Welcome back to BatChat! In Detective Comics #1,043, Mayor Nakano comes under fire in a story written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Aditya Bidikar. Meanwhile, Deb Donovan and Red Hood’s investigation reaches its end in the backup written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Darick Robertson, colored by Diego Rodriguez and lettered by Rob Leigh.
Batman and Martian Manhunter team up to stop Calendar Man from achieving power through the Martian calendar in Legends of the Dark Knight #5, written by Brandon Thomas, drawn by Giannis Milonogiannis, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Deron Bennett.
The final piece of the Master Engine is up for grabs, and it’s a museum caper with Professor Pyg and Scarecrow. The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #8 is written by Rosenberg, drawn by Jesus Merino and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, colored by Ulises Arreola and Tony Avina and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Matt Lazorwitz: I enjoy a week where we have three books in three vastly different continuities. We’ve had this before, but it always reminds me of the infinite malleability of Batman and his world. We have a book deeply entrenched in current continuity, a one-off team-up with a fellow member of the JLA, and the continuing adventures of the various members of the Arkham crowd.
Will Nevin: A big ol’ mixed bag this week on a number of variables: characters, tone and (unfortunately) quality.
One Mayor
Matt: We’ve said it before, but I’ll note it again here: Dan Mora does some stunning art. And this issue includes something we don’t get as much of in comics that have been published since digital comics have become more of a thing: a big ol’ two-page splash.
Will: Lettering aside, that is a damn pretty page. Poster ready. Feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had to complain about the art in one of the main titles, so good on editorial. Although Robertson still can’t handle a real human expression.
Matt: Yup, those are some rubbery faces.
Now, like a lot of people in comics journalism circles, I’m not too great at remembering to point out art beyond, “That sure is pretty.” But this issue, I really want to call out Jordie Bellaire. The coloring in some parts of this issue is astounding. The general red of the backgrounds adds a sense of unreality, or at least disquiet, that fits Gotham. I think the skies on Batman: The Animated Series were colored that way for just such a reason.
Will: And of course it’s raining. Whatever you want to say about the story here, there’s no getting around the fact that this issue looks fuckin’ cool.
Matt: This issue spends more time with Mayor Nakano than we really have since he was elected. And I’ve never been more sure that he isn’t going the corruption route, just the in-way-over-his-head route. He tries to stand up to Simon Saint! He doesn’t seem to realize that once you’ve sold your soul, you don’t have anything left to bargain with.
Will: Yeah, that’s some real “Pray I don’t alter the deal any further” vibes. And like a whole mess of politicians, he’s just not a bright guy, but he’s easily led — which is why Gotham is where it is. There’s not a whole lot explored or explained about his previous career as a GCPD officer other than explaining his disability, but at least in knowing he used to be a cop, it’s not jarring to see him with a gun. One thing I thought was a little clunky was the exposition on how he doesn’t use Magistrate security inside City Hall, a line that seemed to be there only to flag, “Hey, the guys taking Nakano aren’t part of the plan!” But since we get a concerned/panicked Saint only a few panels later, I think we could have figured that out on our own.
Matt: You know me, though. I’m all for another image of Simon Saint being confronted with not being anywhere near as smart as he thinks he is.
There’s so much going on in the main “Fear State” story over in Batman, I’m not sure how this works with the timeline. How is Batman doing all this stuff? Couldn’t this have been a Huntress story? Other than the fact that, well, it’s Detective Comics, thus a Batman title. I know when you have a whole line centered on one character, these things happen, but this is an event, and you’d think it would be coordinated better.
Will: ’Tec is always better when it has a raison d’etre, something that sets it apart from Batman. Unfortunately, we really haven’t had that since Tynion’s run. Would it be better as an anthology series focused on street-level crime with actual detective work? Of course. Would it sell? We’d buy copies. That’s at least two sales right there!
Let’s talk about the new weirdos in Gotham. They’ve got branding and a logo, and there’s some deep part of my brain that wants to read them as incels. What was your take? They’re clearly not with Saint, right? He’s not that good of an actor.
Matt: Oh, definitely not with Saint. I didn’t draw an incel connection, but now that you’ve said it, I can’t unsee it. That one long vertical panel of the guy attempting to kill Nakano, saying, “I am a King.”? Yeah, that guy gives off some serious incel vibes.
So, they’re not Magistrate, and they’re not leftover clowns from “Joker War.” They don’t give off the vibe of being tied to Penguin or any of the mobsters we’ve seen so far in this run, and they’re too together to be affected by Hue Vile’s brain bugs. The royalty motif is something new; I’ve never seen that in Gotham before. I’m thinking they’re opportunists taking advantage of “Fear State” to make their play, and it seems they want to take over by taking out the mayor. So they’re not bright enough to go after the power behind the throne in Saint. Unless they’re anarchists, which makes the mayor the prime target, but the motif doesn’t fit that.
So long story short? They’re a big question mark right now.
Will: Whoever they are, the plan had to be to kidnap Nakano and then execute him in some showy way. Otherwise, why not pop him immediately, right?
Matt: Yup, that is how I read that. They wanted him dead in his office, but if they couldn’t do that, they wanted to make a show.
Will: And now Nakano’s loose in the sewers of Gotham. There’s your lesson, would-be assassins: Get it over with.
Two Detectives
Matt: In a recently recorded but not yet released episode of our BatChat podcast, I talked about how much I like Batman and Martian Manhunter working together.
Will: Wouldn’t it be nice to see them working together in a good book?
Matt: Not a fan of this one, I take it?
Will: I don’t know whether it’s the digital-first format, but I swear to god, there are moments where this thing is unreadable from panel to panel. And let me say here before we go on, I’m really disappointed that DC appears to have given up on this Legends of the Dark Knight run — there hasn’t been a new digital chapter since July, and that’s the last thing listed in the December solicits. We could be staring at the end of this. A real shame.
Matt: The half-page breaks on this one do not do the story any favors. Nor does Calendar Man, who somehow appears in two books this week; he’s also one of the villains in the final issue of Gene Luen Yang’s run on Batman/Superman. He’s a villain who I feel should be in the Kite-Man camp; he’s campy and he knows it, so you don’t take him seriously. But instead, people keep trying to make him a real threat. It was OK when he was Hannibal Lecter in The Long Halloween, but Tom King trying to give him super powers, and now him hosting a Martian demon? Meh.
Will: I think you’ve lost the thread when you gotta write, “He remembers he has telepathy.” Oof.
Matt: There were some fine moments in this story. I liked Batman saving the kids and giving them hang-gliders. I like it when Bruce has human moments like that.
Will: But those hang gliders appeared out of nowhere! Deus ex wings! The storytelling here ain’t great.
Matt: Can’t argue that point. Also, I will say it in every story until somebody fixes it, but Batman is better with Alfred.
Will: Joshua Williamson will be my favorite Batman writer of the last five years if he brings back Alfred. Or maybe he’ll leave that to Bendis.
Matt: In the end, this is a forgettable piece of fluff, like so much of the volume of Legends has been.
Will: 🙁
A Cell Full of Villains
Matt: So, this is it, right? The last piece of the Master Engine, so the last of these villain fighting villain stories. Because as much fun as they’ve been, to varying degrees, I’m looking forward to the story moving forward.
Will: That makes me wonder — do you think this would read better or worse in trade? It’s formulaic, but the “director’s cut” bits (and I’m still not over that, DC) seem like they would balance out a lot of that.
Matt: Definitely. The director’s cut stuff builds a narrative that runs from issue to issue. It’s still a bit episodic, as it’s dealing with the characters from that story, but since they’re all in the cell together, it keeps things feeling connected. Without that? It’s just another two villains fighting each other.
Even if not all the styles have done it for me, I do like that DC is giving up-and-coming or indie artists a shot with these shorts. This is a Joker comic; there are very few bigger names in DC Comics than Joker, so while it’s digital first and all, it’s still cool to see they’re not just jamming them in a $10 anthology, but putting it out in something that will draw individual attention.
Will: For me, I think this series is as it has been from the beginning: really great and funny and charming when it features Joker and much less engaging when it does anything else.
Matt: I’m thinking we’ll be getting more Joker now that the villain face-offs are over. And hopefully more Riddler. If this is supposed to be a whodunnit; I want more of the victim and hints at why he was killed. I will be surprised in a good way if all of this winds up paying off at the end of the mystery, and these main stories haven’t been just an excuse to bang action figures together. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if I come for the mystery, I want a mystery. I’m really hoping for a Clue ending, where all these little pieces suddenly drop into place.
Will: Even better idea? Multiple endings. A full on Clue.
Matt: Damn, I love that movie.
Will: Let’s wrap this week up, Matt. I’m going to go home and sleep with my wife.
Matt: And remember: Communism is just a red herring.
Bat-miscellany
- The Magistrate taking over other city services like sanitation is a weird bit, unless Simon Saint has galaxy-brain ideas for dealing with trash. Coming in Batman: Secret Files: Simon Saint, I guess.
- Deb Donovan’s giant swear as she’s dragged by Batman on his Bat-grapple is pretty much exactly how I’d react if someone pulled me on a line through the sky. I understand some people would love that, but I am not one of them.
- Task Force Z looks like it’s going to be stupid in the best way.
- “I can see why they made you the president of detectives, Jim” is a hilarious line.
- You’ve made it all the way to the end of BatChat (print), why not check out BatChat (audio)? This week, we put Dark Knight Returns, Tom King’s Batman Annual #2 and Batman #300 on our big board in an episode that looks at stories slotted at the end of Batman’s career. And pick us up for your ears next week when we take on three different Elseworlds flavors of Batman in Gotham by Gaslight, Holy Terror and Superman: Speeding Bullets.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
