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"Joe Chill in Hell": After being shot by Bat-Devil, Batman goes into cardiac arrest and has numerous visions and hallucinations of old cases and past experiences.

Quote1 I shoulda shot the kid right there. I shoulda done him first. Three for three. Quote2
Joe Chill

Batman #673 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2008. It was published on January 30, 2008.

Synopsis for "Joe Chill in Hell"

After being shot by Bat-Devil, Batman goes into cardiac arrest and has numerous visions and hallucinations of old cases and past experiences.

In one vision, Bruce recalls a time where he underwent the "Thogal Ritual" in Nanda Parbat. The 7 week ritual, known as Yangti, is an extended form of meditation that simulates death, after-death, and rebirth.

In Bruce's subconscious, he attempts to rationalize his current state following his "heart-attack". He recites his ascendance into the Batman persona, remembering interactions with Bat-Mite, and the Ten-Eyed Tribe but continues to hallucinate.

In one hallucination, Joe Chill, the criminal who killed Wayne's parents, is locked in his penthouse suite, surrounded by criminals, presumably in hiding from Batman. Batman has visited and frightened Chill every night for a month. Chill is living as a shut-in, but his guards never see or catch Batman during the visits. On his final visit, Batman gives Chill the gun he used to kill the Wayne's, to which Chill realizes who Batman is. Chill then takes the gun, presumably to kill himself, because if the Underworld knew he was responsible for the Batman, they would kill him.

Still hallucinating, Bruce flashes back to a time when he volunteered to participate in an experiment for "Space Medicine", where he would spend 10 days in an Isolation Chamber. In reality, he agreed to the experiment only so that he could use the "hallucinatory and psychotic state" to catch a glimpse of how the Joker's mind worked. During the isolation experiment, Bruce hallucinated the death of Dick Grayson, proving that even Batman can succumb to mental stress and anxiety.

In his subconsciousness, Bruce asks himself, "When die I die?". The isolation experiments occurred years ago, and Thogal ended last year.

Suddenly, Bruce is resuscitated by Bat-Devil, who prepares to torture him.

Appearing in "Joe Chill in Hell"

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Notes

Trivia

  • Multiple instances of Bruce's dialogue in this issue are copied verbatim from Batman Vol 1 156.
  • Bruce mentions that when he was five, he sensed the presence of a "gaping, toppling void in the center of existence." This could be a reference to Darkseid and the "Forever Pit" shown in Final Crisis.


See Also

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