#// then it became a rant on modern bat comics in general xD

[brokentoys]

Like in both Eternal and Future End or whatever the fuck (there seems to be a lot of ‘futures’) Bat & Eddie’s interactions are miserable. Especially in the former, which I express just how fucked up it felt reading it. (View post here) But Confidential brings me the content I want to see,, whilst I do have one issue with it. (tbf? As much as I LOVE the idea of Eddie being protective of Bruce, & not wanting to kill him when he has the chance. It just seems... Unrealistic. Not to mention, Eddie mentioned needing Bat for an audience for the “riddles” he gives. And that feels... too similar to J0ker needing Bat.) But other than that...

It was just a lot of fun, and wholesomeness. A compassionate hero working with a likable villain. Whilst the hero can get annoyed and angry at the villain, it was always for reasons the reader can understand, and even empathize with. Because most of the time, Eddie either deserved it for being insensitive, or... Bat had a right to be skeptical of him. And even then, when Bat would assault or be aggressive with Eddie, it was more understandable as Eddie wasn’t alone, he was intentionally getting close to the potential victim even after Bruce said DO NOT. And Eddie being... Eddie. It was understandable why he’d get apprehensive about this. Not to mention, Bat wasn’t even particularly cruel here, just kinda firm. And Eddie himself wasn’t literally scared, screaming, or on the verge of fucking tears. He was either casual about it himself, or even smiled and cracked jokes. Not to mention, Bat never seriously harmed Eddie at all. He was protective of him when real danger arose, and he never broke any of Eddie’s limbs. He only did what he could to stop Eddie when he thought Eddie was legit going to do something bad.

Therefore, Bat still feels like the hero here. Yes, Bruce DID fuck up big time by not listening to Eddie’s warning in the beginning, and therefore leading to a victim’s death. However, this flaw feels like a fine, and again, understandable one that doesn’t completely ruin Bruce’s status as a compassionate or good guy who oftentimes bitter still. We as readers can understand why Bruce wouldn’t take Eddie’s warning, especially if Eddie could be behind it all as it seemed similar to his own crimes.

This was an enjoyable read.

In other ones, like Eternal...

Seeing Eddie literally this scared, with a broken arm, not even really around other people he can harm. I mean, they appear to be out in the middle of fucking nowhere here. And as I pointed out in the post I linked - the way Bruce talks to him “having FUN??” Then like... showing no compassion when Eddie broke his arm, or the fact that Eddie seems to be TERRIFIED because he legit thinks he’ll DIE if he returns. And also him doing all he can to insist he doesn’t want to fight, he doesn’t want either of them hurt - yet Bat still being... so aggressive toward him, so cold like the location they’re in. It’s just... not fun at all to read, or entertaining for that matter. It’s just depressing as hell watching a victim of abuse who typically cannot fight being helpless, and even practically crying about being helpless and pointing out how sick Bruce is for basically taking his frustration out on him. Then reading our “”hero,”” Bruce be such a cold, apathetic bastard, too. Like Bruce is a problematic man... but once he gets so bad, he just leaves villains for dead, never listens to them, and just hurts them even when they’re literally this upset? It’s not enjoyable to read. 

In fact, this comic itself is a perfect example of what Grant Morrison was criticizing in Animal Man #5 / Coyote Gospel. It was from ‘88... yet it’s clearly still relevant. The comic was about a Coyote from a Loony Tunes like world who gets rejected from his world by the “creator/author” and he’s sent into “modern” comics life. In it, he accidentally gets a truck driver’s family killed because the truck driver accidentally ran over the coyote. (Who can “heal” back to life in disturbing ways.) & a car crash assured. Because of this, the man devotes his life to nothing but trying to kill the coyote. This is my absolute favorite panel(s) from the comic;

Is the truck driver trying to kill the coyote. Why I love this panel so much is particularly him mentioning his hands trembling. Then saying “why won’t THEY stop?” Emphasizing on THEY. The man isn’t referring to his hands anymore, he’s referring to everyone involved in the comic. The writers, the artists, the readers. Because he doesn’t want this. Both of these characters are absolutely miserable, there is nothing positive about them. Therefore, Truck Driver is asking himself, why is this enjoyable? Why are the writers still doing this? What does this even mean other than shock value and why do people eat up meaningless shock value? In the end, both characters meet their fate, never positive once, always miserable, always bloody and grotesque.

You might be wondering “Wikia, what the hell does Animal Man even have anything to do with this and where is this rant even going?” Well, the thing is. I feel like in this case, Eddie was the coyote, and Bruce was the truck driver. Both are bad people, at this point, irredeemable people who only made each other’s lives miserable. And for what? What meaning does this have? What purpose does it have that Bruce is practically reminiscence of Eddie’s ABUSER? And that Eddie has done irredeemable shit in previous comics before? Bruce having compassion for the villains made sense as you can understand it, and it made him feel heroic. Bruce didn’t kill before, and would actually talk with his villains because he saw them as victims and wanted to help them. Hell, you can even argue that Bruce... saw himself in them. Most his villains, like himself, were created out of tragedy in the city of G0tham. G0tham ruined them all. And perhaps Bruce realizes that he could’ve easily been a J0ker, or a R!ddler. But instead, he just happened to be a Batm/an. And perhaps he feels sympathetic towards them because of this. But with him being so cruel to not only them, but oftentimes even being abusive towards the Robins? Yeah... I no longer see a flawed hero, but I now see the truck driver. A man who’s so aggressive and miserable, he only cares about getting revenge and letting out that aggression. Not even stopping to think about the  Coyote’s situation, and how the Coyote has also lost his own life because he was banned from his world. And there is just... no compassion. Just shocking and edgy content where everyone is horrible, and they’re all against each other.

This got really long, and for that, I apologize.