Batman #15

SPOILERS AHEAD

Ever since last issue I was wondering how Joker would make Batman kill his family like he promised. I thought his dip in the vat might have affected him somehow. But thanks to losing his gloves Joker poisoned him. Perhaps that and Tims' comment about the water (which Bruce cuts off) hints that something in the water might do something too. I loved the dream then how different things are with the family in the real world. Before Alfred shows up in his dream this is pretty much his ideal life with his loved ones (we'll ignore the fact Cass isn't there. He was never that close to Steph.) Their all together without any conflict, Damian is far more accepting of Jasons' presence than he is when Bruce wakes. And who catches Joker? Jason. Think about what this means from a meta standpoint. There's even a bit insight into his thoughts on how his kids would protect each other during the attack with Jason holding onto Tim (likely he knows they worked together.)

Instead of being a happy unit their all pissed when he wakes dressed for a fight. I do find it interesting that Dick's the one that invited Jason given their last meeting in Batman and Robin when he seemed to attack him on sight. (#1) Apparently Bruce never sent a message to everyone like it was suggested last issue. (#2)

Now some of the negatives. A few lines with Joker and Bruce on the bridge were corny. Especially Bruce promising to hurt him a lot. There was also the flirty things Joker said although that bothered me because it was just disturbing. There was the Alfred bit in the dream that I thought would have worked better if we could get a clearer image of his face in the reveal. Like last time there were a few expressions that didn't seem to fit the scene. The family scenes were my favorite followed by the Riddler section. Next up Batman and Robin, then the RHATO and TT tie ins.


#1 I say Dicks' the one doing the attacking as Jason is drawn as just arriving at the scene. Although his guns are out he still has one foot posed on the ledge as if he was caught stepping down.

#2 Which makes sense because Jason isn't that close to anyone but Tim. Since Tim seems to be missing in TT the timing feels a little off. Jason wasn't alerted to the Joker being around since he's caught off guard when his girlfriend is drugged by Joker. We'll see how the tie ins work this.