Here We See Batman, Futhering His Adventures

Moving right on to the next four stories in The Further Adventures of Batman.

The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Max Allan Collins: A story focused on the Joker, we find him in the doldrums as he has no one with which to share his successes. He sees a report on the news of a young woman calling herself the Mime, leading a gang to protest the overwhelming noise of urban areas, and is quite taken with her. He rescues her from the police, and plans to execute Batman (who captured her originally) as a sign of his love. It falls apart rather miserably for him.

Collins has a different take on the Joker than I'm accustomed to. Not so much him desiring recognition of his artistry, but needing one special person in his life (and Batman isn't it), as well as his love for comedians. Collins' Joker likes to watch Rodney Dangerfield when he's depressed, which struck me as a bit strange, the Joker showing appreciation or admiration for anyone's comedy but his own. On the plus side, this isn't a Joker who kills by the dozens, a change of pace from the Joker of recent years in the comics.

The ending struck me as a little odd. The Joker is captured, and shipped to Arkham, as is the Mime. Not because she helped the Joker or anything, she was going there for her earlier crimes, including shooting a cab driver (which seems like it ought to land her in real jail, not Arkham). Collins describes her as looking shell-shocked, but wearing a grin much like the Joker's (who is walking alongside her, assuring her she'll love it here), only he describes her grin as rather glazed. Is Collins saying the scope of what she'd done has finally caught up to her, or she's been driven truly mad by her recent experiences? If the latter, could they find a different psychiatric facility for her? One where she wouldn't be near the person who put her through some of the trauma? Actually, he could be going for a fitting punishment. She wanted the noise in the city turned down, but now she'll be around the Joker's endless chattering for the duration of her stay.

Oh, and according to the Joker, the sound of one hand clapping is the sound of a hand slapping a face.

Neutral Ground, Mike Resnick: A scant six pages, this is one of those stories about the tailor who serves both heroes and villains, and keeps them on shifting schedules so they don't interact. It was OK, but I've seen that story before.

Batman in Nighttown, Karen Haber and Robert Silverberg: Bruce Wayne is throwing a masquerade party, there's a Batman present, but it isn't him. At midnight, when everyone is supposed to remove their masks, the lights instead go out, the Batman steals several jewels*, and Bruce Wayne sets off in pursuit across the city. He eventually catches up to the thief, has considerable trouble with him, watches another loved one die, then sees the crook die through his own stupidity.

This is definitely a rookie Batman. He nearly loses control of his bike on the highway, has to elude police pursuit because he forgets motorcycles aren't allowed on the freeway(?), gets clocked repeatedly by his target, allows a civilian to die, and can't save the villain from himself. Oh well, live and learn. Haber and Silverberg use Aunt Alice, who was the kindly lady who raised Bruce after his parents' deaths in the Silver Age, I think. Then the Untold Legend of Batman said Alice Chilton's son Joe was the Joe Chill who killed Bruce's parents. Joe is in this story, but there's no suggestion he was nervous mugger in that alley. Here's he's simply a delusional young man.

The writing is a bit overwrought at times, with lines like 'What about love? The little he had known of it lay lifeless in his arms, gone forever.' Sounds like something I would write. Besides, asking the Batman about love is a waste of time. There's only the night, and the war that never ends, right**? Also, I wasn't clear on how Joe could cut the power to the house, or why the emergency generator didn't kick in as soon as Bruce expected it to. I think I'm meant to chalk it up to either the stress of the moment altering Bruce's sense of time, or that he still has a few kinks to work out with the generator.

The Batman Memos, Stuart M. Kaminsky: The story is presented as a series of memos between various parties concerning the possibility of making a movie about the mysterious Batman vigilante in Gotham, intertwined with the disappearance of an actress named Joan Teel from the same studio. The memos deal with topics ranging from who to play Batman, who might play opposite him, are there copyright or potential lawsuit issues, a psychological profile of Batman, police reports on Teel's disappearance, and correspondence between the studio head and Bruce Wayne, who represents Batman and has come to L.A. to make the project happen.

Of the four, this was probably my favorite. Batman is only involved by inference, people claiming to see a weird shadow or something similar, or noticing their files have been rifled through. Still, it's about how people see him, whether as a potential moneymaker, or a great role to play (Errol Flynn really wanted to be Batman), or Wayne (well, Batman) wanting to final approval over the script, to ensure it presents things in an appropriate light.

There is a bit in the psychologist's report where he states it's good Batman gains fulfillment from dressing in a costume a fighting criminals. Good, because he could have become a KKK member, or gasp, a transvestite. Yes, because those are equally horrific alternatives to dressing as a flying mammal while conducting vigilante activities. Besides, how does he know Batman isn't actually a cleverly disguised woman? Hmm? The story is set in the 1940s, so I suppose that attitude is to be expected, but I couldn't decide whether I found it amusing or stupid. That aside, this is still my second favorite of the stories thus far, behind Subway Jack.

* Bruce is stunned to learn all the wealthy socialites wore real jewels to the party rather than replicas. The socialites are just as surprised that he would think they wouldn't wear real jewels.

** I read that in a Batman comic once, can't recall which one, though. In its own way, as sad a comment as when Frank Castle told O'Brien's sister about that sunrise in Afghanistan, then said he'd tried to kill memories like that, but she could do something with it, if she liked.