NML Crossing, Episode 043 – Batman #562 (1999)
NML Crossing, Episode Forty-Three
Batman #562 (February, 1999)
“Bruce Wayne Goes to Washington, Part Three: The Devil His Due!”
Writer – Chuck Dixon
Pencils – Jim Aparo
Inks – David Roach
Letters – Todd Klein
Colors – Lee Loughridge
Edits – Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99
Wrapping up the last pre-No Man’s Land issue of the flagship, where the hammer finally (officially) drops on Gotham City. Bridges are bein’ blowed up, and it’s time for all good Gothamites to up-stakes and get the eff out. We also get some more ineptness from Nick Scratch and his crew of buffoons.
Plus: One’a dem “soul bearing” installments of the NMaiLbag!
NML Crossing on Youtube
1) I don’t have anyway of knowing of course, but I do think this story arc was rushed editorially, and maybe wasn’t given as much oversight because they were already focusing on NML proper. I do think they could’ve spent more time on it to make it more entertaining but I don’t know if more time would’ve made the fate of Gotham any more logical: I think some part of this story was always going to suffer from this story’s need to get to NML more than to make it completely logical. I do wish the narrative joy/fun/depth wasn’t sacrificed too.
I read this storyarc when it first came out, and I didn’t remember Scratch being a part of it: I didn’t remember Scratch, period, but that’s especially true of this story. Very weird he was such a big part of all this.
2) What is my The Ray?
I don’t know if I have a specific title that is like this, but I have eras that are like this:
Anything 90s Valiant after their first year or so. I like their first year of stories but after that, I’m not a big fan even though I still buy them.
I suppose the 90s X-Man comic might qualify for this, but I do think some of it is good, or at least, entertaining with the seeds of something interesting, even if they weren’t developed completely. I liked the first year or so of issues and the last era that was Ellis/Steven Grant making X-Man like a mutant Luther Arkwright that could travel across the multiverse (this and the first volume of Exiles when it was written by Winnick are generally the only times I like multiverse in Marvel). There is a whole bunch of X-Man in the middle that isn’t very good, but I still buy them if they’re very cheap, because that is my era of X-Men.
To me this felt stretched. I don’t think we needed 3 issues to tell this story. And even though Bruce Wayne is the feature character of this final chapter, he never puts on the Batman suit. So once again no Batman in a Batman story.
I’m waiting to see what Nick Scratch’s motivation was for his actions against Gotham. So far I can’t figure why he has such a mad on for Gotham. Were they hoping he would be the next Bane? I’m at a loss as to why they created this character.
Finding out that the Devil faced goons were genetically modified was the first interesting thing to come out of Nick Scratch.
I’ve only listened to the Cosmic Treadmill years after they were originally done, and I can attest that they do hold up. Every episode was new to me and they felt like they had just been released. Many topics that I loved were covered by people with the same love for them. Plus I usually learned something from them. I’ve recommended episodes of the Cosmic Treadmill to other fans who were looking for information on topics you covered.
I don’t think I ever had a series like “the Ray” where I bought it in back issues whenever I saw it. My “the Ray” was always bizarre new comics. I actually bought the whole run of that El Diablo series when they were first released. I bought Xenobrood. Why? It had a zero issue that came out in Zero Month after Zero Hour. I couldn’t even tell you the plot of that series. It was that bad.
Like you, Chris U., I only discovered the Cosmic Treadmill years after they were done, and I also can say the hold up and are evergreen. I also can second that they are good resources for information and that I learned a lot from them.
Chris S., I would say that things that aren’t evergreen and are more of-the-moment are still things that are valuable to create and have, both in the short-term and in the long-term. After all, even now we like to look at Wizard for certain things, and – while some of their articles are more evergreen – they have a lot that aren’t. As you say, it’s fun to see the zeitgeist of the times, something that evergreen/retroactive pieces can’t do or can’t do as well.