SHOWCASE ‘93 #8 - August 1993

Bad Judgment

Credits:  Doug Moench (writer), Klaus Janson (artist/colorist), Ken Bruzenak (letterer)

Summary:  Batman is rescued in the river by Two-Face’s men and brought to their hideout.  Two-Face holds a mock trial for Batman, accusing him of breaking their alliance during his days as D.A. Harvey Dent.  Robin and Alfred locate Batman and create a distraction that allows him to escape.  When Two-Face soon corners Batman several stories up, Robin throws his bolo at him, knocking Two-Face off the building.  Batman rescues Two-Face and rebukes Robin for playing by Two-Face's rules.  In the present day, Batman wakes from his coma and tells Robin that he actually made the right decision.

Irrelevant Continuity:  In this era of continuity, Batman and Harvey Dent were allies until Dent became obsessed with Boss Maroney and began breaking the rules.  Maroney goes on to become the mobster that scars Dent’s face in court during Two-Face’s origin story.

Review:  This doesn’t feel as shallow as the previous installment, even if it is clearly filler.  In this chapter, Moench plays up Harvey Dent’s past relationship with Batman, which was ruined after Dent became increasingly obsessed and lost sight of reality.  Years later, Batman’s now pushed himself to the edge and is suffering from his own poor judgment.  Apparently, the idea is that Robin, with his youthful verve and innocence, is the most clear-thinking individual in the entire story, although I would take issue with this.  As Batman points out, Robin had no way of knowing if Batman was capable of catching Two-Face when he knocked him off the edge, which would’ve made Robin culpable in Two-Face’s death.  Batman, in any context, would not abide this.  (Let’s ignore that Cracked.com article.)  Batman chewing Robin out for this is perfectly in-character and consistent with the moral code he’s displayed throughout his career.  Having Batman come out of his coma and spontaneously change his mind isn’t just a cheap ending for the story, it’s not consistent with everything we know about Batman.  I can see the point Moench is trying to make, but the story he’s crafted doesn’t support his argument.

SHOWCASE ‘93 #7 - July 1993

Double Cross

Credits:  Doug Moench (writer), Klaus Janson (artist/colorist), Ken Bruzenak (letterer)

Summary:  As Robin and Alfred watch over the comatose Batman, Robin flashes back to three weeks earlier.  Two-Face, after escaping Arkham during the breakout, targets mobster Legs Lyman.  He kills Lyman and leaves his body inside a museum as a clue for Batman.  Batman pursues the case, dismissing Robin’s offer for help.  Two-Face, now leading Lyman’s gang, ambushes Batman and forces him to crash the Batmobile into the river.

Irrelevant Continuity:  Klaus Janson’s Batmobile is extremely off-model.  For some reason he’s decided it should resemble a ‘70s Cadillac.

I Love the ‘90s: I guess I’m obligated to mention the title of this series.  DC curiously decided to run Showcase as a twelve-issue series every year, renaming it to match the new year every January.

Review:  DC somehow decided that this Showcase two-parter deserved to be reprinted in the Knightfall trade, as opposed to all of the early Bane appearances, the original “Venom” storyline, or the Sword of Azrael miniseries.  I guess they felt obligated because the covers list this storyline as official chapters of “Knightfall,” even continuing the numbering from the Bat-titles, and didn’t want readers complaining about missing the all-important thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the crossover.  I imagine “Knightfall” only crossed over into Showcase in order to give the lower-selling title some attention, because this is by no means an essential story for the event.  With the removal of a few lines of dialogue and the quickie framing sequence, this could easily occur at any time in early ‘90s Bat-continuity.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this were an inventory story that just ended up in Showcase because Batman was obligated to appear in the book for a few issues out of the year.

Of course, none of this means the story is bad when judged on its own merits.  And in its defense, it’s a nice-looking Klaus Janson comic with better-than-average colors and lettering for the era.  But aside from a cute bit about the Brontosaurus during the museum scene (it’s “the only dinosaur with two names” because scientists originally mixed up two species when naming it), the story’s extremely flat.  And the awkward placement of the arc ruins the flow of the overall storyline, as it requires the narrative to flash back three weeks for no good reason.