Live Blogs MEPT Dies for your sins and reads Batman Fortunate Son

MEPT722011-02-04 18:58:47

I apologize for that pun. Also the title wasn't intended but kind of appropriate with the religious symbolism.

• So Crowe and his minions and... okay this guy's magnum puts dirty harry to shame. The thing's as big as his arm. I was trying to cut down on the scans because my printer's software is made for ease of use which means it hates the user but seriously. I'm kind of a nit picker by my nature but look at the gun in proportion to his body◊
• I'm not going to go into the aborted debate over whether historical and artistic relics should be free for public viewing. There's argument on both sides and isn't really the issue here. What is the issue is the FUCKING TERRORISM.
  • I know Crowe isn't meant to really be a Hero per-say but, he is meant to be sympathetic as far as I can tell, if nothing else in story people are siding with him. Now if he was being rebellious and doing shit that was only moderately violent maybe, but he's now at his second armed attack and that's not including the grenade incident.
• Okay so they're attacking the estate and stealing/breaking stuff because "WE BOUGHT ALL THIS! AND NOT FOR YOU! WE MADE HIM THE GOD!" way to be entitled guys. They get to the Lenin style tomb of Elvis. On the way out someone opens fire and hits the people carrying THE GOD.
• The Cops say it wasn't them, Izaak freaks a cop gets hit says it wasn't him and Batman descends from above to save them.
• I have no clue where batman came from mind you. There are no tall buildings around and he's falling down. He lands on Crowe saying "Twist and shout Mister Crowe" Badass girlfriend then kicks Batman in the face. Robin pushes Crowe to escape.
  • Okay I get Robin is young but this is out of character for pretty much any of the Robins to go this hard against Bruce letting a terrorist get away just because he likes the guy's music.
• So the followers are all trained combatants. Some of them at least. This shit makes no sense.
• more bad dilog: "He's Not insane! He's Telling the TRUTH!" "INSANITY... ....Reverberates in every chord of this music you love..."
• To prove this insanity Batman takes Robin to Arkham asylum, inside we see a bunch of crazy people who think they're rockers. Various Elvises...Elvii? multiple guys dressed as Elvis populate this wing of Arkham. So are they in a different part than the Joker? I imagine that could be awkward... OR FUCKING AWESOME
• So I took a break to grab a drink. Then something hit me. At the Tomb of the Fallen Elvis we see him, with grey hair. I'm pretty sure Elvis still had at least dyed black hair when he died. His body wouldn't have grayed his hair post mortum.
  • It's the little things really.
• So we get the story of why Batsy hates Punk Rock.
  • those of you who've seen Linkara's review know this part but since some of you might not, or it's been a while I'll tell it here. Basically Bruce was wandering lost and pointless, so pre-bat, he hears scream and rage and rushes to stop a crime, instead he's in a punk club. How he didn't hear the music blaring I don't know. The Bass player draws him into his obsession for weeks with his predatory powers (no really) Bruce manages to escape and Bass player kills a young woman.
    • So lets break down the elements
      • Rich affluent Bruce Wayne was walking in the shitty part of town
      • he hears just the vocals of a punk band, not the bass which tends to travel better and would be a loud thumping sound
      • He gets all the way into the club before going: Oh it's a shitty singer
      • Some purple haired bass player sees him and with just a glance and a grip takes power of bruce wayne for weeks
      • Bruce pulls free of this obsession but doesn't manage to save a groupie from a brutal murder brought on by this punk player's... Drug fueled rage?
      • He blames himself for this
      • And more importantly blames PUNK MUSIC for this crime
• So the major villains start telling Robin about the heavy metal punk etc bands they like.
  • I think Joker says that Kiss is his favorite band, though interestingly in this his face is flesh tone, so it must be going with the logic that he uses make-up
  • Riddler likes the Mysterians
  • Harvey Dent likes Abba and Black Sabbath
• no wait it cuts to Joker again and he's white faced. This book makes no sense, this was a seriously confusing segment, made worse by the poor art and awful internal continuity.
• Should I address the idiocy of implying: Joker likes rock, and he's evil therefore evil people like rock. Joker liking Kiss means nothing they're one of the most popular bands ever, and while I might think they're bland they're hugely successful and most of their fans are moderately sane.
• So the other nitpick is that Robin panics when the criminals reach through the doors and grab at him. Dude they're in fucking cells and you've been trained by Batman, stay towards the middle of the hall and you'll be fine. Is he freaking out because he's learning the truth about rock'n'roll?
• So Blonde Elvis -
  • Why is Elvis blonde in his hallucinations? this one is seriously bugging the shit out of me, they show elvis with black hair in other parts, so it has to be a conscious decision and not one to avoid using elvis too obviously. That would mean some symbolic purpose? to make him look angelic? I don't know the only other possibility is that it has to do with Crowe having blonde hair.
• anyway - takes Crowe to meet poorly drawn dead rockers of the past including what looks like black face Janis Joplin and white face Jimi Hendrix. Elvis intones: We can git us a game together.

And that's page 61, we'll pick up shortly with the next fifteen pages. There was less overt religious symbolism at least, if we can consider that a real victory, but the back story for batman.. ouch.

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