Tuesday, October 14, 2025
How many Batman figures do I have with cloth capes that could sit on the Mobius Chair? Just Batman '66 ones?
We saw the Lex Luthor issue a bit ago, but why not flip through Batman's, even if a lot of it might seem familiar, even if you haven't read it! From 2015, Justice League: Darkseid War: Batman #1, "God Only Knows" Written by Peter J. Tomasi, pencils by Fernando Pasarin, inks by Matthew Ryan.
Just like Marvel's Civil War II, if you've seen Minority Report you're going to be ahead of the game here: Batman has the Mobius Chair, with which he can, among other things, see into the minds of everyone in Gotham City. Which, as Commissioner Gordon points out, is driving the arrest rates way up and the conviction rates way down: Batman may or may not be stopping crimes, but judges wouldn't convict people for crimes they hadn't committed yet. (Which feels optimistic as hell, but I suppose Gotham's criminal element might have good lawyers!)
Standing on the now-obsolete Bat-Signal (!) Gordon makes an argument that Batman should have thought of: was the Chair from a magical land with no crime and no wars? It wasn't? Then what the hell makes you think it was gonna work here? Bats ducks out to stop a planned robbery rather than answer, and was getting creative with punishments: he leaves the potential robbers stranded in Antarctica, where they'd be picked up by a Navy icebreaker in a few hours. (Probably! Maybe? The Chair probably crunched the numbers on them dying of frostbite or getting eaten by a bear.) Next, he stops a man who was going to murder his ex; since that one had already broken into her apartment and had a knife in hand, there's a bit more probable cause this time. Bats teleports him to Paradise Island, still holding the knife, and leaves him in the care of a couple Amazons, at least one of whom seemed game to mess that guy up. Then, Batman says, it was time to "get personal."
Batman tells the Chair to "show him" the murder of the Waynes, something he--and we--have probably seen a million times, but this might be a new angle for him, as he reaches out to stop the bullet but it flies through; he wasn't really there. He is able to get a good look at Joe Chill, and visits him in the state pen. This is then a variation of Batman #47 (which we glanced at so many years ago!) as Batman unmasks to Chill, telling him he could easily spread the word "Joe Chill created the Batman" and then sit back and watch. Chill is horrified and screaming, and Batman tells him to forget, that he didn't know who Batman was and never would. Chill is left in his cell, shaking and sick, but not knowing why.
Returning to the Batcave, Batman is greeted by more acerbic remarks from Alfred than usual, while coughing up a little blood: he tells Alfred, the Chair "didn't appreciate someone as proactive" as himself, and it was pushing back a little. I don't know if that's true; but Bats also says he can get out of the Chair whenever he wants, yet is seemingly unable. (Alfred doesn't say anything, but gives him a look that is just that bitch for "anytime, sir.") Well, small price to pay for being "an absolute Batman dealing absolute justice," and now he could take the time to narrow his focus...to the Joker! Which leads to Three Jokers, maybe; that was a Black Label book and may or may not be in continuity.
"God Only Knows" maybe didn't fit there; "I Know There's an Answer" might actually be more appropriate! Of course this will build up to a point where Batman has to give up absolute power; I just hope we see him apologize to Jim for a change. Also, although my dad was a big Beach Boys fan, I didn't hear Pet Sounds in its entirety until much, much later: Dad liked the poppier songs, I like the borderline depressed ones.
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