Detective Comics 981: Defining Your Destiny

Read the finale for yourself!

"Batmen Eternal, Finale"

Creative Team:

James Tynion IV - Script, Eddy Barrows - Pencils, Eber Ferreira - Inks, Adriano Lucas - Colors, Sal Cipriano - Letters, Barrows, Ferreira & Lucas - Cover, Dave Wielgosz - Assistant Editor, Chris Conroy - Editor, Jamie S. Rich - Group Editor, Batman Created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger

DC Comics' Solicitation:

"This is it—the unbelievable conclusion of James Tynion IV’s Batman epic! It’s the last stand of the Gotham Knights, fighting a monster they helped inspire...and a destiny they won’t accept! What will become of the greatest crime-fighting team Gotham City ever saw?"

Defining Your Destiny

Detective Comics 981 is a wrap-up for James Tynion IV, who has been on the title since Rebirth in 2016.  Throughout this arc (which began in issue 976) our heroes have been struggling with the dark future that seems to be imminent.  Our villain Ulysses wants to speed up its coming through Brother Eye.  This is a previously shut down super-computer built by Batman, which he deemed too dangerous to use because of its potential for evil such as this.  Fortunately for our heroes and the city of Gotham, they were able to overcome their authoritarian programming to create a better future!  The Bat-Family is restored to their best selves and have a new more optimistic destiny.

Do you ever struggle with your destiny?  Does it feel like a hopeless cycle of mediocrity, or even worse, suffering?  Sometimes, no matter what you do, it can feel like you are just on some hamster wheel, running towards an unattainable goal.  It certainly felt that way for Batwoman and Tim Drake.  For Batwoman, every future she was ever shown led to her killing Batman, who is her cousin and mentor.  Tim's role in the future was even more bleak.  He ended up consumed by the Batman cowl, and used Brother Eye to bring about "peace" through any means necessary.  What a hopeless spiral!  One that I think all of us struggle with to some degree.

I cannot promise you that through some power of will you have a guarantee of overcoming the obstacles in your life.  Sadly for some people it is quite the opposite.  Because of sin, we are actually promised a lifetime of suffering (see Genesis 3:14-24). However our promised destiny is not for our time on this earth, but rather eternal life in the presence of our God.  This is made clear in Ephesians, where Paul writes,

"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." - Ephesians 1:11-14 ESV

We have the promise of salvation in Him who chose us.  Does that mean that our earthly lives follow a perfect script? Not at all, but our hope is in the promised future in eternal paradise.  Tim Drake, Batwoman, and the others got their brighter future because of their force of will and determination.  For us, our promise is only in Christ our Lord!

What did you think of this issue?  I would love to talk about it with you.  You can comment below, or find me @behindthecapes on Twitter, or by liking the Behind the Capes Facebook page.  Also, something new, Behind the Capes has a group called Behind the Capes' Nerd Out Round Table, where we talk about a bunch of geeky stuff.  It is technically a closed group, but anyone can join if they agree to the simple rules laid out in the group.  I would love for this group to grow!