Batman #644 - So Bad That All I Can Do Is Laugh

I really cannot blame Bill Willingham, as I really do not believe that it was, in fact, he who wrote this issue, or, at least, it was not he who came up with the ridiculous plot point in this story.

Spoilers ahead!

The whole gist of the War Crimes storyline was to see what happened to Stephanie Brown, the former heroine known as Spoiler, who was, for a time, the fourth Robin.

She died after being tortured by Black Mask (because, well, this is DC, and you don't pass up a chance to torture a woman at DC when the opportunity presents itself! And yes, that was horribly unfair of me to DC, and for that, I apologize).

In any event, in this storyline, we learn that Stephanie COULD have been saved, but she was denied treatment. Why? Who would do such a thing?

Well, in this issue, it turns out that it was, in fact, Dr. Leslie Thompkins who decided that it would be better for Stephanie to die, to teach Batman a lesson, than for Leslie to save her.

Says Leslie, "I'd originally planned to claim it was a legitimate triage decision - allocation of time and resources under emergency conditions. But we both know better, Bruce. Truth is I wanted to end it all -- all the secret warriors in hoods and capes. The endless violence. I could no longer be a party to such madness. Best to sacrifice one to caution others from putting on those stupid masks."

Yes, that's right, Dr. Leslie Thompkins decided it better to murder a teenage girl (with a daughter of her own) so that Batman and other vigilantes would realize what their actions resulted in.

In an additional bit of silliness, Batman, the paragon of justice at all costs, decides that he will honor his bond with Leslie, and let her remain free (doing volunteer work in Africa) rather than arrest her (she wants him to kill her, by the by, which ALSO makes no sense. She gives him a gun to shoot her. That just makes no sense!!!!), letting her know that she has an "evil mind" and that she must never return to America or practice medicine again.

Which is odd, but not as odd as Dr. Leslie Thompkins letting a teenager die to prove a point to Batman!!

It is SO ridiculous of a point, in fact, that I personally think that it HAS to be a ruse.

My theory is that Stephanie DIDN'T die, but Leslie decided to hide her from Batman to protect her, as Leslie felt that Stephanie would never give up adventuring, and the adventuring would kill her. So Leslie, being such a noble soul, preferred to make Batman think that she is a murderer than to let him have access to Stephanie.

I will continue to believe that, because the alternative is just so ridiculously horrible.

To be honest, I really want someone to ask Denny O'Neil about this, because if I know anything about Denny O'Neil, he will be extremely polite and respectful to the decisions of the other writers and editors...and it will be hilarious to hear, because you KNOW that O'Neil will HAVE to be thinking, "WHAT? Dr. Leslie Thompkins killed a kid to teach Batman a lesson? But that makes absolutely no sense! Less than that, it actually makes the opposite of sense! It makes UNSENSE!"

See? Ya gotta laugh.

Some stories are so bad that all you can do is laugh.

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