Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Batman, Comics, dc, relaunch

Spoiling The Ending Of Batman: The Dark Knight #1 (UPDATE)

Published Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:00:33 -0500

Last updated Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:06:36 -0500

Yes, yes, another week, another big spoiler for the ending of a new DC Comic. Because I can't think of any other way to do this.

So, if you are planning on reading Dark Knight #1, out this week from Paul Jenkins and David Finch, stop reading now. Go somewhere else, then come back after you'd finished reading it. I'm going to post a picture of a dog dressed up as Batman so that the visual doesn't land on the front page of Bleeding Cool and to give you one last chance to back away.

Okay here we go. You have been warned.

The new relaunched Batman: The Dark Knight #1 sees Batman dealing with a breakout at Arkham Asylum. Nothing new there, he did it in Batman #1 out this month as well.

What is different is Two Face. Transformed, Hulk-like into a new One-Face. And, it seems a bit of a homophobe with it. To whit;

Let's go for a definition.

Batty boy (also spelled bhatti boy, batty bwoy), batty man are pejorative sexual slurs used to describe gay, bisexual and effeminate men, or those presumed to be gay and bisexual. The term is a Jamaican Patois abbreviation of the word bottom into batty; "batty boy" is a cognate of the American English "butt boy"

I've seen records banned, performances banned over use of this phrase. What this means for a T graded comic from DC… I have no idea.

UPDATE: Paul Jenkins gets in touch to state quite categorically that any use of this phrase was unintentional. I confess, I did see it as another example of a British creator sneaking something past DC, such as Mark Millar's "Ares Bandet" in Green Lantern, or Neil Gaiman's "Felching heck" in Books Of Magic. A number of British retailers did express concern, and I understand the scene may need to censored by Titan when they reprint it next year, but it appears that the use wasn't an intentional one. Sorry, Paul.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Check out their New 52 podcast here.