52 (aka, The Renee Montoya Show)

[iesika]

Infinite Crisis was so crazy that in my head, it is called Insane Crisis. Also lots of people died, including 100,000 civilians in Blüdhaven (and I loved, loved, loved that Superman took one look at the situation on the ground there and put Robin (Tim) in charge). We’re not going to talk about Infinite Crisis except to say it was crazy. And that Robin apparently has plans to break into the pentagon, or something, on his little belt-cpu (he says one of his level 10 targets is in DC, so I assume that’s it) and was willing to work with Lex Luthor to try and save Kon’s life. And that I’m going to miss Kon-el, and I’m glad he and Nightwing got a chance to talk about Tim before he died, and that he got to save the world.

 

 

So Infinite Crisis was crazy. But 52? Which comes after? Is the AWESOME. I still can’t get over how incredibly awesome it was. I want to go read it again. And again. I want to scan large portions of it and keep the pictures (penciled by Phil Jimenez, who’s been one of my favorite artists since the Tempest mini, back in the 90s,) and make icons, and just share in general. There are so many great storylines in 52. So. Many. The island of mad scientists (Ruled by Egg Fu! OMG they brought back EGG FUCKING FU!), The Black Marvel Family, the World Without the Triumverate (Superman and Wonder Woman are powerless, and Batman has taken his protégées and gone on a spiritual journey, because DC has been fucking with their heads), the Cult of Kon-el, Ralph Dibney’s spirit journey and claiming of the Fate helmet, Booster’s awesome, awesome time-travel storyline, and Kory + 2 Married Men Traverse The Galaxy…  My favorite, though, is the journey that Renee Montoya makes from washed out alcoholic ex-cop to become the heir of the ultimate thinking man’s hero, The Question.

 

Renee is…I don’t know how to talk about how cool she is. I’ve loved her since I first met her character, back on Batman: The Animated Series. She was one of Jim Gordon’s hand-picked Major Crimes team, and a good detective. I watched her battle corruption and temptation in the GCPD, and come very close to killing the man who shot Jim in Officer Down. She initially didn’t like the GCPD working with Batman, but after Gordon retires, she becomes Robin’s (Tim’s) primary contact on the force. She stayed in Gotham during No Man’s Land (when the city is abandoned by the state and federal governments after a major disaster), and winds up with a really weird (one-sided) relationship with Two Face.  He claims to love her, and shows it by kidnapping her, outing her as a lesbian, and framing her for murder. During War Games, she nearly kills the man who killed her partner, and then immediately resigns from the force. When 52 starts, she is drinking, smoking, and fucking herself into an early grave, until she is contacted by a man with no face, who draws her into a crazy plot that brings her back into contact with her ex-girlfriend Katherine Kane (and if you know anything about the Golden Age Bat-family, that name ought to be ringing some bells). They run into Kate again, later, but by then she is Batwoman. Renee’s reaction to seeing her in that guise for the first time is priceless (Is that Batgirl? Wow. That’s no batgirl, that’s a batWOMAN!) and how she recognizes her is equally so (Kate punches her in the face, and Renee immediately recognizes the hit, since she’s the one who taught her to fight).

 

Anyway, Renee runs off all around the world with Charlie (The Question), and gets embroiled in the Black Marvel plot, and hits on Diana (not, of course, knowing she’s talking to Wonder Woman) while they are both seeking spiritual healing in Nanda Parbat (which basically Shangri-La). Charlie pesters her about her smoking habit right up until she realizes he’s dying of lung cancer, which is why he’s training her (and leaves the cigarettes in the snow). They rush back to Gotham when they realize Kate’s life is in danger, and she and Kate nurse Charlie through the worst of his illness, until it hits her suddenly that she has to get him back to Nanda Parbat (where there is no death), so she brings him back there, on foot, dragging him on a sledge through the snow, through the Himalayas. trying to find a city no one believes exists, only to have him die at the gates. She goes on a meditative journey and finds herself as “The Question” (which was Charlie’s identity). She then goes back to Gotham, and saves Kate and the city. And. And. God, the ending is so awesome. She shines the batsignal into the window of her own apartment, where Kate is asleep, to wake her up to come out and play.

Comments

[moonypadlover.livejournal.com]

H.o.T. ^^ I wish I could read that!

[iesika.livejournal.com]

I read it in the bookstore. 52 was a weekly series that temporarily replaced some of the DC books. It was collected in four volumes.

(And Renee's coming out story can be found in the first collection of Gotham Central, which is gorgeous, btw. But not as pretty as 52)

Also, Robin and Superboy continue to be the slashiest thing eeeveeer. Tim seems to be banging Kon's girlfriend (who also refuses to let him go) while he waits for his futile attempts at cloning him to take. Only now, Cassie seems ready to start letting Kon go, but Tim is still at it!

Tim is so deliciously fucked up!

[moonypadlover.livejournal.com]

lol...

I remember that you love fucked up boys ^^