Ra’s Al Ghul

(Sigh) Then have your shadow, child, if he pleases you. But be wary. Shadows are, by their very nature, shallow — and what depths they do possess… contain only more darkness.

The events of this issue are told in reverse chronological order.

Aug 27th – Aqualad is leading the Team through a Gotham City sewer, but he is distracted by memories of his beloved Tula and a longing to return to Atlantis. He does not notice Clayface watching them from the sewer water. Clayface ambushes the Team and pins them against the sewer walls.

The evening of the previous day (Aug 26th evening) – Batman contacts the Team and orders them to rendezvous with Robin in Gotham City and to find the Clayface creature. They are to track it, but are not to engage it.

The morning of the previous day (Aug 26th evening) August 26th Morning – A large canister arrives at the Wayne Foundation. It is addressed to Bruce Wayne personally. He is inspecting the canister when it bursts open revealing Clayface. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson rapidly change into their Batman and Robin personas and give chase. However, Clayface is disoriented and escapes into the sewers after a brief, but violent fight.

Two days ago (Aug 25th) – Directly after Young Justice (vol. 2) #11 (Feb 2012). Ra’s Al Ghul returns to the Lazarus Pit chamber to find Sensei battling a clay creature that has emerged from the Pit. He recognises the creature as a shadow of the man who was once called Matthew Hagan, one of his League of Shadows. Ra’s mental domination over Hagan remains and he puts Clayface/Hagan to sleep with a simple command. Sensei is ordered to ship Clayface to Gotham City as a reward for Batman’s latest interference.

Six months ago (Feb 28th) – Talia, Ra’s Al Ghul’s daughter, tells him that she loves Matthew Hagan. Ra’s does not approve that she loves somebody so lacking in ability – Hagan may be one of the League of Shadows, but he’s not a particularly gifted one. She says that Hagan loves her for who she is and not because she happens to be an “Al Ghul”. Ra’s reluctantly gives Talia his blessing. She does to Hagan, but he tells her that he is dying of cancer and that he needs her access to the Lazarus Pit to save him. His insistence makes Talia realise that he’s used her and that he really only wants her for the Al Ghul connection. The disillusioned Talia takes Hagan to the Pit and allows him to immerse himself. However, she then locks the lid closed and leaves Hagan to die.

One year ago (Aug 27th, previous year) – Batman kisses Talia one final time before telling her that their relationship must end for as long as she follows her father’s villainous plans.

• This issue takes from on the 26th to 27th of August. It flashes back to events six months and one year before hand.
• Something bad happened to Talia’s mother when they tries to resurrect her with the Lazarus Pit.
• Clayface is Matthew Hagan, one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s lesser agents. He was a member of the League of Shadows and romanced Talia after she broke up with Batman. Talia locked him in the Lazarus Pit when he proved that he only wanted her for her family connections. His imprisonment transformed him into Clayface and he was awoken when Ra’s next used the Pit.
• Artemis does not appear in this issue.

Arc Timing and Title

This 3-part story arc takes place in the seven day span between episodes “Denial” and “Downtime” of the TV series. The fight at Cape Canaveral and Ra’s death takes place on the 19th simultaneous with the events of “Denial”. Ubu places Ra in the Lazarus Pit and he rises five days later on the 25th.

Clayface emerges from the Pit on the same day. He is sent to Gotham City and arrives the following day, on the 26th. The Team spend the night of the 26th into the 27th hunting Clayface. Is is early in the morning of the 27th that they are rescued from Clayface by the Batman in a scene that is a direct retelling of a scene from the start of “Downtime”.

The name of this story is based on “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe. This name of this chapter,”The Pendulum”, is an allusion to the way the story is told. Swinging backwards with each new scene.

Art

Chris Jones describes the creation of this issue’s cover on his blog. However, the interior art duties are handled by a guest. On his blog Jones explained his absence on his blog:

When I started on the book it was about a month behind schedule, and month after month we just weren’t able to pull enough ahead to make up an issue in the schedule. So, we got a fill-in issue and I jumped directly from drawing #11 to Young Justice #13.

The interior art is handled by Argentinian artist Luciano Vecchio. Pages of inked art from this issue have been added to Vecchio’s Deviant Art gallery.

Sales

My Thoughts

The Verdicts

Page 1. That is Tula. She’s been mentioned in earlier issues as somebody whom Kaldur’ahm (Aqualad) regretted leaving behind in Atlantis and his reunion with her is a set piece in the episode “”.

Page 13. We jump back 6-months to the conversation between Ra’s and Talia.

Page 15. And this is the pre-Clayface Matthew Hagan. In the comic books Hagan was the second Clayface and first appeared in Detective Comics #298. He was a treasure hunter who discovered a magical pool of clay which, when smeared over the body, could allow somebody to reshape their appearance like putty. However, the powers were only temporary and Hagan would need a new supply of the magical clay each time he wanted to become Clayface. He was eventually killed during a world wide Crisis. It is a beefed up version of Hagan’s Clayface which has appeared in most Batman cartoons although his alter ego is usually ignored or completely reinvented — as is done here.

Page 16. Talia mentions her mother in relation to the Lazarus Pit saying “After what happened to my mother…”, but she never finishes the sentence. According to Greg Weisman Talia is 16-years old and Talia’s mother is named Meslisande.

Page 20. This is a repreise of the cover image, but this time drawn by Luciano Vecchio not Christopher Jones. The only real difference is that the Team are in their stealth suits rather than the coloured versions.