Detective Comics #16

Oh Batman! Huffing on an enemy's gaseous emissions again?

Last issue was the first Death of the Family crossover for Detective Comics and it was a gigantic lie by DC Comics. Now I'm not somebody trying to follow along with the crossover and I would have purchased the comic book anyway, but I feel badly for all of the readers that keep picking up these comics labeled "Death of the Family" and getting one or two panel tie-ins to the crossover. Here's last issue's Death of the Family moment for anybody lucky enough not to purchase the comic (although as a non-Death-of-the-Family story, it was pretty good!):

The Penguin: "Poison Ivy had better be dead Ogilvy!"
Ogilvy: "Trust me, she is! Would I lie to you? *wink wink*"
The Penguin: "I have to go to The Joker's party now. You think you can run things?"
Ogilvy: "Can The Emperor Penguin run things?!"
The Penguin: "What the fuck did you just call yourself?"
Ogilvy: "Oh, never mind. Um, yeah. Everything will be fine. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!"

Some of the comic book plots even seem to have been changed to accommodate the Death of the Family story. Batman and Robin's plot was about The Saturn Club and it took a left turn at the end just to make The Joker behind it all. And Catwoman had an entire issue that felt like it ended the same way by shoving The Joker in as the man behind it all. I guarantee that when The Death of the Family is collected, a number of these comics listed as being part of the crossover won't make it into the final trade. There's just no reason! And a lot of people following this crossover have been blatantly lied to a number of times by DC. Once again, DC showing how much they care.

I'm not even sure how this comic book is going to tie in to the crossover since Batman is currently on his way into Arkham to join The Joker for his party. That will continue this Wednesday when the next Batman comic book comes out. But this comic book is all about Batman as well and it's not written by Scott Snyder. So it won't be part of the linear story. So when does it take place?

Apparently it takes place somewhere in the middle of The Joker returning but before Batman keeps the other members of the Bat-family from killing The Joker. That's probably why it's called Death of the Family. They're all going to resent Batman for picking The Joker over them and then they'll all go off in their own comic books and pout and whine. Except for Nightwing. He'll be calm and understanding and overly logical. But he might have a bit of an emotional flare-up and end up sleeping with Tony Zucco's daughter, Sonia.

This issue begins with people in Gotham going extra crazy simply because The Joker is in town. Ogilvy is there calling himself "Emperor Penguin" so this story must take place as Batman leaves his Family at the Batcave and is on his way to Arkham.

On the way to his Surprise Party, Batman gets in a little investigating.

Batman heard about this League of Smiles from a calling card at one of the random joke crime scenes. Not that the crime scene was a joke. It was a crime told like a joke. What it really was was just another reason to move the fuck out of Gotham! It's not a Batman villain killing anybody at this point. Dozens of people obsessed with The Joker just begin killing strangers. Dentists drilling patients to death. Kids spilling gas and burning buildings. Bakers filling pies with bodies. Balloon Animal Makers instilling a childlike sense of wonder in people by his amazing and various balloon animals. And then killing them. The whole city is a bigger mess than it usually is. And it's been a pretty fucking big mess lately.

Just to show that I didn't make up the gang's occupations!

But due to his detective work, Batman has found a lead on the League of Smiles. Even though who cares about one clue at a crime scene referencing a League of Smiles when so many random crimes are being committed all over the city. Only Batman would believe that there's an easy way to stop the chaos. Just find the right guy and break his jaw! Problem solved!

In Gotham, burning your family to death is usually only the beginning of the dark road.

The kid has joined the League of Smiles but he's just not funny enough to cut it. He doesn't get the joke about the hostages that were meant to be killed in the youth center. Instead he fucks up the punchline and lets them all go. Apparently the kid never had a sense of humor in the first place. The fire that killed his family was an accident and when everybody thought he killed them on purpose, they abandoned him. He just wanted to fit in with someone so he joined up with the Joker people. Too bad he was so serious. He just didn't have the chops for comedy.

Now that's a funny punch line! Maybe he did have what it takes!

The kid tells Batman that some guy named The Merrymaker runs the League of Smiles and they're planning on killing a lot of people. So now Batman is going to have to stop The Merrymaker and still make it to The Joker's party on time! It's a good thing Batman can be in 18 places at once.

The back-up story is about Ogilvy the Emperor Penguin. He'd better get his back-up stories in while he can because when The Penguin survives The Joker's party, he's going to be pretty pissed at Ogilvy. He probably won't kill him though.

He'll just sue his ass for trademark infringement. Maybe The Joker will join him as a co-plaintiff.

In the chaos and confusion, Ogilvy gathers the leaders of various crime families in Gotham and does the impossible. He gets them to take the name "Emperor Penguin" seriously. He also tells them that he's taking over for Oswald who is probably dead and that they're going to do everything he says and blame it on The Joker.

Bah. These are all the small potato crime bosses. Wait until Emperor Penguin crosses with Scarface or Two-Face or Clayface or Faceface. Hey! Maybe that's why The Joker cut off his face! So he could be No Face! It was either that or take up a Wonderland persona.

Detective Comics #16 Rating: No change. I didn't really like the way the main story was told. But I do like that Layman has decided to create a new villain for Batman to face. I think he's new. I just hope he doesn't come off as a second string Joker. And there wasn't a hell of a lot to the final story but it was about Ogilvy and I'm enjoying watching Ogilvy's slow downfall after being seemingly just dumb enough to succeed in Gotham City. Now that he thinks he's a genius, he's fucked.