Sam Hamm’s Blind Justice

[The Laughing Fish]

Other than being known for writing the script for B89, I finished reading another Sam Hamm Batman story, the only comic book he ever wrote titled Blind Justice. He invited the opportunity to write a three-part story arc in Detective Comics weeks before the movie was released. I was curious because it was a particular story that had a certain prominent character appear in a feature film, and it was yet another story arc that I rarely see anyone discuss about in Batman comics. This post contains a synopsis with **HUGE SPOILERS** and what I liked and didn't like about this book.

While investigating a series of murders committed by a super soldier called the Bonecrusher, Batman helps a young woman called Jeannie Bowen to reunite with her long lost brother Roy, who by coincidence, happened to be working at Wayne Enterprises. As Bruce Wayne befriends the pair to stay at his home, he is shocked to learn that the Bonecrusher is a group of remote-controlled soldiers involved in a military cartel run by his own employees at Wayne Enterprises. The cartel is secretly involved in the international arms trade business. The Bonecrusher was mind-controlled by a disabled scientist called Kenneth Harbinger, and Roy himself was taken to help the project until he backed out because he found it immoral. Harbinger brainwashed Roy to keep quiet until Batman found him.

Harbinger is later killed by the cartel to cover their tracks, but they are unaware that he had transferred his consciousness into somebody else's body and begins to exact revenge by murdering his colleagues and brainwashes a key member to reveal the conspiracy later on in the story. In the meantime, following his refusal to co-operate with them despite figuring out that he is Batman, Bruce is stunned that the cartel had him framed and arrested for treason.  On his way to court a few days later, Bruce survives an assassination attempt by Harbinger, who has disguised himself as a homeless man. He is in no condition to return as Batman thanks to the serious injuries he sustained, so he allows Roy adopt the Batman disguise, and Bruce controls him with one of Harbinger's mind-control devices that he took from the cartel's labs. Meanwhile, Henri Ducard comes to town and seemingly promises the cartel to assassinate Bruce, in exchange for expunging all criminal charges against him. Ducard, however, knows that Bruce is Batman, and he later meets Bruce and offers him to tell the media about the cartel in exchange for using Harbinger's mind-swapping device to change his identity. Bruce refuses.

In the end, Harbinger is tracked down and defeated for good, but Roy dies while disguised as Batman in the heat of battle. His death leaves his sister Jeannie and Bruce devastated, and Jeannie, knowing Bruce is Batman, blames him for Roy's demise and leaves Wayne Manor for good. At the cartel's request, Ducard assassinates Harbinger's brainwashed colleague to prevent him from revealing more about the conspiracy.

I must admit that this book wasn't exactly my cup of tea. But first, I'll talk about the positives. I was enthralled by Bruce having recurring nightmares of himself as Batman gunning down his own parents at Crime Alley (!), and as he ponders his choice whether or not to continue as Batman, he sees his costumed-self shoot his parents to death and coming to terms that he can't escape from who he is. He needs to exist to ensure justice prevails, even if it comes at the expense of having a normal life and being close with people. Which lives up to the title book, justice is blind.

I did like the backstory involving his relationship with Ducard. Despite knowing Ducard's notorious reputation as a deadly assassin, Bruce worked with him to get a better understanding of the criminal mind as they hunted down a terrorist together, but his innocent ideology concerning human life clashed with Ducard's bleak views. Another thing I liked about the book was as Bruce needed to disclose his personal history to his lawyers to prove his innocence; it referred to Bruce's backstory as he spends many years away training in Asia to learn martial arts. At the same time, Bruce becomes deeply concerned that revealing too much information about his past could expose his secret identity as Batman, and tries to skirt away as much information as possible.

Most importantly, this book more than implies that Commissioner Gordon is aware that Bruce is Batman; telling him before the day of the trial that he turned a blind eye to "a lot of things", and immediately told an officer to turn off the Batsignal upon hearing that Bruce was left in a critical condition following his attempt on his life. When Roy died as Batman, Gordon ensured that the news of the Caped Crusader's death was confirmed without revealing who was behind the mask, so the real Batman can decide to return or retire on his own terms. Gordon even pays Bruce a visit and indirectly gave him that choice. I believe the term for this is called "plausible deniability"? I thought this made Gordon's relationship with Bruce/Batman complex. I do appreciate that.

But I do have some nit-picks that soured the book a bit for me. For example, I find it hard to believe that a meticulous man like Bruce would be unaware that a number of his own employees were running a criminal enterprise at his own company. And because Bruce is critically injured, we get to see less of him as Batman. The book's downbeat ending does fit the nature of Batman as a tragic character, but maybe a little too well this time. He had reunited lost siblings in the beginning and he became friends with them and even had trust in their discovery of his secret identity. But he tragically loses both of them in the end; meaning that Batman can never be close to people because they'll eventually get hurt or worse. Finally, this book had a surprisingly convoluted plot, one that tried to be a political thriller with sci-fi element, but it didn't quite blend too well for my liking. I had to go back to re-read some of the key plot points because I found the story so convoluted, that I ended up forgetting them.

Verdict: it's okay, at best. I appreciate the character moments more than the plot itself, if that makes sense.

[The Laughing Fish]

Comics Alliance analysed Blind Justice's place in history, going far to say that it's the first self-contained comic book storyline that attempted to attract a new reading audience. Mainly because Sam Hamm wrote it in the same year that B89 came out.

Source: http://comicsalliance.com/blind-justice-batman-89-sam-hamm-event-comic/

[Slash Man]

I've been meaning to read this story for a couple reasons. Burton's Batman is largely responsible for getting me into comics, and (until recently), this was Sam Hamm's sole comics contribution. Picking up Batman: Dark Knight Detective Vol. 3 at my comic book shop was a no-brainer.

My mind was blown; the first couple chapters were a pretty standard adventure for Batman at the time, but once thing's started falling apart around Bruce, I couldn't put it down. This is worthy of a 50th anniversary story for how it shakes up the status quo, yet the final act doesn't even feature Batman, nor does the story contain any established villains. We are given a lot of mysteries to ponder throughout the story, and everything gets wrapped up in a bittersweet ending.

The technology may have been in the fantasy realm, but it's not a detriment when the story is grounded and your disbelief is suspended. Batman is also very human and vulnerable here (almost a prototype for Knightfall). He's selfless and goes out of his way to help people at great cost, but even reveals that he'd out himself as Batman if it meant saving someone. But he's also a bit reckless and a moment of self-preservation caused the death of his companion, Roy.

Having read Batman '89, I'm surprised that Hamm deeply understands the character of Gordon. There are other comics where Gordon implies he knows Batman, but this probably stands as the most overt he's been.

I might just be riding the high after finishing it, but it's one of my favorite Batman stories. It feels very cinematic the way it paces itself over such a length and doesn't drag.