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Main Story
Written by Ty Templeton
Pencils by Rick Burchett
Inks by Terry Beatty
Colors by Heroic Age
Lettering by Pat Brosseau
Cover by Kelsey Shannon
Asst. Editor Harvey Richards
Editor Joan Hilty
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Back-Up
No Back-Up. This is the first and last issue of Batman
Adventures to not contain a Back-Up. |
Issue #17 - Fear Itself
Cover Date - October 2004. Released on August 18th.
A terrifying dream sets events in motion as Batman faces his ultimate foe…and we don’t mean The Joker! Don’t miss this breathtaking final issue! |
Review
Joe Chill.
If you’re any kind of Batman or comic book aficionado,
then that name means something to you. If not, read on.
Joe Chill is having nightmares. Every night, he’s stuck
reliving a horrible incident, from years and years ago.
He approached a random couple and their young son, in a
foolish attempt at a mugging. Things escalated quickly,
and before the evening was over, he had murdered two
people. But he made a grave mistake: he left the boy
alive. And the Batman was born.
Longtime Batman readers know Joe Chill’s name. Perhaps
Batman’s most logical adversary (the man who killed his
parents), he first appeared in Golden Age, pre-Crisis
Batman comics, where he died a grisly death at the hands
of fellow criminals who blamed him for the creation of
the Batman. Though it was a darkly appropriate story,
many felt that Batman’s mission was more powerful if the
killer of his parents remained unknown, and it stayed
that way for many years. The Joe Chill story was re-told
in “Batman: Year Two”, which was also later removed from
official DC comics continuity. Since then, there have
been two opposing camps: those who feel that revealing
the Wayne killer is a logical plot development providing
needed resolution, and those that feel Batman’s
motivation is more powerful if the Wayne killer stays
anonymous. Surprisingly, in “Fear Itself”, the final
issue of Batman Adventures, Ty Templeton manages
to have it both ways.
His twist on the established Joe Chill mythos is
deceptively simple: only the audience knows that
Chill is responsible. This way, the killer, in Batman’s
mind, remains anonymous, but the audience is privy to
the truth, and is fully able to appreciate the
interconnected genius of it all. Batman encounters
perhaps the single most influential person he has ever
known, and he isn’t even aware of it. Batman’s life
receives needed closure, but only the reader is in on
the joke, and the result is incredibly effective.
If Batman Adventures had one defining quality,
it’s questions. Lingering subplots, mysteries, and the
kind of things that could keep you up at night were par
for the course in this series. That was a big part of
the series’ appeal: its ability to gradually introduce
confounding, utterly captivating mysteries that would
keep you coming back month after month, hoping for an
answer, or at least some clues. Who is the Red Hood? Was
the Penguin’s election legitimate? Could Batman ever
rebuild his relationship with the GCPD? Who is Gordon in
bed with? Why is Alfred using a cane? Just what’s
motivating Phantasm to get involved anyway?
They’re fascinating questions, and they’re a big part of
what made Batman Adventures’ cancellation so very
frustrating. The premature ending meant we’d never get
to see many of those question answered. Of course, the
creative team received news of the cancellation several
months before it happened. They had time to provide
closure for some of these dangling mysteries. But for
the final issue, Ty Templeton takes a unique approach.
Instead of scrambling to resolve as many loose threads
as possible, he surprises the audience with a tale that
goes right back to Batman’s origins, back to the very
beginning. In doing so, he may not tie up all the loose
ends, but provides incredibly satisfying thematic
closure to Batman’s character. The art is powerful and
haunting, the story appropriately lengthened, and the
backup appropriately dropped. The mood is somber and
reflective. The final result is an issue which revisits
the night the Batman was created, and at least for the
audience, finally resolves the tragedy that makes the
character what he is.
In “Fear Itself”, Joe Chill’s nightmares set off a
series of events which bring his life into conflict with
Bruce Wayne’s for the second time. Eventually, for one
brief moment, Chill becomes aware of the truth. Shortly
after, however, he suffers what can only be called
poetic justice. Years after Joe Chill left a young boy
alone and helpless on the pavement, the Batman stands
over Chill’s dead body, unaware of what has just
happened, and as dedicated as ever to his war on crime.
Things have come full circle. One could hardly ask for a
more appropriate resolution to Batman’s story, and to
this series. |
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