Batman #590 (June, 2001)
"Close Before Striking, Act Three"
Writer - Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller - Scott McDaniel
Inker - Karl Story
Colorist - Roberta Tewes
Separations - WildStorm FX
Letterer - John Costanza
Associate Editor - Michael Wright
Editor - Bob Schreck
Cover Price: $2.25
It's strange how things and folks you come into contact with can change the way you see things for the long-term. This is probably going to sound incredibly silly, but... on Twitter, I got this pal who goes by Matches Balone. He's a great dude, and well worth a follow if you're into the Twitter-machine, by the way. Anyhoo... each and every time I've had to type "Matches Malone" over the past few days, it's gone something like:
M A T C H E S [space] B A [backspace, backspace] M A L O N E.
Every damn time! Anyways... let's wrap this one up!
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We open with a brief shot of the Ventriloquist (which is a much more difficult word to spell over and over again than I thought) and Scarface holed up at a theater until the "heat" blows over. Scarface, being the "brains" of the operation says they'll split just as soon as they can. The Ventriloquist being the... I dunno, sometimes conscience of the duo is worried because if Matches does work with Batman... they just killed one of Batman's pals. Speaking of Batman... he's currently mowing through a gaggle of nogoodniks in attempt to locate the Ventriloquist. Even resorting to rather extreme measures to get 'em to squeal!
Luckily on this night, Batman's got Nightwing in tow... who is able to stop things from getting completely out of hand. Though, if we were to ask Batman, he'd probably tell us everything was in control. It's here that we also learn that Matches did not survive his wounds. Batman buried him next to his brother.
Batman's pretty annoyed by Nightwing's appearance... and tells him to hit the bricks. And so, he does. We follow him back to Oracle's Clocktower where they talk about Bruce taking on very Matches Malone-like quirks. They discuss how easy it is to lose oneself in an alter-ego... considering between the two of them, they've had like a half-dozen.
He then reveals that Batman called off his hunt for the night, and said he had business to attend to at Wayne Enterprises. As he's talking about this, a wave of... I dunno, realization washes over him. He has a pretty good idea what Bruce might be up to... and it turns out that he's 100% correct. He arrives at the office to find that Bruce has made a $50,000 withdrawal from the company, with which he hopes to bribe some scums and find the Ventriloquist.
He sends Dick home... again. Dick pleads with Bruce that it seems like he's turning into Matches... to which, Bruce says "Not yet." It also gives him an idea. Perhaps the only person who might avenge the murder of Matches Malone is... Matches Malone!
Next thing we know, Matches Malone is sauntering back into the Ales of Justice... with nary a hole in his belly! The other patrons, and scumbags are shocked to see him still among the living. After taking his order for a Root Beer, the barkeep heads behind the bar to make a phone call. Luckily, Bruce has Oracle monitoring the place.
The barkeep is calling... the Ventriloquist, who is positively shocked to hear that Matches Malone still walks the Earth. Moments after hanging up, the Ventriloquist and Scarface find themselves in the shadow of the bat.
A battle rages on... and by "battle", I mean Scarface fires a lot of bullets in Batman's direction while Batman acrobatically avoids the shots. After one final flip, Batman hurls a ball of ink at the baddies... which blinds the Ventriloquist. Reminds me of anytime you'd fight an octopus-type character in Final Fantasy... poor Wesker's just got this blob of ink covering his eyes!
Batman pounces on the prone puppet. Wesker pleads with Batman not to kill them... to which, he says "I don't kill." Unfortunately, moments later... they hear the familiar nasal Hobokenese of Matches Malone, who assures them that he has no such qualms about moider. Remember, the Ventriloquist (and therefore, Scarface) is currently blinded... he doesn't see the change of outfit here.
Matches fires one up... and notices a note written on the matchbook. I can't remember if I had mentioned it last chapter, but this matchbook was more or less Carver Malone's "suicide note". It was a message to Matches to "Remember who you are". Well, it's a good thing it was there, because it helps nudge Bruce back to sanity.
Matches throws the Ventriloquist to the ground, and tells him he won't take his life. At the same time, however, he does have a dyin' man's request he's promise-bound to keep. He promised to kill the one that shot him... and so, with the last match in the book, Matches Malone "kills" Scarface.
The issue (and story) wraps up with Batman and Nightwing having a chat atop a building. They are right by the... oi, theater that showed The Mask of Zorro that one night, where life-changing stuff happened. This is worse than Spider-Man and the bridge, ain't it? Anyhoo, they talk about how maybe Bruce Wayne also died that night, yadda yadda yadda... yawn. We end with Bruce thankful for Dick being there for him, and how he trusts that if he ever go off the deep end again, he will continue to be there to pull him back.
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Well... I gotta say that didn't go the way I remembered it. I could've sworn that the whole MPD aspect was just a ploy... however, it looks to have been legit. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Actually, yeah I am... didn't like it.
I think it's strange that Bruce would be so susceptible to losing himself in a non-Batman identity. Especially one with such a drastically different moral code. Maybe he fell into a sort of fugue state... but, I wouldn't think his sense of identity would be quite this fragile. I mean, we get that Bruce Wayne is sort of a broken dude... but, let's consider for a moment that this is a guy who has the Justice League (and their technology) at his fingertips. Should a guy who can (in the matter of hours) fall into a different identity have that kind of access? I'm almost definitely thinking too hard... because, far as I know, this story arc is never referred to again.
As a story... if we remove the bit about Bruce Wayne's fugue, I really quite enjoyed it. I still can't shake the feeling that this is a bit fan-ficcy... seeing as though it plays with some long-standing lore, but ends with everything "back in its place" as it were. Future writers never need to address Matches Malone being a real dude, but it's there should anyone find use for it. Batman losing himself in the Matches persona doesn't need to be addressed, but it's also there.
Overall, a fun little story arc... so long as you don't think too hard on it. Definitely worth checking out. Vaughan has always been a great storyteller (though, I really could have done without the overused The Mask of Zorro chestnut), and McDaniel's art here perfectly fits the vibe. Just like the previous two installments, this is available both digitally, and as part of the Batman By Brian K. Vaughan trade paperback collection.
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Batman #589 (May, 2001)
"Close Before Striking, Act Two"
Writer - Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller - Scott McDaniel
Inker - Karl Story
Colorist - Roberta Tewes
Separations - WildStorm FX
Letterer - John Costanza
Associate Editor - Michael Wright
Editor - Bob Schreck
Cover Price: $2.25
I enjoyed yesterday's discussion so much, figured we may as well get to the bottom of Who is (was?) Matches Malone...
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The chapter begins with the Batmobile peeling out in front of the Ales of Justice bar. Nightwing is pleading with it's driver to wait. That request falls on deaf ears, and so Dick calls in an Oracle trouble-ticket... which provides us with the perfect opportunity for some juicy flashback-age.
Upon hearing that Matches Malone was shot (at the end of last issue), Batman and Nightwing suit up and head to the bar. Along the way, Dick inquires just how one of Bruce's phony-alter egos could possibly be bleeding out on the floor of a dive bar. Batman tells him that this story begins very early on in his crime-fighting career... even before Dick wore "the R".
Batman knew it would behoove him to have a fake scumbag identity in order to blend in with and learn about some of the seedier members of the criminal underground. His first attempt was under the guise of Irving O'Neil... who raised quite a few criminal eyebrows... leading to one baddie tearing open his shirt to reveal the Batman costume! Oops!
He would use several fake personas in the months that follow... each more unsuccessful than the last. One funnier bit is when he hid in blackface... which the Joker was able to see right through. It was after these failed attempts that he finally met... Matches Malone. The real one!
Matches and his brother Carver were a pair of orphans who had worked a racket in which they torched buildings for insurance money. Batman came in contact with them when they decided that Gotham would be a good place to set up shop. Batman reveals that the Malone brothers split their profits 50/50, even though Matches did all of the heavy lifting. Turns out that shortly after their Gotham arrival, Carver was found dead... bullet through the head. All signs pointed to Matches "doing" his own brother.
Batman found Matches at his brother's grave... and informed him that he's got his eyes on him. Wasn't long after that, Matches Malone was found dead. Body burned, a result of (probably a very painful) suicide. Nobody knew that Matches was dead... and so, Batman figured nobody would mind if he "used" his identity. And so, Batman buried Matches Malone next to Carver without reporting the event into the police.
Wouldn'tcha know... it worked like a charm! Batman suddenly had an alter-ego that already had a reputation among the scumbags of the world. We get a cute scene of Bruce working on his Hoboken accent.
The dynamic duo finally arrive at the Ales of Justice... we're still in flashback mode... but not the flashback-within-a-flashback mode we were just in. They find Matches Malone with a hole in his gut. Nightwing questions whether Matches is going to "die again"... which leads us back into flashback-within-a-flashback mode! Ya see, during one of their "jobs", the Malone brothers accidentally killed a transient who had squatted in one of their burnt buildings. Carver starts panicking... but Matches tells him to go home. He promises that he'll make it all go away.
Matches continues, informing Batman and Nightwing that he didn't kill Carver... Carver killed Carver. In order to protect his brother's legacy, Matches made the suicide appear to be a hit. He then used the body of the burnt hobo to make people think Matches had killed himself. He did a pretty good job on both, didn't he?
From here, Matches left town... changed his name, the whole nine. In the very recent past, he was sitting at a bar minding his own business, when he overheard a couple of mooks talking about the $10,000 bounty on the head of Matches Malone! He decides it was time to return to Gotham to see what this was all about... and he gets shot in the belly by a puppet for his curiosity!
Back at the bar, Batman is trying to convince Malone to come with him so he can be taken care of. Matches figures he's as good as dead anyway. Batman promises that he won't let him die. While on the subject of promises... Matches asks for one. He asks that Batman kill the person responsible for shooting him... and... Batman agrees!
Back in the present, we wrap up with Dick finishing up his story to Oracle. He's troubled, because, when Batman made the promise to Matches... he didn't sound like Batman at all... he actually sounded like... Matches Malone!
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Another strong chapter in the Matches Malone saga... and another great straddling-the-line issue from Brian K. Vaughan. We get plenty of exposition here, however, at no point does it feel like a lecture or info dump. It would have been awfully easy to turn this into an overwritten espository mess. Glad that was sidestepped.
Matches Malone, for all intents and purposes, is a brand-new character being introduced here. I mean, the identity had been around for a long time, but it wasn't until this arc that we find out that he's a real dude... who lived a real life. I remember around the turn of the century there were a few creators who entered the field through being recognized for their fan-fiction. Names like Devin Grayson, Jay Faerber, and... Brian K. Vaughan. Now, I know fan-fics get a bunch'a grief... and much of it is well-deserved... but this story kinda feels (to me) like a really good fan-fiction.
A fan-ficcer might see a concept like Matches Malone and imagine the storytelling possibilities just waiting to be explored and mined. I could easily see this being nothing more than a fan-fiction story had Vaughan not been picked up by DC. It has the distinction of leaving a "soft" imprint on the character and lore of Batman... something that I think fan-fic writers look for. They want to write something meaningful... but not to the extent where it changes the core of the character they're writing about. Or, perhaps... I'm projecting. That's always a possibility.
Anyhoo... like the issue before, this one comes recommended by the humble blog. Also, like the issue before, this bugger is available digitally, and as part of the Batman By Brian K. Vaughan trade paperback collection.
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Batman #588 (April, 2001)
"Close Before Striking, Act One"
Writer - Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller - Scott McDaniel
Inker - Karl Story
Colorist - Roberta Tewes
Separations - WildStorm FX
Letterer - John Costanza
Associate Editor - Michael Wright
Editor - Bob Schreck
Cover Price: $2.25
Heading back to around the turn of the century today, back when I was just settling in with many DC books. Batman, as a title is one that I kinda come and go from. Instead of having one solid run of the book in my library, I instead have several decently-long runs. I guess it's just one of those books I tire of more easily than others.
This is also a book with some early Brian K. Vaughan wordsmithery. Imagine a time in which he wrote a comic that wasn't preemptively issued 10/10 ratings from the comics "media"!
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We open at the Ales of Justice bar in one of the seedier parts of Gotham City. Matches Malone is engaging in some small talk with some doll-faced dame about how down on his luck he's been of late. He claims that it's difficult to find "gainful employment" because so many of the scores he takes part in get busted by the Bat! He says that a lotta low-life crooks even believe he might actually be Batman! Well, tonight they're all in for a surprise!
Batman enters the bar, and he's looking for information. He wants to know the origins of the "cop killing" bullets that have been entering Gotham of late. It's been so long since I read this that I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the (at the time) recent Officer Down storyline, but I'm betting it does. Most of the mooks clam up... and try to appear as though they're on their best behavior... all but one, in fact. One dopey kid refers to Batman as "just a fruit in a cape", and draws his piece. This doesn't work out so well for him.
Batman then grabs Matches by his collar and tries to get him to squeal. Malone claims not to be scared of the Batman... because he knows he doesn't kill. So much for Batman being an "urban legend" post-Zero Hour, right? Anyhoo, Batman informs Malone that there might just be a few worse fates then death, which brings him around. He tells Batman he'll talk... and proceeds to hock a (green!) loogie in his face. Batman hurls Malone through the bar's window.
Batman threatens all of the "patrons" about the "cop killer bullets" and leaves. Outside a heavy tends to Malone, and claims that their "boss" wants a word with him. He's led into the back room, and dropped at the feet of the man (men?) in charge... Scarface and the Ventriloquist! The puppet appears to like the kid's moxie, and tells him he wants him as part of his team.
Matches agrees, and stumbles out of the bar... where he's met by the Batmobile. It's revealed that the Batman we just saw was really Nightwing. In a cute exchange, Batman (the real one) gives Dick some constructive criticism over the way he handled himself under the cowl.
After driving for a bit, and discussing how dangerous the Ventriloquist is... ya know, due to the fact that he's able to assuage any the guilt for his actions by blaming it onto the puppet... Batman is dropped off at the railway station that the next cop-killer drop is occurring.
Batman watches the commotion for a bit, before introducing a smoke grenade to the proceedings. He swoops down and begins trouncing the thugs... until the train begins to pull away. He pulls out a Batline to give chase when he is grabbed from behind by the same heavy from earlier. To escape, Batman fires the Batline into the baddie's foot! Dang.
Moments later, Batman catches up with the Ventriloquist on the train. Rather than attack, he simply disconnects the Metropolis-bound train car filled with "cop-killers". The Ventriloquist mentions that Matches Malone was pretty fortunate that he didn't show up for this dud of a deal... to which Scarface scolds him for not realizing they'd just been had. He says once they're situation, Matches Malone is as good as dead!
We wrap up back at Wayne Manor. Bruce is watching Dick working on his acrobatics, when they receive a panicked call from Oracle. She is relieved to know that both Dick and Bruce are safe because... somehow, Matches Malone has just been shot!
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Great little story here... really enjoyed it!
I believe there's a sort of balance, which is really difficult to find, when it comes to how much a writer should explain. There's a thin line between leaving too much ambiguity and over-explaining things to the point where you're no longer telling a story, but giving a dissertation. I think Vaughan did a great job finding that balance with this issue.
It stands to reason that the mooks and nogoodniks around Gotham would "get wise" to Matches Malone after awhile. There's only so many times a job can go awry before the baddies begin looking inward... what are the commonalities between this failed heist, and last month's failed heist... and last year's failed heist for that matter. If Matches Malone is a constant, his presence and participation will be scrutinized.
It's one of those things I don't think we're supposed to think about... because if we did, we'd immediately realize that it's a pretty flimsy facade, that should have been sussed out ages ago. By giving the reader a smidgen of an explanation, Vaughan extends the shelf-life of Matches Malone to "stooge" another day.
Another explanation I really appreciated was the focus on just how dangerous a character the Ventriloquist is. He was always one of the more cartoony and less scary characters to me, until it was made clear that his dissociative disorder makes him brutally dangerous... and pretty terrifying. There really is no limit to the lengths of depravity and violence he might engage in... because, in his head... he's not doing anything wrong. It's all the puppet! Love it!
Not only was the story a lot of fun, the dialogue here was fantastic as well. I loved the back and forth between Dick and Bruce in the Batmobile. Dick's just pleased as punch about how everything at the Ales of Justice went, and Bruce brings him back to reality with one statement. Really great.
When I was filling out the "Labels" for this piece, I was surprised to find that this was the first time we're discussing an issue drawn by the great Scott McDaniel! His work here is just as good as ever... perfectly fitting the mood, setting, and characters. I always enjoyed his turn of the century Bat-work. Such a wonderful artist.
Overall... yeah, this is a great issue that I would recommend checking out. The post-No Man's Land/pre-Hush Batbooks are a great underrated trove of Batman stories... definitely worth tracking down. This issue is available digitally as well as in the (recommended) Batman By Brian K. Vaughan trade paperback collection.
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