Saturday, March 5, 2011

Zatannurday: Killing Joke

There are pivotal comics in in world.  Ones that change everything.  One such comic is "The Killing Joke".  It is the story of Batman and the Joker. But it is also the story of Barbara Gordon and how everything changed for her in one day.  How Batgirl was no more and paved the way for Oracle.

But take any game changing moment like that and it is ripe for others to want to look at it anew.

The "Brave and the Bold" banner is for various team ups from across the DC line.  One of last year's best was The Brave and the Bold #33, a team up of Z, Wonder Woman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon).  OR My three top comicbook loves of all time.  Of course it is a powerful piece, but not in the way you expect.


Now I was never a fan of Babylon 5, but I have always sorta liked J. Michael Straczynski as a writer. He has given me reasons not to like him in the past, but this does not disappoint.

It takes place the day before Barbara's shooting and Zatanna has a vision.  We don't know that though.  We just know it Z and WW and they want to take Barbara for a girls night out of dancing.

You can see more here: http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1855423.html

Obviously if you have not read The Killing Joke then the emotional impact will not be the same, but if you have then...well, you will have to read it for yourself I think.

-- Spoilers --



Honestly that is some pretty powerful stuff there.
Close up, http://www.dadsbigplan.com/2010/04/comic-rack-the-brave-and-the-bold-33/

Here are some reviews I found interesting, each having a slightly different take
http://allthiscrap.blogspot.com/2010/04/brave-and-bold-33-ladies-night-review.html
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=2155
http://acomicbookblog.com/channel/dc-comics-blog/the-brave-and-the-bold-33-review/

I had no problems with Zee and Wonder Woman not being able to help Babs.  Afterall Zatanna doesn't know when it will all happen anyway and she is sure that if she interferes it will only make things worse.  I also don't have an issue with her precognition; she is magical and weird stuff like that happens sometimes.

And because I can, here is a pic of Batgirl and Zatanna reading the comic.

5 comments:

Pun Isaac said...

My bestfriend reads Booster Gold and he told me about an issue or two that Booster spent the entire time trying to stop Babs from being shot. Everytime he tried something happened to prevent him. Rip Hunter then told him that some things just have to happen, they can't be changed.

The strange thing is that the Joker's camera apperantly also had pics of Booster trying to help, Batman just didn't say anything to Booster until he was wearing the costume he was in the pictures. An interesting retcon...

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I had heard of that one as well. And that after that Batman gave Booster a bit more respect. I have not read it myself, but there is a very Doctor Who vibe about some points in time are fixed and cannot be changed.

With this one Zee knew she could not change it and instead gave Babs something she could remember.

Diabolu Frank said...

Huh. I got here through a link at Amazon Princess. It never occurred to me that anyone else might run "Zatannaday" Saturdays, although mine are much less frequent than yours (especially after I shifted emphasis to Vixen.) Cool beans!

Anyway, stories like this bug me, and I don't just mean the 80% of anything JMS writes. I hate when retcons establish such strong connections between disparate characters, especially when the cannon fails to reflect in any way the point of demarcation. Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Oracle have just never had much of anything to do with one another. Why not Supergirl or Black Canary or Big Barda or basically anyone besides Wonder Woman? I could see the argument that you need Zatanna in there to have the vision, but then again, since when is Zatanna known for visions? Why not Madame Xanadu in an uncharacteristic bit of altruism that humanizes here character? I just hate forcing characters to fit a story, rather than feeling organic (or y;know, well thought out.)

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Awesome. I searched but didn't find any other Zatannurdays but did not find any. I'll be checking out all your blogs.

On to your comment, I see your point. You are right, the Wonder Woman is a bit of a stretch, but I like Zee there.

Bubbashelby said...

I need to track that story down! As well as the Booster Gold one Pun mentioned. Does anyone know which issues that happened in?