1984
…the Player on the Other Side!
by Mike W. Barr, Michael Golden, Mike DeCarlo, Todd Klein, Adrienne Roy, Dick Giordano, Len Wein
Wrath, a man who has lived a life parallel to that of Bruce Wayne, seeks to get even with Commissioner Gordon by killing him. Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed by Joe Chill. Wrath's parents were killed by Jim Gordon. Batman gets in the way so Wrath adds the caped crusader to his do list. Wrath captures Dr. Leslie Thomkins and takes her hostage when he can’t find Gordon. He offers her life in exchange for Gordon.
This story takes place on the anniversary of the day that Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered. Wrath’s parents were murdered that same day but he did not come from a privileged background like Bruce. How is it that Alfred doesn’t know the significance of this date? That blows my mind. He knows that Bruce is Batman but not when Bruce’s parents were murdered. This seems inconsistent to me.
Wrath’s costume is brown and black on the cover but inside the comic book it is red and purple. The change seems kind of strange. There may be a simple explanation but I have no idea what it is.
What is Wrath’s backstory? How did he figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman? There is some information provided in the story but it hints at so much more. How long has Wrath been active? I looked online and this is his only appearance of consequence although he did get an entry in The original edition of Who’s Who. Considering how much effort Wrath has put in to getting revenge I would think that there could be a lot more stories about his past.
I want to like the story more than I do. It feels as though this should or could have been an Elseworlds story. It predates the official introduction of Elseworlds but there were stories prior to 1984 in the Elseworlds model even If they didn’t bear the name. Maybe if there had been subsequent Wrath stories that helped to fill in more of Wrath’s background then I wouldn’t feel cheated. Maybe if I had read this story when it first came out then I wouldn’t feel disappointed by it.
The Players on the Other Side
Mike W. Barr wrote this one-page text piece about the origins of the story.
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