A few thoughts on Batman #680

Major spoilers for this week's Batman #680 ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So apparently I'm psychic!

Let me back up a little. Yesterday's Argento video was a bit of a lark, a lazy filler post based on the belated realization that Argento's gialli nearly always feature a black-gloved killer. And interestingly, whenever we see the killer at work, said hands are nearly always played by Argento himself- Grant Morrison is the Black Glove!

But anyway, this issue's climactic introduction of the Joker to the Black Glove's superwealthy playmates brought that back to mind- the Joker's murder of El Sombrero seems like an explicit homage to one of the famous deaths in Argento's masterpiece Suspiria:



As with the last Argento clip, this is utterly NSFW. But note the red and black pattern on the floor! If that's a coincidence, I will purchase, carefully season, cook, and eat a hat.

So what if Morrison really is staging a tribute to the giallo with "Batman RIP"? Most of the central elements of the genre are present- a whodunit-style mystery, dozens of red herrings, often extreme and brutal violence, and an emphasis on madness- though in this case, not the killer's, but the putative victim's.

In this issue we finally get to see Morrison's newly reborn Joker take center stage as well- the issue is even titled after him, "The Thin White Duke of Death," and he certainly does seem to have a horrible kind of mid-70's coked-up-to-the-nostrils Bowie thing going on; hell, he's even got the same haircut. The Bowie reference seems to play into this arc's focus on showmanship and over-the-top melodrama; remember Mr. Mayhew's past in film, and consider this issue's telling line from an oil sheik-type at the Black Glove's danse macabre (in reference to the Batman of Zur-en-Arrh): "I know an impostor when I see one. Is this another of your beloved actors, doctor?" Another? Hmmmmm.

The final pages seem like they might be intended as a Big Reveal of the Black Glove's Identity- if so, it's a disappointment, as it's a character everyone was sure was involved in the conspiracy to some extent- but it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in next month's concluding issue.

An interlude: this is what it is like when Aaron and I discuss comics

Ryan (7:20:54 PM): also, everyone knew it was going to happen, but I'm still a little choked up over the Joker's murder of El Sombrero. *sniff*
Ryan (7:21:36 PM): Every DC comic for the next month should have a corner logo of his little neon-skull-in-sombrero-on-black-velvet business card and the legend "WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE SOMBRERO DIED?".
Aaron (7:23:02 PM): A NEW EL SOMBRERO WILL DEBUT IN DETECTIVE COMICS NEXT YEAR. SHE WILL BE A HALF-MEXICAN, HALF-ESKIMO BISEXUAL (CURRENTLY DATING BATWOMAN) AND BE AN ANTI-HERO WHO KILLS WITH HER DEADLY RAZOR-EDGED SOMBRERO.
Ryan (7:23:20 PM): NO she will debut in NEW AVENGERS and she will be LADY SOMBRERO

The Algonquin Round Table we are not.