It’s been too hot this summer, so Ian and Steph have been preferring indoor activities…like catching up on Webtoons! And, as luck would have it, season 3 of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures has dropped!
Steph: Hi Ian! I am so excited to talk to you about the Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Season 3 premier! Episodes 117-119!
Ian: Hi, Steph! I am so excited to talk to you about season 3 as well! It’s been quite a while! About 6 months!
Steph: Well, they are hitting the ground running for sure, because right out the gate they’re hitting us with what looks like a real story arc!
Ian: They are! I think our first episode, #117, “One Bad Day Part 1” does a really good job transitioning from the slice of life self-contained, almost newspaper-like comic strip structure to the longer form story format. It starts with your typical WFA setup of the family gathering for summer fun in the Manor, and then BAM, hits you with a bullet in the grappling rope!
A Bat-family breakfast! Image: Webtoon
Steph: Which…okay…that was a part of the plot that had me scratching my head juuuuust a bit. The Bat-grapples definitely are made with rope that could withstand bullets, or else Batman would have been taken out a long time ago. That’s a whole thing in Hush, right?
Cutting of the Bat-rope. Image: Webtoon
Ian: I only remember someone cutting Batman’s rope at least once in Hush. Was it said to be special rope?
Steph: Batman. Cause he doesn’t make the same mistake twice. That’s just me assuming, though.
But yes, it’s starts of very fun and light and goes dark pretty quick, but no darker than other past episodes. I really liked seeing the Bat-family doing a little detecting as a team in this.
Ian: Yeah, when you look at the backstory episodes for Cass, Jason, and Damian particularly, I feel like this is pretty much of a similar piece and works pretty well. It’s nice seeing Bruce leading the Bat-family in a pretty effective way like this!
Steph: I have always wondered why Duke is the only daytime hero in Gotham. It really seems like he should have a partner. Who would be best suited, do you think and why?
Ian: Honestly, I’m not sure there is a ready-made partner for Duke in the daytime. Maybe Steph and Harper, as we’ve seen Steph operate in the daytime before when she was hero of the suburbs in her early days in the Robin title, and Harper’s Bluebird thing doesn’t have as much of a night or Bat theme as the other Robins do. Though this does make me salty that Duke is Signal instead of Lark, so Lark and Bluebird could be a duo!
Steph: Who’s Lark?
Ian: originally Scott Snyder had a couple possible futures for Duke – as a Robin, as seen in the Future’s End event, as Lark, as seen in a couple alternate futures and hallucinations during the Endgame arc, and finally the dreadful Signal naming by the Joker in the terrible Metal event. I firmly believe that naming him after a bird to fit with the Robin theme is way cooler than naming him after your flashlight.
But that is perhaps a bit off topic
Steph: Just a wee bit. Doesn’t “lark” mean “a joke”?…that wouldn’t have been cool.
Ian: puns!
Steph: Well, I enjoyed it, and I’m glad I didn’t read it till part 3 of the story was out! Because in #118, “One Bad Day Part 2” , we see a new skill of Duke’s that helps him escape! I don’t think this is anything that has ever been addressed in the comics before!
Duke’s new abilities. Image: Webtoon
Ian: I will admit I have large gaps in my Duke knowledge, and one of my biggest frustrations with the character is that his powers do not make intuitive sense to me, and they keep doing new and wacky things with them. However, I think the way WFA did this new power was quite sensibly explained and works very well in the story. I think it’s cool that Duke gets his backstory nicely highlighted early in this season, though some fans have been frustrated that Duke is the one who got hurt in the Bat-family. What do you think about the fact that Duke is probably going to be out of commission for the first big part of the story?
Steph: Well, if I know anything about the Bat-family, a few broken bones won’t keep them down long. It does make him a little damsel-ly, but he did save him self and unlocked a super power, which was pretty cool. I think he, hopefully, will have the power to get through to Jason, as the two of them have been first-hand traumatized by the Joker.
Ian: I think that’s a good potential connection! I myself think that Joker’s connection to Duke makes him a logical target, the more so because he is the only daytime Bat. And I have a hard time thinking that Duke is going to stay down for too long. He’ll be back for the final confrontation and I’m sure be a crucial part of the victory!
Steph: Kickapow! In episode 3 of the arc, and the season, #119 “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Bruce enacts a “No one leaves in masks” mandate and stamps down any and all protests. What did you think of that? Was it a forced plot device? Is it too tropey for Batman? Or was it worth it to see Tim freak out about Damian moving his animals into his apartment.
A Bat-freakout. Image: Webtoon
Ian: I thought the Tim and Damian interactions were a delightful reminder of the relationship that has developed between those two in this comic, as well as a very WFA-style gag. I hope they pay it off a bit in a future scene! I also think that Stephanie Brown, as usual, speaks for me in her summoning of the “Bruce can kick rocks” meeting! There’s a reason she’s my favorite character! I do think that Bruce has good reason to be terrified of his family being killed by the Joker – Duke just got badly injured, and of course Barbara and Jason are living reminders of the Joker’s malice and power.
Steph: That is true. I feel like it has been done often, but I also think there is enough unresolved trauma in Bruce, Jason, Barbara, and Duke that it is justified. Though, I do feel like the Barbara trauma is mostly overlooked in the series…though it is one of the nastiest storylines of all time, so maybe it’s too much for WFA to deal with. Which is completely reasonable.
Ian: I think it’s a normal part of Bruce’s character – his love for his family and his fear for them, since they, after all, are what has built up around him after his own family was ripped from him. I am curious if the WFA team has plans for multiple story arcs, either this season, or in multiple future seasons
Steph: I hope so! Interspersed with one-shots and gags, hopefully!
Ian: and if so, if they plan to repeat this trope. I certainly hope not! We haven’t seen it much in WFA, so I find it ok this time, but if it becomes a normal thing, that would make it a bit disappointing and same-feeling.
Steph: I think, as a non-canonical series that doesn’t have to return to any status quo, they have the freedom to have…character development (le gasp!)
Ian: Indeed! I very much hope so!
Steph: I would love to see growth in the characters that, when faced with similar situations in the future, would cause them to make different choices.
Ian: And a future longer storyline where Bruce shows his newer maturity would be really welcome
But of course, we have to get through one crisis at a time!
And right now, Bruce is really struggling.
I wanted to make another note about the structure of the new format.
The first two episodes form a two-parter – Duke gets hurt, and Duke escapes and meets the Bat-family again.
It’s nicely shaped, and I like that you have little structural elements like Cass telling Duke to “Be safe” and then Cass being the one to find him – gives it a sense of more than just an ongoing plotline with cliffhangers. A more episodic sense
Cassandra Cain is the GOAT. Image: Webtoon
And “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, the third episode, is mostly the Bat-family’s Council of War in Tim’s apartment, so it has a nice unity of place that makes it stand out as its own episode.
Steph: Oh man, I didn’t even think of that. I love that!
Ian: I’ll be paying attention to the structure going forward, as the first time I read these episodes, I was sad at the loss of the episodic feel, but now I feel like there’s more structure than I originally saw.
Steph: That makes sense. In previous episodes, we’d pick up in the middle or at the end of an adventure we never got to see, so when I read 119 first (before 117 and 118) it didn’t seem off from normal, because even though it starts in the middle of a story, it’s not too confusing about what has happened, and it falls within the type of story setup up from the past.
But I will be paying more attention to new types of payoff to be sure.
Are you excited for more? Last season was longer that season 1. I hope this one is bigger and better than ever!
Ian: I am excited for more indeed! I’ve noticed some interesting art changes – there’s some new inkers this season, and it makes the art feel more consistent, though not exactly the same as when Starbite was inking alone. I’m guessing the big break was partly to build up the whole story arc – though I kind of hope that the season will actually have two or three story arcs instead of just being one big arc. But we’ll see! How do you feel about the setup and execution of the longer-form storytelling that we’ve been asking for? Is it what you imagined?
Steph: I love it, but I do hope it’s not all one big long story all season long. As we just have come off the current Detective Comics and Batman storylines…there is such a thing as too long and it can get painful, even if you enjoy it.
I can’t wait to enjoy more with you Ian! TTYL!!!
Ian: 😄
