I've read this before but it's been a while

like I forgot Sgt. Rock was in this?

ah yes that's where millar got the idea

I feel like Steve has successfully employed the shield with a parachute before but what do I know

» "the dark, mysterious avenger of gotham"

» the smiliest bruce has ever been

that is like straight up a bronze age batman design

everything about this feels like a red flag

at darkest

okay byrne sure

royaltimes: this is the one where joker turns out to be the same kind of villain as that guy from the rocketeer

its. weird.

they're just so happy

did. did byrne pencil this?? im so confused

yes, it's 100% byrne

it looks like late byrne

the disconnect being so weird when he handled both sides is. fucking baffling.

ah yes, Oppenheimer, fancy meeting you here?

this takes place in January 1945

it's an Elseworlds

I DO remember this part

anyway the plot is that the joker is somehow screwing things up for the manhattan project, except it's the "gotham project" here, and the us brass suspects bruce wayne is behind it because his record is suspiciously clean, so they have steve rogers pretend to be his bodyguard

here it's "private steve rogers", will they ever decide on one military rank

"Did you see the way robin kept lookin at me?"

gaaaayyyyy

they eventually fight, because, of course, but they stop fighting once they realize who the other must be

meanwhile the person who is actually hiring joker to steal oppenheimer is the red skull, who is looking especially nazi this morning

bucky is taller than robin??

the man is just not subtle

it's a swastika sweatshirt with a swastika armband…

anyway it's a sidekick switch

they're undone by bucky's failure to sneak around, which is funny several bucky retcons later

anyway even joker hates the swastika outfit

really?? hates it??

but red skull wins the fight

fucking batman

anyway they're all on a plane/blimp combo trying to stop the red skull from dropping an atomic bomb on washington dc

perhaps if it's bad to drop an atomic weapon on washington dc it's also bad to drop one on nagasaki? but that is not something for this comic to ponder

it's weird, because most of the time comics tries to absolve steve specifically of any foreknowledge re: project manhattan, but this comic doesn't care

but then this comic also has joker and red skull fighting on top of a falling bomb, so

anyway they drop the bomb over the atlantic ocean, and the day is saved

then, an epilogue

so, uh, this comic

it's very good in certain areas— tightly plotted, good pacing, playing with certain superhero cliches, basically all the stuff you'd want in a team-up special

but, uh… the joker??

I get that it's channeling an older, less menacing version of the Joker, but it still reads weird

and this comic came out in like… 97? 96?

well into the grim + gritty era of comics

in fact I'm sure it's deliberately not grim as a general middle finger to the 90s because john byrne

look red skull had a great swastika jumpsuit in the og comics

honestly when you run around with a red skull mask on (and then I guess your face later gets fucked up or whatever) subtlety is not a huge concern

no, I mean, he is the propaganda equivalent of captain america

but for nazi germany

also holy overexplanation batman

but I guess that's kind of his thing

oh I've seen that joker panel

but, IS THAT REDHEAD JASON TODD...............

it's bruce wayne jr

ok that's weirder

I want to know who bruce jr's mom is

maybe john byrne was the pioneer of the babs/bruce pairing

actually this is very funny in the context of dick and damian

honestly I wouldn't be surprised if this is where morrison got the idea

and also made jason a redhead again because something was missing

altho if it was damian would probably be named bruce wayne jr..............................................

stares into the middle distance

also like how everyone is just happy and smiling even though steve has just learned bucky is dead

there's the beginning of a jason todd arc for ya

i'm pretty sure bruce wayne jr is part of a whole thing

byrne had an elseworld series called superman/batman generations that went through various periods until it got to their sons doing the thing

i've never really read them so i mostly assume, but i'm at least pretty sure the super-sons factored into it

damian was inspired by a handful of elseworlds in the 80s and 90s, son of the demon and kingdom come among them, though i don't think this was one of them

the super-sons as an idea has been around since the 60s, but both of them were jrs back then, even in their superhero names

yes he is very kingdom come which was why I was suspicious of his design and english name lmao

I would have thought this was just a funny coincidence if grant morrison weren't grant morrison

also it would be amazing to see ibn al xufasch and damian in a game together

remember the bad future elseworlds where damian's named tallant and he has a stupid mullet

another pre damian damian

i choose to believe he learned it from dick

the man had such mullet in those days

going by generations, we have no idea who bruce junior's mother is but it mercifully was not barbara

she dated dick and also became president of the united states

as you do

man imagine how the paparazzi would act about dick as a first dude

I was wondering earlier who Bruce Wayne jr's mom would've been way back when, since the batman ship environment must have been really different in the 60s

yeah. apparently in the silver age it was kathy kane, but in byrneland it's "unnamed wife (deceased)"

also i feel it would be bruce wayne ii, not bruce wayne jr

like, you have to be ultra pretentious to use numerals instead of jr but i feel any wayne scions qualify

but then he couldn't also be batman jr

and match his best friend clark kent jr

this was a ride

That nazi sweat shirt just did me in