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Down But Not Out

by Drew Clements westofmiskatonic@gmail.com

Sorry for my column's unannounced absence last week. October is always a busy (understatement!) time of the year for me and I just got caught up in my other projects. Hopefully I can get myself back on schedule since this month is just about over. Anyway, enough with my lame apology, let's get to the meat of this little article... Detective Comics #633 - "Identity Crisis" Original Release Date: August 1991 Writer: Peter Milligan Artist: Tom Mandrake Letterer: John Costanza Colorist: Adrienne Roy Assistant Editor: Kelley Puckett Editor: Denny O'Neil Darkness and the inability to breathe; there is little in the world that is more horrifying than that combination. This is all that Bruce Wayne is experiencing at the moment; he's underwater and he's drowning. There! Light! He swims toward it and his reward is air! He has broken the surface and found himself in the Gotham River. How did he get here? Why is he in the river while wearing one of his most expensive suits? These questions muddle his mind as he makes his way to shore. Searching his memories, he finds that he has no recollection of what has happened. None whatsoever. Maybe Alfred will know? Unfortunately, upon arrival at Wayne Manor, he finds that his most trusted friend has no clue either. Bruce admits to Alfred that he doesn't remember a thing and then proceeds to ask the butler what he's been working on lately; what cases are going on at the moment. Alfred seems confused; Bruce isn't working on anything other than being a millionaire playboy. Confused at what he thinks is a strange joke, Bruce leaves the butler to take a shower. Later, Bruce visits the study in which the entrance to the batcave is concealed. He attempts to trigger the sensor that opens the hidden entrance behind the bookcase, but finds that it is no longer there! Bruce calls Alfred into the study and explains the situation. Alfred seems befuddled at his employer's situation; what is the Batcave?? Bruce pushes aside what he figures is a strange sense of humor and tells Alfred that he must go downstairs immediately. Alfred, still confused by the whole thing, tells Bruce that he should know how to get downstairs because, after all, he has lived in this home all his life. But nonetheless, the butler and trusted friend takes Bruce to a stairway located under the main staircase in the front of the mansion. Unfortunately, this is not what Bruce was after... no, this leads to the cellar, not the Batcave!! Bruce quickly goes over the situation in his mind; the Batcave is gone, who is responsible? Is it one of his many foes or is he just going insane? Upon questioning Alfred over the whereabouts of the Batcave, Bruce says, "Next you'll be telling me you've never heard of Batman." Alfred, without missing a beat, tells Bruce that he has indeed heard of the Batman and proceeds to explain that the Caped Crusader is a "frightfully popular vigilante fellow in fancy dress. But I can't for the life of me see what the Batman has to do with you..." With that, Alfred leaves an increasingly confused Bruce Wayne alone to continue his duties around the house. Taking a seat in the hallway, Bruce is soon relieved to see Tim Drake running down the hall. Bruce tells the teen to hit him as hard as possible, hoping that it will wake him up from this rather strange dream. Tim punches Bruce on the chin and it confirms for Bruce, unfortunately, that this is no dream. Bruce slumps down in a chair and tells Tim that Alfred has forgotten that he is Batman and that the Batcave has disappeared. Tim begins to back away from Bruce, quite afraid of the man's weird fantasies. Tim exits the room to get Alfred, who then enters and tells Bruce that Tim is quite concerned with his behavior. Bruce tells Alfred that he is Batman and Alfred is amused as he turns on the television. On the TV is Batman, live at the scene of a crime; two gunmen are holding a woman and child hostage. Bruce is absolutely floored at the sight on the television. He begins to reason that whoever put him in his current situation is probably impersonating him as Batman, so he decided to confront the man in the cowl. After making a short stop to buy some mountain climbing gear, he makes his way to the crime scene that Batman is at. Bruce uses his skills to enter the building and watches as the Batman takes out the criminals. He's very impressed with this imposter's skills; they're almost as good as his own. Bruce attacks the costumed fraud, but is easily disarmed. Fortunately for him, he escapes as the Gotham P.D. enter the building. Back at the Manor, Bruce is in the cellar, trying to figure things out. He spots something strange in the corner of the room... it's part of the Bat-computer and it's hovering two inches above the ground. It's solid though, which means it is real! Something else strange occurs: a bright light appears in front of him and suddenly he can feel the cave all around him, but he can't see it. He turns around and runs up the stairs and brings Alfred down to witness all of this. Upstairs, the doorbell rings and Bruce runs to answer it. At the door... it's Batman! Bruce asks who he is and the Dark Knight answers, "I'm Batman. And we both know that Batman's secret identity is... Bruce Wayne!" Bruce denies it! How can Batman be Bruce Wayne if he is Bruce Wayne? How can they both exist in the same place at the same time? Suddenly, his body begins to change from Bruce Wayne into something else... a horribly disfigured being. He spots his reflection in a mirror and immediately passes out. Next we see this strange person sitting in a chair, entertaining guests. His name? The Synaptic Kid. He's a mutant mind-reader that entered Batman's mind to find out his true identity. He had intended to use the information to blackmail him, but ended up having quite a mental tussle with the Dark Knight. After the mind-fight, which drained him so, he ended up wandering around and eventually stumbling into the Gotham River where he awoke thinking he was Bruce Wayne. Batman, during the psi-fight split his mind into two people: Bruce Wayne and Batman, so the Bruce Wayne that the Synaptic Kid was wasn't the Batman, just Bruce Wayne. The Synaptic Kid's mind eventually fell in on itself when he found out that he wasn't Bruce Wayne or Batman. "Can he think? Is there anything going on in there?" Batman asks the doctor as he looks down at the comatose body of the Synaptic Kid. This whole time, the mind-reader had been rendered unconscious. The doctor tells Batman that the kid will never speak or move again and that the only thing keeping him alive is life support. The doctor asks Batman if the boy had been acting strangely and Batman replies, "Well, I'm no expert, Doctor... but I suppose you could say he hadn't been himself." The end. A little confusing?? It's really not. As I said in the summary above, during the mind-fight between Batman and the Synaptic Kid, Batman split his personality into two different people, Batman and Bruce Wayne, in order to fully protect his identity. The mind-fight proved too much for the Synaptic Kid and he eventually awoke, thinking himself Bruce Wayne... the secret identity of Batman... but since Bats had split his mind in two, the Bruce Wayne side wasn't actually Batman. Got it? This is a really good issue. It throws your mind for a loop and that's definitely appropriate for the story. It kind of makes you say, "what just happened?" and up until the end you're left guessing. It's a self-contained story, which is why I decided to review it... well, that and the fact that it's a pretty unique one. Milligan's no stranger to comics. He's worked for the 2000AD publication as well as Marvel and DC/Vertigo. Currently, Peter is writing the adjectiveless X-Men book. I can't say much for it since I've only picked up one issue, but I've heard mixed reviews. Nonetheless, his work in this particular issue of Detective Comics is good stuff and that's what matters for this column. The art is darkly appropriate. Tom Mandrake draws an excellent Batman and a grotesque Synaptic Kid. The style here is pretty typical of DC's art during the mid-80's to early-90's. If you read any DC titles during that time, then you know exactly what I'm talking about, but there's no word I can put on it to really describe it. Detective Comics of the early 90's was a pretty dark and gritty title and well worth your money. It's a good book and I recommend picking it up if you happen to pass by it. This particular issue can probably be found in your local comic shop's $1 box, along with a lot of the other issues from around the time this came out. Buy 'em! Next week? I really don't have a clue!