DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #33

Night Gods

June 2010

Written by J. Michael Straczynski

Pencils by Cliff Chiang

Inks by Cliff Chiang

Cover by Jesus Saiz

Synopsis

Zatanna wakes up from a dream.  But it was not just a dream.  Zatanna contacts both Wonder Woman and Batgirl to enjoy a night on the town.  That night, the three ladies go dancing and have a good time.  Afterwards, Zatanna tells Wonder Woman that that she had a vision of something horrible will happen to Batgirl.  Their night out was important so Batgirl could look back on it with fond memories of dancing.  She will need those memories for soon she will be paralyzed when the Joker shoots her.   

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I don’t know how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I was somewhat shocked when I got to the twist ending.  I wasn’t surprised so much, just reminded how terrible that moment was in the original comic. When compared to how fun and carefree the scenes were leading up to it and refreshingly different it was to see superhero characters behave that way, the shooting became even more poignant.  The contrast was obviously intended and it worked exactly the way it should.  Straczynski masterfully set it up and, I have to say, I got caught into it hook, line, and sinker.  The final page, with Oracle getting herself into the chair, then remarking about her dream and dancing, got to me.  Overall, the entire structure of the story works like a charm, with the perfect set-up and then the perfect ending, made especially more poignant because of the popularity and lasting impact of the Killing Joke story. 

On the other hand, you just knew something was up when the discussion turned towards Oracles.  I had no idea that the story would bleed right into the Killing Joke, but you knew that whatever Zatanna dreamed, it was connected to her Oracle identity rather than her Batgirl identity.  And knowing thast, it immediately puts a downer on the story before we get to the part that is supposed to be a downer.  The problem is that the Oracle conversation feels like a continuity patch, the need to explain a particular point about a character than frankly wasn’t needed (much like what Geoff Johns’ did in Flash: Rebirth with Barry Allen’s bowtie).  The entire thing felt forced and the very heavy handed, a rare misstep for Straczynski, who is usually deft at handling things like this. 

On the third hand, there is something odd about Zatanna’s assertion that there was nothing she could have done to stop it.  In the DC universe, where characters routinely change fate, it seems odd that she would give up without a least trying, like, hey Barbara be carful when you open the door.  I know Straczynski has Zatanna address her inability to help Barbara, but I guess it helps, but it still seems odd that she wouldn’t try.

Finally, on the last hand, I don’t entirely buy into the ending that Straczynski provides.  He makes it seem like Barbara has misty and fond memories of dancing and she enjoys the dream whenever she has it.  But I can’t imagine anyone in a wheelchair thinking a dream of them walking, much less dancing, would generate a warm-feeling response.  I would think it would generate a bitter response, a spiteful rejoinder about how much they lost and how much they miss it.  In fact, I think it would make most angry.  Obviously, it depends on the person and, frankly, I am not sure how Barbara would react, but to me, the ending feels too tidy, like a writer putting a bow on a story. 

I wonder how much of the dialogue and the panel construction at the end were based on the final scenes of the Killing Joke?  Did Straczynski and Chiang recreate the comic or did they attempt to re-work it so that it would fit into the story they were telling.  Sadly, I don’t have a copy of the Killing Joke to know for certain. 

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