Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Bad Seeds, barbara gordon, batgirl, gotham, poison ivy, Vandal Savage

Spoilers: Batman #9 & Poison Ivy #44 Set Up Bad Seeds & Barbara Gordon

Spoilers: How this week's Batman #9 and Poison Ivy #44 set up Bad Seeds and Barbara Gordon: Breakout...

Wednesday sees the publication of Batman #9 by Matt Fraction and Ryan Sook and Poison Ivy #44 by G. Willow Wilson and Jaime Infante from DC Comics, with Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan the week after. DC Comics has been doing some teasing, in previews and in the trailer above… and Bleeding Cool has been doing some spoiling. Expect a heady mix… getting more spoilery as we go down, as dots get joined up. There will be a big spoiler warning before we get to images that haven't been seen before. And I ask if you do share those elsewhere, you preserve the spoiler warning barrier. Okay, here we go. Despite the cover image to Batman #9, Barbara Gordon does not suit up in the issue.

But, as Bruce Wayne explains, he and Barbara have been talking.

Losing is the plan. They just have to lose as little as possible and make it mean something. Vandal Savage as Police Commissioner with his Gotham army are too much for the slimmed down Batfamily, without the mansion, without the Batcave, without the Wayne fortune.

Even for Gotham Mayor Pamela Isely, Poison Ivy in power, there are limits to how far her branches spread.

And so as Vandal Savage and the Gotham police force target the Batfamily…

… and the Batfamily do their best to take it all down…

… One Will Fall. Okay, time for that Big Spoiler image we were talking about…

There you go. So the Mayor is dealing with all manner of powers in the city…

As the Batfamily spread themselves around the place, on the hunt.

But there are other powers even Poison Ivy might not be expected to deal with.

Hey, as a tabloid hack myself, I resemble that remark.

There are lines to cross, or not. And Vandal Savage is setting them up for the Batfamily to trip, and get him to call in the National Guard to take down Batman…

And Vandal Savage ius doing just the same for Poison Ivy. Get her to do the thing that means she can be removed from power by the state, even as an elected official.

The only to play Vandal Savage is to get him to respond in the way he will, but in the direction you want. And that's what Barbara Gordon Does. As we know, she has been talking to Bruce about what happens next.

While Poison Ivy? She behaves in just the way Vandal Savage wants her to. She just doesn't care. And Barbara Gordon? The moment has been prepared for.

Attention is drawn away, focused in one direction. They planned to lose. And as a Gotham Assistant Direct Attorney is also arrested by Vandal Savage's administration… taking on his legal enemies…

So Barbara Gordon, daughter of Jim Gordon, and one of the Batman family, is placed somewhere where Vandal Savage can control them. Punish them. Use them for his own ends or eliminate them.

And set up by Batman #9… but only one small part of the story.

He takes the publicity, he takes the win, and Barbara Gordon has fallen into his trap. But he should learn that when setting a trap, there is something you should never put in a trap.

And that's Barbara Gordon. Especially when she has her own mission there, planned with Batman.

While Batman himself is going to the very top. He knows how Vandal Savage is playing Poison Ivy, and what will happen to her too. And Pamela Isley, as far as Bruce can see anyway, is no Barbara Gordon…

The Bad Seeds have been planted. In which direction they grow, and whether it's to the light or not, well, that's for another day.

One way or another, everyone is behind bars…

And Orange is the new Bat.  Batman #9 by Matt Fraction and Ryan Sook and Poison Ivy #44 by G. Willow Wilson and Jaime Infante are out on Wednesday, Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan the week after.

• Batman #9 by Matt Fraction and Ryan Sook
  After making a sinister deal with Mayor Isley, Commissioner Vandal Savage initiates "Operation Peregrine," sending his brutal TUCO squads across Gotham City on a singular mission: Bring in the Batman! Batman and his team must destroy and abandon their hideouts, safeguard their data, and escape the long arm of the law… but not everyone will make it safely through the night!
• Poison Ivy #44 by G. Willow Wilson and Jaime Infante
  Gotham City begins to turn on its new mayor as some less-than-wholesome things about her are brought to light. So what's a super-powered, super-villain mayor to do in a time like this? Well, let's just say it's not completely legal. Meanwhile, something is alive in Robinson Park—something very, very big.
• Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan
  LEAPING FROM THE PAGES OF MAY'S BATMAN #9 INTO THE NEXT LEVEL! Framed. Outlawed. Hunted. The extralegal activities of Gotham's vigilantes have never been more dangerous. After Barbara Gordon is arrested for aiding the Bat-Family, she is shipped off to Supermax, GCPD Commissioner Vandal Savage's pet-project prison for all who oppose him. She will find herself alone, surrounded by dangerous criminals and equally dangerous guards, in a place where nothing is what it seems. The true danger is just beginning… Eisner Award-winning writer Mariko Tamaki and fan-favorite artist Amancay Nahuelpan reunite to deliver a twisty, unexpected Bat-book for DC Next Level. $3.99 5/13/2026

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