Late To The Party On Brave And The Bold #33

I've been thinking about Brave and the Bold #33 for a few days. If you haven't read it (or heard about it), Zatanna has a premonition in the form of a dream, rounds up Wonder Woman, and in their civilian identities, take Barbara Gordon out for a night on the town. Some time after that (the next night, I think) is when the events of The Killing Joke take place, and Barbara loses the use of her legs.

Turns out that's what Zee's dream was about, so she and Diana decided to give Barbara a fun night out before a really miserable appearance. Rather than, you know, try and avert it. Apparently, if Zatanna dreams it, it must happen. Bet the Anti-Montior wishes he knew that back during Crisis on the Infinite Earths. He could have recruited some schmuck villain with dream powers instead of Psycho-Pirate, made Zatanna dream of A-M destroying all the remaining positive matter universes, and the heroes would have simply lain down and died. "Gee, it'd sure be nice to try and fight for the survival of ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone else, but Zatanna dreamed it, so trying to stop it will only make things worse! Shucks! *kicks dirt disgustedly*"

I believe Zatanna makes an attempt to avert it, by suggesting to Barbara (who commented she doesn't see her dad much) she ought to spend more time with him. So Babs had dinner with him, and wouldn't you know it? Joker chose that night to show up. The point being, I guess, this has to happen, and any attempt to change things only helps to make it happen. This is apparently a theme of JMS' run on Brave and the Bold, heroes being confronted with things they can't change, and being forced to accept it.

Still, it's a pretty half-assed attempt to change things. Granted, I don't think Zee knows exactly who the shooter is, or when it'll happen, but c'mon, you're heroes, put a little effort in. Have someone hypnotize Zatanna and see if she can pull up more details. Or what about a scrying pool? Can't one see future events with those? In the meantime, have Wonder Woman watch play guardian angel. Diana knows a few things about stealth, I'm sure she could shadow Batgirl for a short period of time without incident. Those are just ideas which don't involve actually warning Batgirl, which admittedly, might be futile if all they can tell her is "Hey, someone's going to shoot you soon! Not sure who, when, or where, though!" but that's why one tries and figure out more.

I guess I don't see the point in having them not even really try to prevent it. One can say it "has to happen", but they're heroes, aren't they supposed to scoff at those kinds of pronouncements? I think the point of being a super-hero is believing they can make a difference, even if the odds are slim. They'll find a way to succeed, because they never give up, or they're pure of heart, or whatever. Yeah, it's arrogance, the idea they can always come through, but it's the kind of arrogance that saves the lives of people who might die if the hero threw up their hands and decided there was no way to win.

Even when the heroes can't come through, we as the reader at least know they tried. The first time Spider-Man faced the Juggernaut, he failed to stop Juggernaut from reaching Madame Web, but he was still there trying. When Juggernaut learned her chair was a life-support system, so he couldn't bring her back to Black Tom, and dropped her on the ground to die, Spidey was there to keep her going until paramedics arrived. If he'd decided he couldn't win, so why bother, she'd have died*. Booster Gold couldn't save Barbara from the Joker, but he tried as hard as he could. Succeed or fail**, I'd prefer to see the effort.

Alternatively, don't tie the night out on the town in with that particular story. Just write a "heroes take one night off from fighting crime to have fun" story. I suppose that wouldn't work with the theme JMS is trying to work on, though. I'm somewhat surprised at that theme, why does he want to demonstrate the heroes are sometimes powerless in the face of larger forces? Is it to draw a connection between the reader and the characters? I'd guess most of us have moments where we don't feel like masters of our own destiny, where we recognize our ability to affect events is severely limited. Now he's showing us even these heroes who save all existence once a month, they have times they can't do everything they'd like either. Maybe it's meant to make the DC Universe seem bigger, that there are forces out there at work even the heroes can't comprehend/cope with. It leaves me worried about whether I'll enjoy June's issue, which I ordered because "Inferior Five meet the Substitute Legion" sounded like great fun. Hope for the best, I suppose.

As a final note, I have feel a little for Barbara. I know, she's a fictional character. Still, Rip Hunter used what happened to her to try and teach Booster a lesson, knowing all along it couldn't be changed***. Far as I know, Babs has no clue (though Bruce Wayne and Grayson both know, now). Now (assuming it's in continuity, probably be just as well it isn't) Zatanna and Wonder Woman knew and didn't do a thing, and presumably, Barbara doesn't know that's why they took her out on the town.

* Not a downside if you didn't like Madame Web, but work with me here.

** Fail, since DC's continuity wouldn't allow Diana and Zatanna to pull it off anymore than it allowed Booster

*** Or so he says. It's like, time can't be changed. Except sometimes it can, so time can be changed, but things go horribly awry. Except sometimes things can be changed with little consequence, or little enough Rip doesn't care, so things can be changed without ill effects. It's a slippery slope.