Batman: Second Chances (Batman (1940-2011))

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Chekhov's Gun: The location of the final showdown is dropped early on, but seems to be inconsequential chatter at the time.

I dislike 402 and 403 pretty heavily. This two-parter follows an insane Batman impersonator who kills criminals. This is an okay premise, but I don't like what it brings out in our hero. Bruce and Jason (Robin) both voice a desire to see petty criminals die for their transgressions and Batman comes off as a violent thug as opposed to an idealistic crusader. While I can appreciate that there are many approaches to depicting the Dark Knight, this isn't "my Batman." Also, at one point Jason references a previous instance where Batman kills somebody. Where did this happen in Post-Crisis continuity, especially this early on? I could have used a footnote on this one. Batman heads out to the abandoned building called the Half Moon Club to face Harvey's worst enemy… Two-Face himself. However, Two-Face’s thugs capture him and chain him to a crane connected to dynamite. Two-Face explains that he set himself up to be kidnapped because he would not let his other personality destroy him. As Two-Face flips his coin to decide whether to detonate the dynamite, it lands on edge. He tries again repeatedly, each time landing on edge, causing him to Freak Out Batman frees himself and takes out Two-Face’s thugs. One volume collecting both Young Avengers Presents and Dark Reign: Young Avengers – the two miniseries that come between the Heinberg and Gillen runs, and aren't event tie-ins. This may seem random, but Batman #417-425. I have the "Batman: Second Chances" trade and the "Batman: A Death in the Family" trade, and there's this big uncollected trade-sized gap sitting right between them. Throw in annual #12 there too. That storyline, covered in "Did Robin Die Tonight?", "Just Another Kid on Crime Alley," "Two of a Kind," and "Second Chance," is the real meat of this collection, though Max Allan Collins' scripts are somewhat more juvenile than I remember, with a lot of on-the-nose dialogue (and too much talk in general). (Though, in fairness, I suppose these stories were meant to entertain 12-year-olds, the age I was when I first read them.)Before the operation can begin, gunmen burst into the room and kidnap Harvey. Batman and Robin pursue the thugs, who take separate vehicles, but neither of them manage to save Harvey. (Batman reacts to Robin's failure rather coolly, to which Robin is a bit resentful.) Later they consider where the vehicles were going and who they were registered to, and conclude that either Rupert Thorne or the Penguin was behind the kidnapping. Robin goes after Thorne while Batman goes after Penguin. Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Batman clearly thinks the Penguin is still a threat even when behind bars; while Cobblepot has nothing to do with the kidnapping, he never claims he couldn't have.

But of course, the one and only Dark Knight easily defeated the delusional man before stating he’ll get Carma some help. The complete series of Red Robin. This would fit into two volumes too: one for issues #1-12 (plus "Batgirl" #8) and one for issues #13-26 (plus "Teen Titans" #92). Finally, Nightwing's return. Him and Robin interacting will always be sweet. His confrontation of Bruce was interesting, but not strong enough or expected enough to actually have an impact. He gets batman to say that he misses him, then he walks away. And once again we have the figure of Batman overlooking them at the end of this issue. I guess in a way this is the first itteration of Nightwing: Year One, and it's a solid base for what it is. I'm glad it got to be expanded later on, if anything. Just before he is to undergo the operation that will restore his face, Harvey Dent is kidnapped by a mysterious villain. Batman and Robin split up to nab the criminal behind the scheme to abduct the Dark Knight's old friend. They suspect that either the Penguin or Rupert Thorne may be behind the kidnapping, but after doing their investigation, they come to realize there is an unsuspected third enemy in the scheme.Bruce Wayne visits a man named Howard Despond whose wife was killed by the muggers who died fighting Batman. He pretends to be there on Wayne Foundation business. Despond says nobody cared about his wife's death except the detective who took the muggers in. The story of this issue doesn't have an actual title. Instead, the tagline on the cover is used as such. While not only about Jason Todd and his becoming the second Robin, this was a collection full of second chances. The elder man shut down after the two youngest Waynes' death. He didn't talk, he didn't eat, and he didn't even try to take care of himself.

After a month, Bruce left for a Justice League mission. Alfred and Jason begged him not to go. Bruce at this point barely slept and being in the field would definitely kill him. Their pleas fell on deaf ears and Bruce went anyway.

Tropes in this episode include:

Firstly, Tommy Carma. He believed he was the real Batman and basically was after he found the Batcave and stole the Batmobile! Firstly, I fully do not understand why they decided to collect all these stories together besides the fact that they were published in succession to each other. But that's not even true since the first two issues are published separately. I genuinely just don't understand the logic. Three of the stories are left unfinished. If they're published as a collection then surely you would try to /collect/ the stories. Weird. Did Jason Todd really deserve all that hatred? Based on the stories in this book: no. Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin do a decent job making him an agreeable sort of fellow. I'm guessing it's the Jason Todd from 1983-86 that got on reader's nerves and sent the lad into an early grave. When he opened his eyes, he froze for a second. He was expecting to be in a hospital, smelling the familiar scent of antiseptic. Though the title was never officialled renamed, editors rebranded the Caped Crusader's solo title as Batman: The New Adventures. Here we learn that during one of Batman's annual visits to Crime Alley, the area of Gotham in which Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, someone had the brass balls to steal the tires off of the Batmobile. The thief is none other than the orphan street rat, Jason Todd.