Batman: Fortress #1 Preview

[Hypo]

Batman: Fortress #1 Preview
Writer: Gary Whitta
Artist: Darick Robertson

[Frontier]

Ha! Trying to rob Wayne Manor. Those poor fools.

I hope Bruce provides for those five kids.

[thwhtGuardian]

I was interested in the premise...but the execution here was fairly lacking.

[marvelprince]

I was interested in the premise...but the execution here was fairly lacking.

This was a weird read right? It kinda felt like a “day in the life of” story vs what the premise was actually suggesting. And some really weird bits of dialogue and character interaction.

[Johnny]

Can someone tell me what am I looking at here. Ignoring the looting or that insurance line, why is Batman letting these people set city blocks on fire that can easily hurt innocents.

[OOPS]

Can someone tell me what am I looking at here. Ignoring the looting or that insurance line, why is Batman letting these people set city blocks on fire that can easily hurt innocents.

Apparently, he has a "social conscience", which allows for burning as method of carrot harvesting.

[thwhtGuardian]

Apparently, he has a "social conscience", which allows for burning as method of carrot harvesting.

In the scheme of what's going on in Gotham it makes sense to let the police deal with looting over going after the bigger fish, but yeah to hear Batman phrase it the way he did felt off even if I myself may say something simmilar.

[OOPS]

In the scheme of what's going on in Gotham it makes sense to let the police deal with looting over going after the bigger fish, but yeah to hear Batman phrase it the way he did felt off even if I myself may say something simmilar.

It's too bad Batman hasn't cultivated the ability to instill fear in criminals. Or that he isn't a genius tactician. Or a student of human behavior. Or that he doesn't have a Batfam to call on (which fair enough, Nightwing might be out walking Haley or opening another food truck at Haven-priorities, after all.) Plus, there is really no way Bruce Wayne could related to the terror and life long devastation of being a victim of crime. After all, those poor looters needed tvs, um, carrots to eat, and anyone else's lives that got in the way of those, um, carrots, got what they deserved. Besides, they have insurance to cover burns and the results of blunt force trauma. Those employees, small business owners and residents are the obvious oppressors here, and should instead have joined Black Mask in his redistribution endeavors.

[Frontier]

Can someone tell me what am I looking at here. Ignoring the looting or that insurance line, why is Batman letting these people set city blocks on fire that can easily hurt innocents.

Wow. Like, even Green Arrow probably would have shot an arrow or two to get them to disperse.

[thwhtGuardian]

It's too bad Batman hasn't cultivated the ability to instill fear in criminals. Or that he isn't a genius tactician. Or a student of human behavior. Or that he doesn't have a Batfam to call on (which fair enough, Nightwing might be out walking Haley or opening another food truck at Haven-priorities, after all.) Plus, there is really no way Bruce Wayne could related to the terror and life long devastation of being a victim of crime. After all, those poor looters needed tvs, um, carrots to eat, and anyone else's lives that got in the way of those, um, carrots, got what they deserved. Besides, they have insurance to cover burns and the results of blunt force trauma. Those employees, small business owners and residents are the obvious oppressors here, and should instead have joined Black Mask in his redistribution endeavors.

As I said, it wasn't in character for Batman to take that societal stance but it absolutely did make sense to prioritize tracking down guys like the Joker over regular street crime. Unchecked the Arkham inmates could have chocked up a body count in the triple digits while we know that surges in street crime caused by a sudden disasters in real life only cause a few dozen extra deaths( I think Katrina had 21 for instance) so given those two possibilities Batman's priorities were correct.

It would have definitely been better if Batman had expressed a more methodical statement like, " The whole city is on fire. The gates of Arkham have sprung open. The best I can do is triage while Jim takes the rest."

[Frontier]

As I said, it wasn't in character for Batman to take that societal stance but it absolutely did make sense to prioritize tracking down guys like the Joker over regular street crime. Unchecked the Arkham inmates could have chocked up a body count in the triple digits while we know that surges in street crime caused by a sudden disasters in real life only cause a few dozen extra deaths( I think Katrina had 21 for instance) so given those two possibilities Batman's priorities were correct.

It would have definitely been better if Batman had expressed a more methodical statement like, " The whole city is on fire. The gates of Arkham have sprung open. The best I can do is triage while Jim takes the rest."

Or maybe if we'd seen the Batfamily taking care of things on the streets while Batman focused on the bigger issue.

[OOPS]

Or maybe if we'd seen the Batfamily taking care of things on the streets while Batman focused on the bigger issue.

That's the overall flaw. The writer wanted to educate his (stupid, uneducated, not good) readers, but crafted the story in a way that highlighted the flaw in the message the writer wanted to convey. More, he did so in a way that showed either a lack of familiarty with the character or inability to present the "message" effectively.

Batman, even in his earliest years, dealt with blackouts. The character with a plan for every eventuality, somehow lacked a plan for a pretty common occurrence....and even casual readers know Batman and his team have worked in blackouts, without electronics before-many times. Yet the writer (and editorial) chose to include this scene.

I'm generally ok with a poorly crafted scene, or even a "popcorn" story. Sure, Batman could have said, "Oh no, these poor people, but if I don't get to Joker in times thousands will die!". The choice was made to "educate" the rubes, on morality, without allowing for complexity of thought of either the characters or readers.

[exile001]

I flipped through this but really disliked the art so skipped it. I'm already reading a "Batman in a blackout" book anyway.

[Restingvoice]

Can someone tell me what am I looking at here. Ignoring the looting or that insurance line, why is Batman letting these people set city blocks on fire that can easily hurt innocents.

He's woke

Joke's aside, I forgot which comic, there's a similar scene of looting, though without fire, and I think only a couple of looters, where Batman or Superman I don't remember....

It's Superman, and I remember it's about this amount of people, though still without fire

He dropped in, yell RETURN IT. NOW. Then fly out. And the looters comply, some of them feel guilty being reprimanded by the Superman.

In Batman's case what I remember was when he addressed some muggers while trying to protect a baby. "You know who I am, you know what I can do, so if you try anything that will hurt the baby, you will be sorry" and they give up

Point is, like others said, there are ways to make this scene work without sounding so preachy

Also, if you wanna address this, this is the kind of thing that a deeper look and explanation. Way back when the George Floyd protest turned to looting, it happened not just because people are taking a chance of a blackout to get back at capitalism. The main cause was black people keep getting killed by cops years and nothing has been done for it, peaceful demonstration doesn't change anything, so people, tired and angry and unsafe, resort to looting. THAT's the reason they feel justified, and why people outside of that group understands.

Even then there are messages among the community not to attack mom and pop store but big chains that can afford to lose some.

(whether that message is followed or hijacked by other people and whether the looting would then dilute the message they're trying to say, which is we are angry nothing's been done about it, is another thing)

You can't tell that kind of story with one page speech.