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Batman and Robin look over the ravaged Gotham Cemetery before taking Thomas and Martha Wayne's corpses to safety. Deadman feels his corpse reanimate,


Quote1 These orphan boys know how to deliver knuckle sandwiches. Quote2
Zombie Tony Zucco src

Who Burns Who is a Blackest Night tie-in featuring the Batman Family, written by Peter Tomasi and illustrated by Ardian Syaf. It's published in the three-issue Blackest Night: Batman mini-series. The story deals with resurrected agents of the Black Lantern Corps attacking Gotham through personal ties with its heroes, wielding dangerous power rings that reanimate them and feed off life energy through human hearts. There is a companion piece written as part of the Morrison's Batman saga titled Blackest Knight, dealing with the resurrection of Bruce Wayne.

Synopsis

Batman and Robin look over the ravaged Gotham Cemetery before taking Thomas and Martha Wayne's corpses to safety. Deadman feels his corpse reanimate, although this does not affect his spirit and he goes to find help. The corpses of Abbatoir, Blockbuster, Deacon Blackfire, KGBeast, King Snake, Magpie, the Trigger Twins and Ventriloquist are reanimated by Black Lantern Rings while being transported to a safe location. Deadman possesses Batman to give him exposition and Grayson calls Red Robin for back-up, but they're too late to stop Jack Drake, Janet Drake, John Grayson and Mary Grayson from rising as well.[1] The resurrected villains begin slaughtering innocents and take over GCPD Headquarters, where they activate the Bat-Signal. In their private armory, Batman and Robin stock up on flame-throwers to fight the zombies. Barbara Gordon and Commissioner Gordon are both trapped in police headquarters fighting off the siege with shotguns. Batman and Robin torch the zombies while Deadman posseses Barbara to help her and the Commissioner escape. Red Robin arrives in the Batplane and air-lifts them out of the firefight, explaining that not even flame can destroy the zombies. Their plane is attacked in mid-air by Dick and Tim's respective zombie parents and they crash into a cemetery.[2] The Drakes and the Flying Graysons stage elaborate recreations of their own deaths to stimulate emotions in their victims. Captain Boomerang and Tony Zucco arrive to complete the scene, driving Batman and Red Robin into a boiling fit of emotion that attracts all the other zombies. Deadman returns having enlisted the hellfire of Etrigan through a possessed Jason Blood, and they make their last stand in the cemetery. As a last-ditch effort Dick has Damian air-drop Mister Freeze's Freeze Gun into the battle, which they use to freeze each other so they can't be detected anymore. The Black Lanterns lose their prey and fly off elsewhere to find more victims, allowing Deadman to unfreeze Dick and Tim. Although they did not win their battle, they go to pass on the information they learned so they can help continue the fight.[3]

Issues

Notes

Deadman Blackest Night mistake

Deadman is a moron.

  • Disturbingly, in this series Deadman has a conversation with Batman about his secret identity less than three feet away from Jim Gordon. When they're climbing into the Batplane while Deadman is Barbara Gordon, he calls "Grayson" by name and then alludes to their past relationship. This is either a creative mistake or Gordon has to be mentally ill if he hasn't figured out Batman's identity yet.[2]
  • Etrigan's emotions are shown as just a gray scribbled blur, unrecognizable to the Black Lanterns. This is possibly because he's a supernatural creature. Blockbuster punches through his chest and reveals that he has no heart.[3]

Recommended Reading

Links and References


Blackest Night Vol 1 1 Textless
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Blackest Night logo2 Crossover
Blackest Night is a 2009 DC Comics crossover event featuring the dead rising, and attacks by the Black Lantern Corps. This is the culmination of the War of Light. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Blackest Night crossover category.

Batman Blind Justice TP
Batman Family Storyline
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This event or storyline is specifically related to Batman, or to members of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Batman Storylines category.

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