RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books JLA #90

I won't be able to pick up my books until Friday, so if anyone here gets the issue, please . . . spoil me and give me details!

No prob. I think though that someone has already spoiled in on the message boards at DC in the JLA section. Ahh, here it is:

Here's what happened next:

In the Watchtower, Faith and Wonder Woman are watching Manitou Raven console his wife Dawn after the ordeal she went through in “Trial by Fire.” Faith remarks on the beauty of love, and Diana replies that her actually knowing Love (Aphrodite) has tarnished her views on the subject. Faith asks if Diana has ever been serious about anyone, a teammate maybe (she mentions Superman, which elicits a laughing denial from Diana – she hears that all the time, apparently), and Diana says no. Faith tells her it’s for the best, since coworker relationships never work out – this she says as her teammate and would-be paramour Mr. Disaster shows up to whisk her away for the evening, leaving Diana alone with her thoughts.

Wonder Woman tries to clear her head, work out her feelings for Batman, through combat; but one lengthy training session (and a few dozen battle droids) later, and she’s still in the dark. So she turns to J’onn for a solution; he proposes that Diana employ the services of a Martian device that uses her own thoughts to conjure “what might be” scenarios from her mind. Wonder Woman suits up, connects to the device, and envisions what would happen if she and Bruce got together.

In one vision, an eternally youthful Diana pledges eternal love one last time to her elderly husband Bruce, as the cantankerous old curmudgeon stands (not literally, he’s too old to walk) at Death’s door in Themiscyra. In another, Diana stands at Batman’s side in a new guise as Batwoman, a vigilante of the night as dark and ruthless as her lover. In another vision, Bruce comforts a heartbroken Diana after her inability to bear him the children he so desperately seeks tears them apart. In one disturbing vision, Wonder Woman is pushed over the edge and into murder after the Joker tortures and kills her lover Batman. And in one final vision, Wonder Woman stands in the light of a glorious new Gotham as a maskless Batman thanks her for redeeming his soul and filling his heart with love.

When Wonder Woman emerges from the machine, Batman is there to offer a helping hand. He’s been doing a lot of thinking too, apparently. And then… it happens.

“I don’t think we should,” they blurt out simultaneously.

Diana speaks first. She talks about what she saw in her visions, of all the good things and bad things that she saw might happen if they pursued their relationship any further. Diana tells Bruce that she loves him, BUT only as a dear friend and comrade-in-arms; the friendship they have now is too great a thing to risk for something that could end in disaster. Surely he came to the same conclusion, she asks without really caring about the answer. But the forced grin on his face and averted gaze pretty much says it all (at least, in my eyes) – being “just friends” was the last thing he really wanted.

The two heroes hug in friendship, and move to exit the chamber. Batman asks in greater detail about her visions, wanting to know how bad it really was. It was “terrible,” Diana replies. But as the two leave and the room goes dark, an echoing thought betrays her to no one – the thoughts of Diana and an elderly Bruce pledging their undying love for each other in Themiscyra.

Fucking DC. I don't generally like Kely as a writer, but I loved his JLA run. It's a shame that after 60 years DC couldn't explore this possibility in comic actuallity. Especially if they will be doing a reboot sometime soon. If that is the case then all previous taboos should be flung out the door. It was the best way to end it though given kelly's editorial dictates I'm sure.

When are Hawkgirl and John Stewart gonna hook up?

And Jakeem and Black Canary?

And Babs and the Oakland Raiders?

Phooey!

What a cop out!!

Can't Wondy just take a chunk of her clay and some Bat-Spoodge, mix it up and mold it like Hippolyta did?

Mother fuckers are going to pay for this outrage in deuces.

Damn, damn, damn . . . . for a character who is supposed to see the "good" in people, you'd think she'd take a chance . . . .


****sigh****

IMO, I never saw these two together. Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, sure. Maybe Wildcat. Possibly Booster Gold because he seems to get any woman he wants, but not Batman.

And I don't see Batman being all that interested. In any woman in fact. He's too obsessed with protecting Gotham. If he's interested in a woman, he just using her. And not just for sex.

Joe Kelly needs to stop using that damn brain machine, unless he plans to wreak Morrisonesque havoc with it someday. Futurama can get away with a "What If...?" Machine, because it's funny.

I agree, Disco. This is a bit too "Bat Shark Repellant" for my tatses. Fucking Martian "What If...?" devices should remain in the 50s.

True. I hated it for a different reason though. It showed Diana all these fundamentals of relationship breakdown, and because that's pretty much all she saw, she didn't realize that it's what COULD happen and isn't what WILL happen. So, I just hated the confusion it created.

Sure, the comic more than likely would have had the same ending with any other device, but this one just plain pissed me of...Oh well. At least I got to see her in a Bat-suit, FUN!

I was dissapointed in the story only because I really wanted to see the two of them together......maybe someday they will revisit this storyline again.

DAMN IT. Good thing I read this before I bought it.

Batman: Three cracked ribs and a pulled hamstring.

Nightwing: So I take it the romance is over?

Batman: Hell no! I've taken worse from the Joker.

Nightwing: Tell me you used protection.

Batman: Bat-Condom, extra strength. Ribbed with Titanium-Steel Alloy.

Nightwing: For her pleasure?

Batman: No, for my safety. The Batman doesn't need to compensate in the bedroom.

Nightwing: Oh, it's Batman now is it? Then why did I keep hearing, "Oh Bruce! OH BRUCE!!"

Batman: She was just...Delirious.

Nightwing: Ah! From the insane amount of Bat-pleasure?

Batman: ...............Yes.


Hey Jafabian. Could you tell me exactly why you think it wouldn't work between them?

Funny. I was sitting on the couch reading that issue and showed the 1st page to my wife. She then asked me who the transexual bodybuilder dressed as Wonder Woman was.

I hate Chris Cross.

I also didn't care for it. On the plus side the artwork was nice.

You didn't care for the book or the idea?

I'm saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaailinnnnnnnnng awwwaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy...

Pragmatically speaking, there was NO way that WW and Bats were gonna get together. The respective editorial groups woulda killed that idea even before the story went to press. So, no surprises there as far as "Will They? Won't They?" go.

However, knowing that Bruce and Diana weren't gonna happen, I have to say that I was pretty happy with the execution of the issue. All those neat little what-ifs made the issue fun. Chris Cross needs to get his arse back to Captain Marvel, IMHO, as his JLA work has left something to be desired. But, overall, not a bad story.

By the by:

1) Styx (and Eric Cartman) sang "Come Sail Away".

2) Chris Cross (actually, I think it's Kriss Kross) sang "Jump Jump" and "Warm It Up Kriss".

3) Christopher Cross wrote and sang "Sailing" (saaaailing takes me away to where I'm goin'"), "Ride Like The Wind" ("to be free again..."), and the Theme to "Arthur".

4) Even though I know these things, I still maintain that I am a heterosexual man of average to above-average appearance, intelligence, and wit.

And I bet you have a bad case of pink eye, too.

Who the fuck are all these people?

They were before my time so they don't count.