2014-07-11
Explanation
The Joke
Batman and the Penguin are in a confrontation. Batman declares he is "Process Man" -- he concerns himself with "congressional rules that are ethical and just, but which are created in a way that ensures the generation of power." The Penguin's chemical contamination is polluting Gotham's water supply, but the rule that prohibits it relies on a "congressional opinion in a case that has never been used as a precedent." Batman tells the Penguin he likes the rule "but the process behind it is capricious," and that one cannot "fight against horrible rules in the future" without proper legal foundations. A henchman suggests Batman should "come back" once he has "citations to share." In the final panel, Nightwing (or Robin) asks: "Are we certain that's a good idea?"
The Humor
The comic satirizes the tension between procedural liberalism and practical justice. Batman -- normally a vigilante who punches criminals -- has been reimagined as a process-obsessed legal scholar who refuses to stop a villain poisoning the water supply because the legal basis for doing so is insufficiently grounded in precedent. This is a parody of people (often in politics or law) who prioritize proper procedure over urgent outcomes, even when the outcome is obviously necessary. The Penguin is literally poisoning people, but "Process Man" cannot act because the congressional rule lacks sufficient legal foundation. The humor escalates when even the Penguin's henchman engages with the procedural argument, and the final panel suggests even Batman's allies think this approach might be a terrible idea.
References
The comic is a satire of debates around procedural vs. substantive justice in American politics and legal theory. It also riffs on the common trope of giving Batman different themed identities and approaches to crime-fighting.