crisis-on-infinite-batblogs reblogged
Leslie telling it how it is. Hug your son, Bruce. 😠
Batman: Urban Legends #6
Batman #412
"Yet there is a ritual the Batman observes-- A ritual observed but once a week as Saturday night turns slowly into a dawning Sunday--A moment of quiet reflection, of meditation, in a life of violence..."
Usually I would say, "Religion in my comic books? No thank you!" However, I'm actually really interested to see where this one goes.
There were a few references to religion, and specifically to Bruce's relationship with religion, in Batman stories around this time. When Jason is shot in Tec' #574, Dr. Thompkins asks Bruce if he ever prayed, to which he responds "No". Then in #577 (Batman Year Two) we get to see the first time that Dr. Leslie asked him that question so many years ago. Bruce reveals that he hasn't prayed since the night his parents died.
So, it's interesting to see this Sunday morning moment of silence overlooking St. Martin's cathedral. This story is actually about a mime-themed villain, who detests loud noises so it has less to do with the church, and more to do with the church bells, which are silenced in an act of vandalism, but still.
(This was way before they accidentally made Batman Jewish, so I can forgive all of the Christian iconography, but just know that in my heart, Batman is a Jew and we love him for it.)
Batman #408 (June '87) is where Jason gets his street-rat backstory, so that's what I'm considering the official start of post-crisis continuity.
However, in 'Tec #574 (May '87), something really neat happens that ushers us into the post-crisis story. Robin is inadvertently shot by the Mad Hatter, and Batman has to carry his bleeding body to the clinic of one Dr. Leslie Thompkins, which happens to be located in Crime Alley.
This is a location that precrisis!Jason has no connection to, but it is the place where he has come to be reborn. Dr. Thompkins' clinic was his first Lazarus pit. When he wakes up from surgery, he wakes up to a new backstory, and place of origin, and that all begins in Crime Alley.
I just think it's really neat.
Detective Comics #574
This whole issue is just one big whump fic. I kind of love it.
Detective Comics #574
Jason is 12 years old here, with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest... like, holy shit! This is so heavy.
Batman: Urban Legends #3
Once a Robin, always a Robin ✊😭