NML Crossing, Episode 015 – Detective Comics #721 (1998)
NML Crossing, Episode Fifteen
Detective Comics #721 (May, 1998)
“Cataclysm, Part Fourteen: Shifting Ground”
Writer – Chuck Dixon
Pencils – Graham Nolan
Inks – Klaus Janson
Colors – Gloria Vasquez & Android Images
Letters – John Costanza
Edits – Vincenzo & Peterson
Cover Price: $1.95
More interesting clashes in vigilante-styles between Batman and the Huntress, and a look at some highly “inconvenient” post-Quake Gotham clean-up. Also, we get a sorta-kinda out-of-nowhere zeroing in on the Quakemaster’s lair!
I feel like the Quakemaster storyline was just an excuse to have a bad guy to catch. The earthquake in Gotham idea is awesome, but Batman can’t punch an earthquake. You can’t put an earthquake behind bars. Quakemaster feels like an afterthought in the planning of this event so Batman could have a bad guy to catch.
I agree completely, Chris U., I do think it’s harder to have a natural disaster superhero story that has no supervillain, but I think it can be done, and I wish this storyline had tried harder to do that. I also agree that Quakemaster seems like an afterthought.
Regarding Quakemaster’s true identity, I do think it’s clear in retrospect as Chris U. said in a previous post, but–especially for newer readers, or readers who don’t have enough knowledge of Batman’s rogues gallery–I don’t think the clues work in the context of this crossover only. Because of that, I think this mystery is in or close to the territory Chris S. mentioned a few episodes ago, where it’s like an old-school Victorian mystery that has a solution that works but isn’t really something readers can solve with the clues at hand/only things in the story itself (Doyle’s Sherlock stories do this a lot).
I partly say this because when I first read this back when it came out in its first TPB, I had only read Knightfall, a scattering of other Batman comics, and seen Batman: The Animated Series: with this limited knowledge (and being a stupid 12ish year old), I had no clue about who the Quakemaster was. When his true identity was revealed, I felt cheated, even though the clues were planted for those who knew continuity. I don’t think the letter/word choice/speech thing (trying to be a little vague here to avoid spoilers), is something that was really a big deal in any of those things I’d read, or even in the character’s history I hadn’t read, aside from Cataclysm here. Of course, I could be wrong, but if it is in the history, it’s not something focused on much.
All this being said, I do understand that stories in a shared universe do and should use continuity that newer readers might not know, but I think that a better story uses these things in a way that enhances a story without sacrificing or taking away something from the casual reader. In this case, I think it does enhance the story on re-reading (or on first reading for those who know continuity pretty well) but I think it takes away too much from the new and casual reader on first reading as far as solving the mystery goes. I think this mystery would’ve been better if they’d had the existing clues but also added ones that a new or casual reader might be able to use. Ultimately, though, I’d prefer they didn’t have this Quakemaster storyline at all.
Side note: so many Chrises here! And I say that as a Chris myself (and Chris S. to boot!). Both Chrises: thanks for the lively discussion!
Oops, I realized my point in my above comment that the speech thing isn’t a big part of that character’s true identity, but I realized I was a bit off on that part, at least for the time period this came out (I don’t think it’s as big a deal anymore); I think most of my comment above is still true, just maybe a little bit less emphatically so.
Oops, I realized my point in my above comment that the speech thing isn’t a big part of that character’s true identity, but I realized I was a bit off on that part, at least for the time period this came out (I don’t think it’s as big a deal anymore); I think most of my comment above is still true, just maybe a little bit less emphatically so.