Batman `89 that started on October 2021, last issue was released on February of this year, and now we have the conclusion, sorta. Superman `78 started about the same time, finished in March of this year. So there is a slight delay of four months plus another issue to reach the final, final conclusion. It features a movie poster-like cover by Joe Quinones who also provides interior art. It has the Michael Keaton Batman at the top in shadows, the new Robin on the left above an Aztec-like stone statue, and Barbara Gordon in a yellow sweater holding the Batarang almost like shirt design with a black skirt, it almost seems like she is Batgirl. Then, we have Two Face flipping a coin which makes it appear that it splits his normal face and distorted form, Catwoman holding out her claws, and then the Batmobile chasing the Batcycle.
The “Shadows Finale” is by Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones. The beginning is a splash page of Two Face broken with dialogue panels. Something like Gollum talking to himself. Harvey Dent/Two Face is asked about his personalities from someone off panel. The Two Face side seems to ponder the philosophical questions of good and evil. The Harvey Dent side seems to inspired by the person’s boss and he smiles. The Two Face half says that good and evil are the same. Then, we see that it is Batman who is talking to him. This wasn’t made clear in the previous page, Batman should be more analytical, probing Dent to try to rationalize with him. Two Face points out his briefcase, he shoots at Batman who brings up his cape, and leaps off. Then, his ankle is snagged by a batarang. He sets off his detonator which explodes behind Batman.
The sound reaches Catwoman, the Michelle Pfeiffer version, and Robin, Drake Winston, the latter of whom notices hundred dollar bills flying past him. Catwoman says they should just follow the money. Unconscious, half of Batman’s mask is exposed so Harvey can recognize Bruce Wayne, and he notes that he has two faces. He is about to take his picture. Then, he hears Robin’s voice approaching. They find only the fallen Batman and Catwoman says they should take him to Alfred. Robin is surprised and as Two Face listens in, Catwoman adds that she also knows he is Drake. They discuss in the Batmobile about Two Face giving his stolen money to the financially distressed neighborhood of Burnside. A rob from the rich, a little, and give to the poor, Robin Hood-sort of thing. They reach the Batcave which amazes Catwoman. Alfred checks on the injured Bruce Wayne.
Catwoman is sitting on a chair with a cat and we see distorted images of her to either side. It appears that Bruce has woken up and Catwoman says he is in heaven. She brings up his injuries and explains about the bank robbery from the first issue. We see Catwoman’s eyes as we see panels of several images as she tells him that Lincoln Savings and Loan tried to hide the theft through shady companies. This leaves little of the government money to communities like Burnside. Catwoman continues that the evidence showed up at the police station, with a panel of Batman leaping down, and then Two Face now has the evidence in his briefcase. Also that he had seen Bruce’s face!
Catwoman helps support him as the walk the mansion. Bruce says he looked for her for a year, they end up in front of the painting of his parents, a very nice artistic match. Closeup of Bruce touching Selina Kyle’s face as he asks her if she wants to live a normal life. They check with Drake as the reporters note that the body of Commissoner Gordon was found. Bruce leaves, off panel?, to call Barbara Gordon with condolensces. The next day, all of the government officials held to the briefcase’s evidence ask his demands. He wants to be free of charges. A criminal in a government office? I don’t know why he doesn’t get the Shawshank solution. Also there is Carmine Falcone, the crime boss, who says he runs the city and has good lawyers.
Two Face flips his coin and then shoots Falcone in a silhouetted panel. So a crime boss with a deranged villain doesn’t have any protection? The next panel and page, we have Two Face talking to Jerome Otis at his auto shop, it is a sudden change without a caption. Jerome asks him about his parcel which Dent says is a half million dollars. He notes that it is from the Bruce Wayne Foundation. Two Face says his plan was to give the money back to the people. Jerome tells him that snipers fired on the marchers. Then, he is about to make a phone call with his back turned to Two Face? The villain struggles with the decision flipping his coin. Drake opens the garage door to find Jerome’s bleeding body and Two Face next to him. He has left Drake a hundred thousand for saving his life, but Drake drops the bills, and in a red panel threatens to make his Harvey side ugly!
Two Face runs out and blames Jerome’s death on Drake. He is given a right cross by Drake and then the crowd pulls him away. The bandaged Bruce Wayne is told by Alfred that Dent has set up a meeting with him. Bruce in a wheel chair meets with Two Face in the Batcave, huh? He asks for Dent’s coin. Then, Two Face says he owns Batman. Bruce says that he will never give up against Dent and Two Face has a gun on him. He gives an alternative to Dent that they have been working together, his face was burned, but he gets surgery to restore his face and therapy. So they save the city. He flips Dent the coin. We see the claws of Catwoman sever the line for the giant coin from the first issue. The coin flips and we see the giant coin knock Two Face to the edge of a cliff. Bruce tries to reach out to save Dent from falling, and he asks Catwoman for a cable from the Batmobile. Two Face takes the cable and says he sees the vision of the new Gotham, but the cable snaps.
I guess Two Face quietly fell to his death? Catwoman tells him that she snuck in to thank him and tried to save him with the giant coin. Bruce is angry saying that he switched the coin, that was obvious, and she gets angry at him. She shows him the fake coin and leaves him with red collar around a cat. Bruce discovers that she had a microphone attached to the collar listening in on conversations. Later, we have Drake freed by Bruce because Dent’s gun was recovered. At the Wayne Mansion garage, he gives Drake keys, a rusty bicycle turns into a batcycle. Drake brings up the girl, Nyesha Burroughs, Bruce says there is a trust fund set up for her. Drake says that his sister upstate could adopt her.
He is about to leave and says his name will be “The Avenging Eagle”, ok. There is a letter to Sgt. Barbara Gordon who was missing from this narrative about the evidence including the photo of Bruce Wayne in the Batman suit. It is written by Catwoman who offers to be her oracle. This was the identity of Barbara from Suicide Squad #23 (1989). A fitting ending as we see Robin watch Catwoman leap across a moon. Still, there is a dream sequence of Bruce with his family, Bruce Jr., Tivali, and Nyesha?, and a wife who is not Selina Kyle. Then, he is about to see his parents when Alfred makes him up, Bruce flips a coin to see if he will go out, then we see the Batsignal. The issue has a complex ending that seems to sort everything out, but we have a continuation in Batman #125! Batman `89 #6 features a continuation of the Tim Burton films into a sort of trilogy, a few confusing panels, and some clever artwork by Quinones!
Four Batarangs out of Five!
#Batman89, #ShadowsFinale, #SamHamm, #JoeQuinones, #BruceJr, #Tivali, #Nyesha
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