Batman’s Role in Identity Crisis
Author: Eric Haar
September 9th, 2004
I sat down last night and reread the 3 published issues of IC paying careful attention to every word and every panel seeing if I could find any kind of clue as to who the killer might be. I’m still struggling on that front, but I did notice something I hadn’t noticed before.
In issue 2, when Green Arrow is telling Wally and Kyle the story of what they did to Dr. Light, there is a panel where, once all of the leaguers reach the satellite, they attack Light all at once. They’re all over him, hitting him from every angle.
In issue 3, after Green Arrow sticks Deathstroke in the eye with the arrow, the League attacks, again, all at once and they’re all over Deathstroke, this is where Light says “They took my mind!” as he flashes back to the League, all over him in the satellite. Light’s flashback is the exact same panel, EXACTLY the same (it’s cut a little smaller, and slightly different coloring, but the art is so identical I would almost bet it’s a stat - even little details like the location of the character’s pupils are identical) EXCEPT right front and center - obscuring the arrow sticking out of light’s leg which is fully visible in the issue 2 version of the panel - is Batman - who ISN’T in the picture at all when Green Arrow is telling the story to Wally and Kyle. And GA doesn’t mention Bats being there at all.
Now, with the panels being so identical, I don’t think this is a coincidence, or an oversight, or an “oops” of Batman accidentally being put in there. Green Arrow doesn’t include him in his version of the story, which we know is a biased account, but Light, accessing long lost memories, remembers him being there in his version. So, does this mean that the League actually dared to wipe Batman’s memory, too? If that’s the case, I’m guessing there will be hell to pay.
I guess it could also be that Batman let them go ahead with it and is in on the pact, but I don’t think that’s the case. What would they have to lose in just saying he was there, in that case? And now that Superman overheard part of this conversation - will he go to Batman with it - perhaps knowing he was there? “Bruce, you were there. What really happened up there that night?”
What do you think?
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6 Responses to “Batman’s Role in Identity Crisis”
September 9th, 2004 at 1:16 pm
I’m slapping my guess down like this - Bats snapped and was going apeshit on Light, and then collapsed. Total breakdown, years of pent up frustration, anger, emotion all coming out in one fell swoop. So the League mindwiped him out of sympathy. He’s gonna find out, and heads will roll.
Next!!!
September 10th, 2004 at 7:06 am
Interesting deduction. Sounds plausible that Batman was mindwiped in that he seems to not have much direction as far as determining the murderer. I don’t believe I have seen much in the way of people wondering why the two murders were committed in the fashions that they were committed. The first, unknown, really but then burnt, and the second hung. Messages maybe. Burning at the stake, a public hanging (for a lawyer no less). This all seems odd to me. Then the knowledge that Jack Drake may be the next to go throws a complete wrench into the pattern. Not a Leaguer’s loved one. Odd.
September 10th, 2004 at 8:14 am
Actually, I figured it was the other way around. Zatanna mind wiped a willing Justice League to forget something else that happened that night. That’s why I assumed it seems like this a mystery only Batman can solve. Of course, I’m the person who thinks the killer is Jason Todd. lol But he couldn’t have been there that night… could he?
September 10th, 2004 at 10:05 am
Only problem with the theory that Batman had Zatanna mindwipe all of the League of his involvement is that Zatanna would in turn have to have mindwiped herself as well. Sounds like a bad Ben Affleck movie. And again, why would Batman have not deduced Dr. Light as the obvious suspect, as the rest of the seven did?
September 12th, 2004 at 8:38 pm
Batman’s motives are always a mystery until he speaks up. lol But, Zatanna never weighed in the conversation to my memory, so I figured she didn’t speak up on it to keep it secret and knows fully well everything that went on that night.
September 28th, 2004 at 3:06 pm
I think that Batman had Zatanna mindwipe the rest of the league or Batman used some other means to wipe himself out. Batman and Superman probably agreed on this method and wiped themselves out.
Dammit, someone use Moon Maiden in the JLA already.