Jake & Leon’s “DC Jailbreak Saga”

I rarely do storylines except for Christmas. It’s a commentary/parody strip with the occasional gag so it doesn’t usually work to have an arc. There have been exceptions, such as the Adventure Time bit, Marvel War, and the continuing Power Ranger Parody strips. Marvel War started as a gag that was too long for one strip so I padded it out a bit and it became four strips plus an intro strip. “What time is it” was also a joke that wouldn’t end, and believe me I could have come up with a few other answers to that question. It’s surprising how often “time” comes up in battle cries and catch phrases.

The DC Jailbreak arc was different in that it was a one-shot gag that, thanks to news updates, demanded a callback. Callbacks are nothing new to a long-running strip, and as of this writing we’re up to almost 260 mostly weekly strips (barring sickness and other events). Because my second attempt at taking a new medicine for my Crohn’s made me sick again (they’re going to have to find a new anti-inflammatory that doesn’t make me sick but won’t lose its strength) I decided to throw together a quick history of this arc.

Seldom has a comic company gone so far to ruin good characters.

This came from reports that attempts to use Stephanie in the Smallville continuation comic, the Young Justice cartoon, and have a little girl in Steph’s Batgirl outfit during a Halloween story in Li’l Gotham were being changed by DC’s power(monger)s that be so that only Barbara was the only Batgirl anyone would know about. And seeing this shows me I should have used this strip as a color guide for the characters like I did an art guide.

Wally West had also been shoved aside for Barry Allen, and Wally didn’t exist in the New 52. The same goes for Connor Hawke and Cassandra Cain in their respective roles.  These versions had their own fans and to sent them away because only your favorite version matters was the point of this strip. Then news came that Dan DiDio was finally listening to Stephanie’s fans and that the Spoiler would return to the DCU in Batman Incorporated, necessitating a follow-up strip.

I’m actually a little concerned about Stephanie 52.

As far as I know she only showed up recently in the pages of Batman Eternal, some years after the announcement. In the meantime we were told Wally would return to the New 52.

I’ve also seen pics of Wally’s new 52 outfit. Reminds me of the electric Superman.

Yep, the warden is Dan DiDio. The guard is just the same guy we saw in the first two strips. This was his last appearance. I’m assuming he was fired for letting two prisoners escape.

Ted of course would get dead parents in the New 52 because every superhero needs Batman’s origin according to the current DC creators. We have yet to see him as a superhero except in an alternate universe. Wally would appear in the New 52, only nothing like the Wally West we saw before. He’s now biracial and his dad abandoned him and his black mother because even when we finally have an interracial relationship DC’s anti-marriage mantra has to show up. He’s also going to die in five years. No Linda, no kids. Of course, only Animal Man is allowed to marry and have kids. I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me the Waynes and Kents were never married either at this point.

Except for Ted Kord, DC seems to be targeting this cell for characters to give the New 52 treatment.

Like Wally, Connor was probably better off in the jail. Shipped to Earth 2, Connor becomes Red Arrow before monsters kill him. He’s also redone to look like Roy Harper and is the AU counterpart of Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen. What’s that? You really liked Wally and Connor? Screw you, they aren’t DiDio’s version of Flash and Green Arrow and thus must die rather than create their own legacy for daring to take their place.

And finally the recent news that Cassandra Cain, the second Batgirl, would be coming back to the DCYou (although obviously not as Batgirl). It was a long wait compared to some of the others but it was finally time to clear out the cell.

And thus a storyline concludes.

This is the only comic Jake appears in during the hosting panel. I just realized that.

I grew up with Barbara Gordon as Batgirl like the rest of the current DC creative team. However, she really shined as Oracle, someone who could aid the Batfamily and Justice League in the information age. Stephanie Brown already had her own superhero identity so assuming someone else’s mantle seems a waste of a good persona. Cassandra not only made Batgirl her own, but in the wake of her history kind of needed Batgirl to form an identity. Whatever the DCYou has planned it won’t be Cassandra Cain any more than Wally West and Connor Hawke matched the version fans had grown to enjoy. Also, they’re dead so I’m not hopeful about Cassie’s future.

Still, I wanted her back just to finish this storyline. Cassandra was sitting alone in her cell while her friends escaped and were brutally killed having adventures and as the writer of this comic that didn’t feel right. I was kind of bound by the events that led to this arc. Now things are happy at the DC Jail…for these four anyway. I feel like the arc is complete and I can finally move on from it.