flashbacks in Steph’s story. What did you think?
Steph: I wasn’t really sure whose story it was. I mean, yes, it’s Dick’s story, but it was so tightly knit with Bruce’s story and his telling of both Dick’s and his own, and at the same time, it’s Dick getting ready to talk to this girl. Overall, a good exploration, but the two episodes did seem a bit long. I appreciated that it was a Nightwing/Batman bonding story or a renewing of bonds.
Ian: The focus on the little girl plus Margie this week makes me think – in general, WFA hasn’t really done a ton of original characters (or OCs) since 80-plus-years of Bat history make for a truly staggering supporting cast to draw from, but I’m very curious if you think that WFA should explore a bit more in making OCs of its own? Particularly if you think they should create their own OC costumed hero or villain?
Steph: Hmmm. Honestly, I think they could get away with just picking through the history and grabbing villains and characters from years past that fit the bill for what they need (there was that friend of Damian’s a while back that I SWEAR is Collin) to satisfy fans and not worry about creating characters. But if Margie is anything to go by, then the author is more than welcome to create new characters.
Ian: I miss Collin so much too!
Steph: I feel like, though there have been some slight letdowns lately (gag that missed the mark, two-parters that didn’t need to be) overall, I’m still really enjoying this series. What about you?
Ian: I still get my new episodes every Wednesday night and enjoy them greatly, even with the ups and downs to be expected of a weekly series! I am really glad to see Starbite doing such a long stretch of art for this season, though Toby Fan’s second part of “Holding Hope” was pretty consistent with Starbite’s first part! It seems that the artists are finding a groove in meshing styles more now!
Steph: That makes me glad. They’re both so talented and bring such life and fun to the characters.
Ian: Indeed!
Editor’s Note: You can find Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #79-81 and all other past chapters exclusively on the Webtoon platform. You can find all other reviews from the series here at The Batman Universe.
