Batman: The Cult (New Edition)

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But we see the GCPD fail, the National Guard fail, and Batman fail, to defeat simplistic tactics by homeless people with guns and knives. It's such bad plotting because these hurdles could’ve been jumped by any one of them if they actually behaved as they would rather than how Starlin wants them to. And the Army don't get involved because a newsreader (there's an abundance of newsreaders overused throughout to serve as both narrators and the Greek chorus - they become a hindrance to the flow of the story and tedious to read long before the end) informs us the President thinks it would be too costly to send the Army into a city in mainland US soil that's under siege! Riiiight, so if a major US city were held hostage, the government would write it off and allow it its own sovereignty? I realise “Dark Knight Rises” has this as a big part of its story but at least with the film there were large stakes – a nuclear bomb – as opposed to thousands of homeless people wandering the streets.

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Josh: The repetition of heads were exhausting after a while. More than anything, Wray’s colors stand out for me. I can’t say that they’re my favorite, but they’re so unexpected and striking, that they demand my attention… And I kind of think that’s what he was ultimately going for. Love Interests • Origins • Other Media • Publication History • Recommended Reading • Storylines • Video Games • Batman Family Interestingly, The Cult also features Jason Todd as Robin and is most likely the only Todd trade outside of A Death in the Family. For once he's not annoying. This is certainly his strongest performance, one last hoorah before death. Casper: I like this one. It’s atypical for a Batman book, and you could argue that Batman acts out-of-character here, and I can totally get why that can be a problem for some readers. But I like the psychedelic stuff, and I like the idea of this underground cult that tries to take over Gotham. Basically, the first two issues are the best, because there’s this mystery and you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. The third issue is so-so. And the fourth issue is so ridiculously over-the-top that I can’t help but enjoy it. I do think that the National Guard not being able to clean up some out-of-control homeless people (who aren’t really as organized as the story wants you to believe) is utter nonsense. So it’s a story with good moments and bad moments, but the good outweighs the bad for me, and Wray is the star of the show! Recommended if you want a different kind of Batman book.

The reason the homeless - or “Underworlders” as they're referred to - are able to take over the city is mostly due to incompetence from everyone in the book, Batman included. They use the sewers as their base of operations and everyone knows this but nobody goes down there to take them out, they just allow them to skulk around and pop up. Nobody has the wherewithal to throw down tear gas and then go in guns blazing - riot police could have this situation sorted no problem. Josh: I agree with you all here. I got a sense of “the ends justify the means” but I also got a sense of “there’s nothing I can do.” I think there could have been a better outcome, and I’d almost be willing to bet that the team probably considered having Batman save the woman…but then you’d have to figure out what to do with her afterwards since they go directly into the sewer. Josh: Matina mentioned Robin earlier, so I want to make sure we give him the credit he’s due, especially since this is Jason Todd. Now, there aren’t a lot of great Jason Todd/Robin stories that come to mind, so this, for me, really stands out for Jason’s career as Robin. Big Guns • Brothers in Blood • A Darker Shade of Justice • Freefall • The Great Leap • The Hunt for Oracle • A Knight in Bludhaven • The Lost Year • Love and Bullets • Love and War • Mobbed Up • On the Razor's Edge • Renegade • Road to Nowhere • Rough Justice • Ties That Bind • Traps and Trapezes • Year One

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I had heard about Batman: The Cult but I hadn’t a clear idea of what was about, but I knew that if I have the chance to get it, I haven’t to hesitate about it.

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Not matter if you’re fan of Batman or not, if you wanted something out of your usual Batman’s story, where he’s not in total control, where he’s not having the upper hand, where he’s not prepared to the challenge, where he’s a fallible man… There are so many moments in this comic where I found myself stopping just to enjoy the gorgeous colors or clever way a series of panels was set up. I particularly enjoyed a number of sequential panels Wrightson does, for instance after Batman’s been shot and he’s trying to get up, instead he literally falls to pieces. It’s just a gorgeous example of him falling unconscious but drawn in such a creative way. Since then, always trying to hurt Gotham City, and each time, bigger and bigger his ambitions and the scope of his plans… Michael : I got some major The Dark Knight Rises vibes from the anti-elite angle so I wasn’t surprised to learn that Christopher Nolan took inspiration from this book.

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Meanwhile in Arkham, Nashton is upset that his plan failed and wailing in his cell. A neighboring cell mate, who is largely obscured behind the steel door of his cell, proposes Nashton a riddle, asking, "Riddle me this. The less you have of me, the more I am worth." Nashton answers, "A friend." They laugh together. Josh: I really like the example you mentioned because that moment speaks volumes. There’s such a strong argument to be made about people doing what they have to do to get by, but also a socioeconomic commentary as well. In über 70 Jahren hat Batman viele Wandlungen erfahren und die heutigen Comics bieten eine große Menge unterschiedlicher Zeichenstile von fast klassisch bis sehr modern. Als ich auf The Cult stieß, war ich begeistert zu lesen, dass der Großmeister der b/w-Horrorgeschichten aus den 60igern Bernie Wrightson diese Graphic Novel gezeichnet hat und habe den Band sofort bestellt.

Michael: I do feel that after a while, the book loses focus and becomes ridiculously large scale in a manner I had no idea was coming. It’s also an incredibly mean book and maybe the current state of the world that created this book club in the first place made me a little less endeared to its plot. Josh: So, this is kind of what I was hinting at a second ago when I mentioned Batman. There appear to be two completely different approaches here. When Starlin is writing the homeless, he takes a hyper realistic approach of, “What could this realistically look like?” But then when he’s writing Batman, it’s almost as if some of the scenes are written to be reminiscent of Batman 66. They don’t mix very well. And the ending… I know you liked it, Casper, but I don’t know. Haha!

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Casper: I like it for the most part, but my favorite bits aren’t the bits with the homeless. I like the scenes where Batman’s basically tripped out of his gourd, and I like the bit where he’s in Central Park a lot. But the homeless stuff…you know, at the start of the story it’s all right, it works well enough. But then we get to a point where the National Guard comes in, and they are unable to stop homeless people who behave like a bunch of wild, out-of-control animals rather than actual people. I really can’t take that seriously. Why can’t the army stop the homeless? It just becomes unintentionally hilarious! What is this? An episode of South Park? Weeks have passed since the incident and the Gotham City Police Department have noticed Batman's absence. Robin often spends the nights at Commissioner Gordon's office trying to find a clue that would help them locate their missing friend, only to realize something major is happening in Gotham City. Batman: The Cult is a four-issued limited series published in DC's prestige format. Each issue of the series features a raised cover. Much like Batman: Ego, this story starts by throwing us right into the middle of a conflict. Missing person reports are spilling into the GCPD, and with them is the confirmation that Batman is missing as well. In fact, he’s been missing for about a week.You know that you’re about to get a thrill, when Jim Starlin is writing and even more if it’s something for DC, and even more and more if it’s about Batman. Matina: Yeah, unfortunately I found myself skimming many of the “talking heads” scenes, after a while they’re simply not engaging anymore. Josh: Yeah, the lift here is quite apparent, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. This is definitely where you see a tonal shift within the story. At this point, I think the element that makes the sequences actually work are the interviews with Gotham citizens.