BATS OUT OF HELL finale
Written by Joshua Williamson
Penciled by Tyler Kirkham
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Published Nov 15 2017
Penciled by Tyler Kirkham
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Published Nov 15 2017
As the Dark Knights lead the captured members of the Justice League in chains, the Batman Who Laughs, well, laughs enough to surprise Cyborg anyway. He floods the half human's mother box with memories of his failures, and finally as he's shown images of the multiverse, he's prepared to sacrifice himself to save his teammates. That is - until he hears a voice begging him not to so.
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| Don't kill yourself, Victor. |
The mystery voice tells him that his mother box isn't what makes him special. It's his heart that controls it. Slowly the Alfred protocol prods the heroes along when there's suddenly some interference with the Murder Machine's connection. That interference is Cyborg himself. He overrides the program controlling him, and prepares to battle with the Dark Knights.
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| Didn't someone tell Joshua Williamson that just one more football analogy would have defeated the dark knights? |
He unchains the rest of the League, and using his mother box connection to element x to draw power directly from the multiverse, he pumps up his music and calls hike. And so begins the battle of good vs evil, all while the Batman Who Laughs reminds them that each one of them killed the entire Justice League on their own worlds.
Cyborg agrees, and in response frees Deahstroke, Doctor Fate, Mister Terrific, and scores of others. Finally he frees Raven, who was the voice that urged him not to give up. He explains to the rest of them that Barbatos tried to separate them, instead uniting them. He uses the multiverse to them why the Batman became monsters. They're not just his fears, but also his regrets.. and the man can be defeated.
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| Lets beat some batt butt. |
The Batman Who Laughs calls upon Barbatos himself to make an appearance, and he does so as Cyborg opens a boom tube away. Inside Hypertime, they escape but it will be fleeting. Cyborg confides in Raven that the powers are too great, but she explains that his unwillingness to fail saved them. He tells them all that he was a great team player, but maybe being a coach is more his calling. If they're gonna beat Barbatos, they'll need the Nth metal too. He has an idea and booms Raven and Flash away.
The issue wraps with the Batman Who Laughs giving an ominous warning, indicating that all paths leads back to Barbatos. With that, even though this was supposed to be the finale, we're left to be continued...
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| The finale.. No wait! |
Ok, I'm gonna be honest with you here. I don't know what the hell is going on. As is common in crossover arcs messing with a multiverse, which is clearly the subject du jour lately, there's about ten million different timelines flying around and intertwining and twisting, with villains collecting other villains and all this and that. I've been pretty vocal about being a fan of streamlined stories that maybe cross here or there, but sometimes publishers go off, and this another one of those times. Christopher Priest debuts in the next issue. Let's just tread water till we get there. For this one, I give it a 4/10.
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