Few comic book hero have a rogues heading like the Dark Knight — and even few can pair him for archnemeses that plunge the drear depths of villainy simply as a reaction to Batman ’s very world . But Batman ’s modish foeman is an intriguing mystery , and one that deliver a creepy take on this intimate Bat - construct .
Batman # 38 — by Tom King , Travis Moore , Guilia Brusco , and Clayton Cowles — is far polish off from the gay tones of the series ’ most recent account aboutBatman ’s fight to Catwomanand hisfriendship with Superman . While that story , “ Super Friends , ” held up what Bruce Wayne mean to the people who experience him proficient , “ The Origin of Bruce Wayne ” hold back up Bruce ’s impact on mass who scarcely have it off him or what he ’s been through at all , in a toxic , sick way .
The write up concentrate on around a youthful boy named Matthew , who turns to Bruce when his parents ( who worked for the Wayne Corporation ) are found viciously stabbed to demise . On the surface , there ’s a peck of equivalence to Bruce ’s own cataclysm — a rich fry left traumatise and orphan by the dark side of Gotham City . He ’s even let his own Samuel Butler , and jokes about how his parent used to liken him to Master Wayne before their unseasonable demise .
The shared harm between himself and Matthew spurs Bruce to strike out as Batman and solve the case , but everything seems a short too easy at first . The wild slash on the parent ’s body rapidly point Batman to Victor Zsaz , who seems all too eager to claim the killings for his own despite the fact he has a clear alibi — but Zsaz ’s involvement in act leads Batman to another hint and another grim slaying , that of Zsaz ’s own parent , confusing matter even more .
It ’s only when a third couple winds up dead , this fourth dimension with their bodies dislocate out in a numerical hint in an attack to implicate Two Face , that Batman take up to put everything together — someone is framing his heading of villain , pass on him clew and riddles to clear like the great detective he is , feeding into the Batman mythos to block out their true identity . After figuring out the real hint behind the grim clue , Bruce finds what he imagine is the truthful villain : Taylor , Matthew ’s own butler , who confesses to off Matthew ’s parent to become the sole guardian of the child ’s sizable estate .
With Taylor punish , and Matthew ’s parents give jurist , it almost seems like the day is save . The young orphan thanks Bruce for his aid , noting that he hopes the experience will help him devise a life for himself like the one Bruce has after his own disaster . Bruce and Selina share a dinner together , reflecting on Taylor ’s treason of a Samuel Butler ’s position with Alfred .
But one final switch flips in Bruce ’s head . Everything about Matthew ’s caseful has been off — the grand puzzles too flawed to hold up to Batman ’s distinctive rigor . The frame of one villain after the other , ostensibly at random … there ’s something infantile about it all . All the similarity between Matthew and Bruce suddenly become less of a tragical circumstance and alternatively all too chilling , like art object of a gruesome puzzle being slotted together . If a butler like Taylor is mean to do anything for his cellblock , like Alfred does for Bruce , what if the ward wants something truly terrible , something bear out of years of sitting in the shadow of another billionaire orphan he was always order to look up to ?
Taylor did murder Matthew ’s parent , but he did n’t do it for money . He did it because Matthew differentiate him to , to complete the untried boy ’s unappeasable transformation into his idol . Matthew ’s warped brain , not make the connection that what Bruce ’s own injury did to him was turn him into Batman , call up that only in being wholly like Bruce Wayne — justly down to the tragedy of Bruce ’s other life — could he ever be as successful , could he ever be as good for Gotham .
It ’s a horrifying turn on the impact that Bruce Wayne has had on Gotham — not as Batman , but as himself . The final lines of Batman # 38 are its most haunting intermediation on this , as we cut between Matthew ’s incarceration in Arkham and Bruce returning home to Selina in sadness , the talks flashing back to Matthew and Batman ’s final conversation :
So many of Batman ’s foes are inspired by , or are a direct reply to , the imagination of Batman himself — villainy rising up to match the theatricality of the Dark Knight . To see one inspire by Bruce Wayne instead ( for all the wrong , distorted reason ) is a rare occasion , and leave behind a lot of potency for Matthew , should he come back , to become a entrancing foil for Bruce .
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