Batman’s graveyard shift, America’s graveyard election

“But see you come back to Gotham and the first thing you do is plant your flag here. In Crime Alley, the worst of the worst, when you could be in a cozy mansion. I’m concerned that you should cross paths with this person, this vigilante, you might sympathize with him. You seem to be on a bit of a crusade here, is all.”

~ Commissioner Gordon

“Sometimes, I’m my own worst enemy.”

~ Bruce Wayne

Prelude

Below is a summary of the book, Batman vol.6 Graveyard Shift, part of the New 52 Batman Comic Series. This story is a continuation on my series of essays examining this classic version of a riveting Batman comic created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. As in my custom in previous Batman essays, I will make several analogies using this Batman comic as a critique regarding many substantive societal issues facing America and her precarious future if America picks the wrong candidate in the 2016 Presidential election.

Bright New Yesterday

The story begins six years before the events of the present day Batman saga; before billionaire Bruce Wayne became Batman. The setting is in Gotham city (a fictional version of New York City) at the unveiling of the new Gotham National Bank. In a private room outside the bank vault, a dozen or so Gotham socialites eat cake and enjoy a speech by the owner of the bank. Suddenly the infamous mafia-like criminal gang known as the Red Hood Gang breaks into the room and hold everyone at gun-point, moving in to rob the money vault. When the bank owner yells at the Red Hood leader (known as Red Hood One), he orders one of his henchman, Red Hood Five, to silence him. Red Hood Five pistol-whips him, knocking him out, while breaking his gun. Red Hood One throws him another gun but orders him to hold it to his head and remove his hood. Reluctantly Red Hood Five does but is shocked as to why he is being punished for doing his job. Red Hood One explains how Red Hood Five usually enjoys killing people, and would have shot the bank owner, however this anomaly along with other subtle signs are clues that this man is not really Red Hood Five, but an imposter in disguise.

The Red Hood Gang

Holding him at gun-point, Red Hood One orders the man to shoot himself or else they will torture him. He agrees but pleads that the gang abstains from killing any hostages. Laughingly, Red Hood One tells the man that they are already dead by some poison he had placed in the cake they ate. Right before Red Hood One forces him to shoot himself, the man suddenly pistol-whips the gang leader and round house kicks another member. Another gang member punches the man, while Red Hood One begins firing his gun at him. Hiding behind a table the mystery man is revealed to be non-other than Bruce Wayne. While avoiding gun fire Wayne contemplates to himself,

“Stupid, Bruce. Stupid. Should have done your homework. Should have taken more time studying him (Red Hood One) and the whole gang. But no you wanted to get into the Red Hood Gang before the robbery. See them in action. As Alfred (his butler/closest friend) would say… be careful what you wish for, Bruce.”

Still incognito, Bruce tactfully throws a smoke bomb and dashes out the front door of the bank only to be met by a barricade of armed and ready police officers surrounding the parking lot. Suddenly, Red Hood One and his gang come out behind Bruce and begin shooting at the police. Caught in-between the cross-fire, Wayne dives under one of the police cars and uncovers a nearby sewer. Inside the sewer, Bruce takes off his rubber face mask and activates an ultramodern motorcycle parked in the area. While speaking to his faithful butler, Alfred via ear-piece, the Red Hood gang follows him into the sewer and opens fire. Bruce begins to drive away and speeds up toward a dead end in the sewer. Arguing with Alfred on why his escape is being blocked by a wall, Alfred manages to mechanically open the wall, right before Bruce collides with it.

Young Bruce Wayne with his innovative Wayne tech

Now inside his secret laboratory (the precursor to the Bat-cave), Bruce plots a future strategy with his faithful ally, Alfred who worries about Bruce’s new mission of battling against crime in Gotham, and why he seeks to make a statement by secretly being head-quartered in a dangerous ghetto. Bruce explains,

“My parents died forty feet from our new front door. This is where I have to be, Alfred. This is where my war begins.” Bruce continues, “Say what you want. But I am improving. Not fast enough, but I am. Still, I’m not good enough. Not yet. I have the weapons. I should be able to fight this war without anyone ever knowing I exist. But something’s missing. I don’t know what.”

Alfred suggests that he return to the Wayne Manor (his mansion), and reconnect to his family heritage. But Bruce argues that his real identity isn’t important as his mission fighting crime in Gotham. But Alfred retorts that being a “Wayne” was what made Bruce’s parents able to productively influence and aid Gotham City. He warns that people will start to grow suspicious of his mysterious actions eventually. Interrupting him, Bruce argues that the only thing he needs to be successful in his mission is a weapon that leaves no trace or casing leading evidence back to him. Bruce reveals the weapon to be a mechanical boomerang (a precursor to Batman’s Bat-erangs). Going on top of his roof, Bruce throws the boomerang at a wall, causing it to pierce through the brick and orders it to remain there for the 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds, it flies right back to Bruce, and he throws it again, ordering it to stay for four minutes. Suddenly Alfred introduces a visitor to Bruce Wayne – Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon, who had some important questions for the billionaire.

Bruce Wayne testing his new weapon.

As Alfred leaves, Gordon wonders why Wayne hasn’t been involved in his company, Wayne Enterprises since returning to Gotham 3 months ago after a 4 year absence (secretly undergoing a rigorous crime fighting training journey). After Wayne avoids a direct answer, Gordon brings up how the police have investigated his company, under Wayne’s uncle, and believes that it is possibly involved with criminal dealings. Wayne refuses to believe this and tells Gordon he knows nothing of it. Gordon moves on to question if Wayne knows anything about the mysterious new vigilante in Gotham (secretly Bruce), to which Wayne denies, and wonders why Gordon is suspicious and what any of his inquiries at all has to do with him. Gordon replies,

“Nothing, most likely. But see you come back to Gotham and the first thing you do is plant your flag here. In Crime Alley, the worst of the worst, when you could be in a cozy mansion. I’m concerned that you should cross paths with this person, this vigilante, you might sympathize with him. You seem to be on a bit of a crusade here, is all.”

Bruce again denies this claim, and he and Gordon enter the elevator back down to the main level of Wayne’s apartment. As they exit the mechanical boomerang hurls back and lodges into the elevator in a very dramatic fashion, just as Wayne and Gordon exit.

Nowhere Man

Fast forwarding to the Gotham National Bank 6 years later, the now Commissioner Gordon along with his partner Deputy Director Bullock and a group of police surround the bank. A mysterious man has robbed the bank, killed three security guards, and holds a civilian hostage at gunpoint as he exits the bank, facing the police. Shockingly the man appears to be non-other than Bruce Wayne (aka Batman). Gordon is astonished as to why Wayne would kill innocents and rob a bank, especially since he’s a billionaire. Wayne agrees with the absurdity of the situation and throws the bag of money at the police with a smoke bomb as a diversion; he then jumps onto a motorcycle to escape. Gordon and Wayne both fire at each other with their guns, and Gordon is knocked down by Wayne’s shotgun. On the ground Gordon begs to know why Wayne has turned from being a hero for the city to being a criminal, and why is he wearing Batman’s suit underneath his suit coat. Bruce responds, “Yeah, well, sometimes being a hero gets old”, and drives over Gordon, running from the police.

Bruce Wayne attacking his old friend Commissioner Gordon.

The story rewinds back to six days earlier, Batman is driving one of his ultramodern motorcycle through the streets of Gotham. From the cycle he leaps onto a speeding truck but is suddenly pulled into the truck by a large metal hook. Inside the truck Batman is confronted by the villain named Reaper, who is delivering a load of poison bouquets to a big-time funeral. Holding Batman at gun point, right before he fires, the truck suddenly halts to a stop, causing Reaper to fly forward toward Batman who immediately knocks him out. Climbing out from the front of the truck is none other than Robin, aka Damian Wayne, Batman’s highly trained 10 year old son and partner. The two joke about how because of inhaling the poison flowers that they are literally dead men walking, and journey back to Batman’s motorcycle for the antidote.

Suddenly it is revealed that this confrontation with the Reaper was merely a video recording from last week that Batman is watching in the Batcave. Batman watches the recordings for the tragic reason that Robin, his son, died recently during one of Batman’s major missions. Alfred walks into the cave and tries to comfort Batman and tells him about a funeral scheduled today for his friend Brian Wade – Wayne’s most trusted architect. Batman declines to attend and asks to send Lucius Fox, Wayne’s top scientist and close friend, in his place. When Alfred mentions that Wade committed suicide, Batman is shocked and rushes over to his super-computer looking up the police and medical reports on Wade. Seeing how Wade was suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome but on the road to a swift recovery, greatly perplexes Batman as to why he would kill himself. Additionally it is shown that Wade murdered two gangsters in cold blood the day before his death.

Batman investigates Wade’s mansion, and shockingly finds that Wade wasn’t in Gotham the night he supposedly killed the criminals. Suddenly Wade enters the room and blasts a flame-thrower at Batman, causing the Dark Knight to take cover, evading the flames. Batman throws a bat-arang which pierces Wade’s cheeck, causing him to retreat to a nearby elevator in agony. Batman follows his trail over to a nearby train station, but loses track of him. Later in his Bat jet, Batman analyzes a blood sample from the weapon he hit Wade with and reveals him in truth to be an imposter. In disguise as Wade he is the shape shifting super-villain known as Basil Karlo, aka, Clayface, a former actor turned criminal who has the power to take the appearance of any living person on the planet so long as he has a DNA sample. His actual appearance is that of a large 10 foot clay-like monster. Batman believes that Clayface has evolved, completely losing touch with his original human form. The next day standing in Wayne Tower as Bruce Wayne he contemplates to himself –

“Seems Clayface has mutated. What little left there is of Basil Karlo’s DNA is disappearing fast. Meaning, Clayface is no longer an actor. No longer a mimic. If he samples a person’s DNA, brushes their skin, finds a single hair, he can adsorb it and fully become them. Which means, he’s truly a clay man now. Everyone and no one. The only question is… who will he become next?”

Suddenly Lucius Fox walks into the room telling Bruce that he has the special combat suit Batman asked for through dealing with Clayface (Bruce pretends to be Batman’s biggest benefactor). After thanking him, Wayne stares at Fox, speculating his true identity. Suddenly as Wayne mysteriously panics and dashes over to a nearby fire extinguisher, Fox grabs Wayne, and turns out to be non-other than Clayface (Clayface mimicked Fox’s appearance). He throws Wayne against the wall. Now down in Wayne’s armory, Clayface hurls one of Wayne’s cars at him, almost crushing the billionaire. Bruce immediately voice activates six of his Batman security robots standing by. But before they can attack, Clayface mimics Wayne’s voice and deactivates them. Cornering Wayne, Clayface reveals his grand scheme to lure out Batman by pretending to be Bruce Wayne and causing havoc in Gotham (hence the first part of the story when he robbed the bank). Suddenly Clayface swallows Wayne whole and spits him out into a large garbage compactor in the building where Lucius Fox is imprisoned.

Clayface attacking Bruce Wayne

Clayface tells Fox that Wayne has suffocated from lack of oxygen inside him. Taking the appearance of Bruce Wayne, he leaves and activates the trash compactor. Suddenly Bruce miraculously wakes up (having trained himself to hold his breath for long minutes) and he and Lucius search for a way out. Searching in a sea of old weapons and technology, Fox finds a mechanical Bat-suit and Bruce insists on using it. Just before the compactor crushes them, Bruce uses the suit to bust a hole through the steel doors and flies out with Fox. Bruce tells Fox to warn Batman of Clayface, while he calls the police.

Elsewhere, (continuing the bank robbery scene from the beginning), Clayface (disguised as Bruce Wayne) drives his motorcycle through Gotham, running from three police motorcycles. As they begin to shoot at him, Clayface drops pieces of clay on the road which tangle up the spokes of the police motorcycles, causing them to crash as the villain drives off. Returning to Wayne Tower, Clayface enters a room only to suddenly be knocked down by Batman using an extra protected Bat-suit. Clayface then transforms into his monster form, prompting Batman to blast the villain with a hydrogen fluoride cannon (one of Clayface’s weaknesses), which has little affect. The villain then grabs Batman holding him out the window while mimicking the heads of Batman’s villains, including Joker, Penguin, and the Riddler, boasting how he is beyond all of Batman’s villains, “We all go back to the clay gentlemen. It’s me who always gets you in the end, when you think about it.”

Batman battling Clayface

Using the last power reserve in his suit, Batman blasts Clayface with a stream of coolant, freezing his arm and moves to blast the villain with a large charge of electricity. After the dust settles, Clayface still remains conscious and grabs Batman touching his face to sample his DNA, just as the Commissioner Gordon and the police arrive. Clayface reveals Batman’s secret identity to be non-other than Bruce Wayne and demands that the police arrest him. Suddenly a large glass chamber protrudes out of the ceiling and traps Clayface. Batman tells him that it’s an impregnable security fail-safe and can only be opened by his original self: Basil Karlo, whom Clayface has just lost all his original DNA for, being a complete monster. In a rage Clayface turns into Batman’s deceased son, Damian Wayne (secretly Robin) and tells the Dark Knight that Wayne didn’t even care for his own son, must lest anyone else. This enrages Batman and causes him curse while punching and kicking Clayface’s prison. Gordon calms him down, and they all leave.

Later Batman and Alfred sit together in the Bat-cave and watch the rest of the recordings of Batman and Robin’s past adventures. Tears begin to roll down Batman’s cheecks as Alfred comforts him.

Significance for modern day today

These epic Batman tales hold many similarities and comparisons to modern day America, specifically within the pivotal 2016 Presidential race. Following the first chapter called Bright New Yesterday, billionaire Bruce Wayne represents billionaire and current Republican frontrunner, Donald J. Trump, who, when asked in August 2015, even called himself the modern day Batman. (Incidentally, Trump is a born and bred New Yorker from Queens and defeated rival Ted Cruz in a landslide last week. Similar to how Wayne fought to end crime and corruption in the mean streets of Gotham, Trump fights a one man war against the corruption and cronyism in America embodied within a failed Socialist Progressive government and all-talk/no-action career politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. In this context, the Red Hood Gang represents the modern day GOP Republican Party.

In the same manner that the leader Red Hood One sought to have Bruce Wayne kill himself, reflecting the leader’s self-destructive nihilistic means, RNC Chairman, Reince Priebus and the GOP Establishment are pushing to have Trump commit political suicide, seeking to deny him the Republican nomination, even at the expense of possibly losing the election to the Democrats in November. This destructive strategy is similar to how the Red Hood Gang used stolen technology from the bank security to break into the Gotham national bank – the GOP is devotedly working with anti-Trump Super PAC’s and lesser candidates such as Senator Ted Cruz and John Kasich (Gov. of Ohio) to systematically steal the election away from the American people, ignoring the popular vote and the will of We the People in order to sabotage Trump’s campaign. Just how Bruce Wayne went in disguise as a Red Hood member, Trump is attempting to work with and gain acceptance by the deceitful GOP, not running for a Third Party, but by abiding by the rules, while alerting the public at every speech about the disgusting Machiavellian tactics of his fellow Republicans who are rigged electoral system against him.

In Nowhere Man, Clayface and his multiple personas, ultimately represents the accumulation of the many people, ironically mostly Republican, who have attempted/are attempting to derail Trump’s campaign. Among the most notable are, RNC Chair Reince Priebus, Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck, Megyn Kelly, George Soros, the Koch Brothers, the Pope, Barack Obama, and many others who have spent over $100 million in negative ads to defeat Trump…

Nevertheless, to date all attempts have fallen short of crippling the impenetrable businessman’s campaign, as evidently the opposite effect occurs through Trump’s popularity only growing over time. [*N.B.: For further reading on the subject, see my father, Professor Ellis Washington’s essay, Who is Donald ‘John Galt’ Trump?]  Furthermore, this is also similar to how Clayface obsessively sought to make Bruce Wayne look bad and expose Batman’s identity. In an ironic sense, all the above people against Trump and many more who obsessively (in secret meetings) attempt to undermine and destroy Trump’s presidential run, are actually helping him triumph in the end.

Like Clayface, Trump haters can be anyone, no matter who you expect, Republicans and Democrats alike, utilizing every situation (real and imagined) to incapacitate the front-runner. Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham Police Department represent the neutral American voter and the growing trust of tens of millions of Americans how are loyal Trump supporters, unmoved by the deceitful tactics of the Progressive/regressive media and political pols. For example, remember how Clayface betrayed Gordon’s longstanding trust in Bruce Wayne by mimicking him, using his voice, attacking him and committing heinous crimes in his name all the while tarnishing Wayne’s reputation? Likewise, who my father call Marxist Media Inc. and the anti-Trump GOP Establishment grasp at every opportunity to make Trump look bad and deny him the presidency. Derivative of Clayface’s human-self becoming more unrecognizable over time, the more the GOP continues to attack Trump, the more unrecognizable they become to the very Conservative principles they gave lip service to over the decades, thus further leading the Republican Party closer and closer to another crippling defeat at the hands of the Democrats come November.

America, We the People must not allow our vote, our election, our Judeo-Christian traditions and institutions to be stolen, ignored, or destroyed by the dirty campaign tactics of the GOP and candidates like Ted Cruz, whom due to his rampant instances of voting fraudand scramble to deny and steal Trump delegates, has earned him Trump’s nickname for Cruz – “Lyin’ Ted”. Just like with Clayface and the Red Hood Gang, America’s enemies can take on many different faces, shapes, and forms, appearing innocent in order to maintain the trust of the public eye, ready to deceive and betray those who place their trust behind the Republican establishment.

Like the title— Batman’s Graveyard Shift, America’s Graveyard Election, We the People must rise up in constitutional power we possess and never allow our country to go to the grave as we give our election away to the Democrat Socialist Party (again on a silver platter), subjecting the nation to another four years of crippling Progressive Marxist policies. Americans should follow the courageous example of Batman and Trump—to fight to end the corruption, vote against the rigged system-backed candidates, and unify the party by standing behind Donald Trump in order to fundamentally revive American exceptionalism and bring this nation back to the shining image the Founder’s envisioned, a “Shining City upon a Hill” – ideas and policy directives my father gave to Trump months ago, coining the terms Trumphalism and AMERICA FIRST.