Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #72-#96
CRC Payne – Creator
Rhett Bloom (StarBite) – Creator
Review by Marsha Reilly
Every Thursday, WebToon release a new Batman: Wayne Family Adventures episode, the perfect cute, feel-good break we all need.
Anytime, Your Imperial Fishiness
The first snowfall means snowball fights, even for the Bat Family. Of course, their version of a snowball fight is having recon and attack teams to hunt down Bruce and Alfred, but every family has their own fun traditions.
It looks like the Kent family might be getting a tradition too in their Superman: Kent Family Adventures special. In a cute father-clone moment when Clark and Jon visit Conner since their beard hair breaks razors, he shows him how it’s done.
Black Canary calls for help from Oracle, Huntress and reluctantly Catwoman when Ollie’s heirlooms are stolen. It’s a fun bonding experience for them all, even if Catwoman walks away happier than the others.
As usual, Tim has no luck as an ordinary civilian and gets caught up in a robbery by the same people who kidnapped him before. They’re very happy to see him, Red Hood’s very happy to be saving him again, and Tim’s very unhappy about the whole thing.
Batman also has a bad time when his suit is ruined and Batwoman gets him a clean one. Commissioner Gordon certainly has a great time with the new look. It turns out that Batsy has kept all of his previous, disastrous suits and Jason Todd was just helping:
Hold on. Did he say to bring him any spare suit? Including one from the super-secret, lead-lined storage closet?
Bruce gets sweet, sweet revenge on Margie of the PTA who tried to out-hero the hero.
Red Hood’s Outlaws sneak into the Batcave for some information and are stopped by Alfred, and some freshly brewed tea… rumour is that they’re still there.
Dick Grayson was forbidden from fighting Poison Ivy as a kid because of his awful jokes and curiosity about her plants.
Hal Jordan finds out for himself that when Batman says he always has a plan, he really does always have a plan.
Dick teams up with Wally West to try to find a more ‘dignified’ way for those without super speed to be carried… and it’s definitely an interesting experience for them both.
Arthur Curry finds out the hard way that Gotham is a very polluted place where even the water isn’t even really water anymore.
Jon and Damian find out that Lois Lane is a hero, even without superpowers.
I Will Fight. I Will Hold!
We delve into a few heavy topics in these chapters; like Nightwing comforting a child who recently lost both of her parents. It’s very touching to see Batman build his confidence up by telling him his own experience of when they first met, and then for Dick to share a bit of his past with the little girl who just wants her family back. Afterwards, he and Bruce hug, and it’s a very rare emotional moment between the two heroes.
Similarly, Red Hood goes back to the place he grew up in, and after saving a little boy who basically calls him a sellout, he sees for himself that nothing has changed. Batman hasn’t changed Gotham enough, so giving the boy a little bit of hope, to show him that he hasn’t been forgotten by the heroes is the first step.
Duke’s reminded that he’s a hero in his own right and doesn’t need Batman’s constant approval, especially when the Dark Knight himself sought him out and added him to the family. Just like how Cass isn’t the weapon she was raised to be, she’s a human being with her own wants and desires. Then there’s Kate, who has finally found a place to belong and is accepted. She’s still a soldier, but with a different uniform:
When the Bat-Signal goes up, it’s a call to arms. A call to serve. What happens to me doesn’t matter. I have my orders.
Conclusion
These chapters deliver a great mix of emotions and it’s been interesting to see the different perspectives of each character revisiting their past traumas.
Seeing Dick finally talk to Bruce about the night they met, their shared loss and their unhealthy coping mechanism for fighting crime was nice. The cherry on top was definitely the hug and them both saying that, through the good and the bad, they changed each other’s lives for the better.
I think a lot of people can see themselves in Kate’s shoes too: an LGBTQ+ veteran that has been tossed aside and discarded because of who she is attracted to. Lost and fighting to survive every day, she found an unlikely family by fighting, but for the people, again.
It was great to see our favourite characters confront what once scared them and face it head-on. We see heroes rise up against challenges all the time, but it’s not often that it’s something from their past that doesn’t have a physical body. Or, like with Jason and crowbars, it’s more than the thing but the memories it represents. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next time.
This is a review of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #72-#96. To read all the previous reviews, click here.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment and WebToon