Welcome back to BatChat! In Detective Comics #1,045, Batman and Mayor Nakano’s confrontation with the parasitic spawn of Hue Vile comes to a conclusion with a little help from the Batfamily in a story written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Aditya Bidikar. In the backup, Batman takes a trip through his fears and the skeleton of the new Arkham Tower in a story written by Stephanie Phillips, drawn by David Lapham, colored by Trish Mulvihill and lettered by Rob Leigh.
Red Hood’s adventure with the dead former Arkham inmates goes from bad to worse, as plans within plans start to blossom and a couple new members join the group, in Task Force Z #2, written by Matthew Rosenberg, pencilled by Eddy Barrows, inked by Eber Ferreira, colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Leigh.
Who killed the Riddler? Maybe we finally have an answer. Or maybe we don’t. There’s a still a lot up in the air in The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #11 & 12, written by Rosenberg, drawn by Jesus Merino (framing sequence for both issues), Shawn Crystal and Victor Sifuentes (issue #11) and Juan Doe and Sifuentes (issue #12), colored by Ulises Arreola and Doe, and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Matt Lazorwitz: Monsters are all over Gotham this week. Giant parasites, zombies and clay creatures. But at least the clay creatures are easier to wrap our heads around than the last time we talked about them.
Will Nevin: Halloween lasts from Oct. 1 until Sept. 31 in Gotham, boyo. And just think: We’re not even covering DC vs. Vampires.
A Separate Peace?
Matt: One of my biggest problems with this Detective arc has been that I had no idea when this was taking place in relation to everything else. This issue gives us an answer: It takes place in between the pages of Batman #113, so after Ghost-Maker helps deprogram Batman but before he starts his throwdown with the Magistrate. While that’s a lot to cram in that timeframe, at least it’s addressed on Page One. Of part three of the story.
Will: We’re of one mind on this one, Brother Matt — as soon as I saw that editor’s note, I fired up the ol’ search function on the Kindle app and dug up #113 only to be incredibly whelmed by how they parsed this pickle. I guess saving the timeline reveal until the end was supposed to add to the narrative? If it was, it didn’t do much. Although with that said, thematically, I thought they landed the plane pretty well — Nakano can’t see the bugs (literal bugs) and demons (Saint and the Magistrate) right in front of his face.
Matt: I’m glad the heel turn — or at least supervillain heel turn — that it felt like we were going to get with Nakano is moving into the background more and more, and he’s just a guy with some ideas and ideals who has no practical experience or skills to get them done.
Reading the end of this arc, which I agree landed pretty smoothly, makes me pretty sure that this arc is what Mariko Tamaki had planned all along for the next arc on this book, and then had to shoehorn in some of the more “Fear State” elements in it. This was supposed to be about Nero XIX, Nakano and the parasites, and the Magistrate stuff was just added so it fit with the rest of the events in the line. That also might explain why that caption came up so late. I think if this was allowed to be more part-Assault on Precinct 13 and part-Alien, it probably would have worked better throughout.
Will: Nero XIX has got to come up again, right? Otherwise, that was a thing that went absolutely nowhere.
Matt: Absolutely. This weird conqueror guy who infiltrated the mayor’s office and almost staged a coup? Yeah, Tamaki has more plans for him. I would not be surprised if we see him as one of the first inmates at Arkham Tower in the next big arc, and learn more of what his angle is, because a guy who believes he’s the descendant of Nero? Yup, he’s Arkham bait.
Will: Mad_Max_Tom_Hardy_meme_dot_gif. I also want to second your point that this arc could have been more had there been distance between it and “Fear State.” I simply don’t buy the premise that there’s space for this story to occupy between the raindrops in #113, and if there is, it makes for an incredibly busy story full of contrivances. But a separate story of an infection in Gotham’s power hub resulting in not knowing who you can trust? That would read pretty well. (Of course, now that I think of it, it was done pretty well in The Batman Who Laughs.)
Matt: It would have also allowed a couple scenes over the past couple issues, but especially in this one, more time to breathe: Batman’s confrontation with Nakano. If Nakano is going to be a fixture in the books for a while, and it seems like he is, we need to really understand where he is coming from, rather than being a straw man. And here, he actually makes a couple valid points, while standing up to Batman. He’s still way off base for most of that confrontation, granted, but still, we see actual character growth by the end, and while it was earned from what we saw, I would have rather had more of it if we had trimmed some of the padding from the first couple parts of the arc.
Will: Or — and hear me out on this — what if we had a simple story of a mayor learning to trust Batman without all the science fiction silliness? Ya know, Batman … just solving crimes and shit?
Matt: You know I’ll never complain about a straight crime Batman story. But I can give the weird sci-fi monsters a bit of slack since they are so darn good to look at. Not pretty, because they ain’t pretty, but Dan Mora seems to be having a lot of fun drawing the ugly things. I’ve said it in every issue of this book he’s drawn, but Dan Mora draws the hell out of every page of this comic.
Aside from the posterworthy splash of Batman toward the end, my favorite panel is Nightwing at the controls of his stolen Magistrate ship. The little smirk he has there? Pure Nightwing.
Will: You’re not wrong about Nightwing or the squiggly monsters or Mora generally. The beasties were a writhing mass of tentacles, teeth and terribleness — awful in the best sort of way.
Matt: The backup remains … a backup. I like both of these creators: Phillips has written some really good comics (Check out our reviews of her Harley Quinn series from Armaan Babu), and Lapham is a legend. But this feels a bit flat. Like, “OK, we need a backup to explain how Arkham Tower comes about, so let’s do it.” It’s a means to an end, rather than a story itself.
Will: Yeah, I was done with this story with the first chapter, and this wasn’t some magical turnaround. Admittedly, I think a lot of these serialized backups would read better in trade, and maybe I’d be higher on this one in that setting, but this was cold from the jump. At least it was readable, unlike some of the other backups we’ve seen. And it looked great.
Never Trust a Zombie
Matt: Oh, Jason Todd. You never have any luck, do you?
Will: Hey, at least he didn’t get totally eaten this issue? But he might have fallen in love with the woman who tried to eat him, so that doesn’t seem like a real “W” there.
Matt: If this issue is any indication, this book is going to get bigger and weirder with each chapter. This issue introduces a new character, Sundowner, and brings in a classic Batman and Suicide Squad character to join Task Force Z. Are we going to spoil that last-page reveal?
Will: If so, let’s give the Loyal Content Consumers one last chance to avert their precious eyes.
Matt: OK…
Deadshot shows up at the end here. Deadshot died toward the end of the Tom Taylor run on Suicide Squad, and he started out as a Batman villain, so he absolutely makes sense here. He has also usually served as second fiddle on the Squad, the guy who backs up the leader, like Rick Flag, so his inclusion works. He’s also a snarky mother, so if he gets enough Lazarus Resin to be chatty, Jason will have someone to quip against, which I think this book needs.
I’ve never liked Jason as a solo character. He doesn’t have the same charm as Dick Grayson, so he needs someone to work off of who he can build a rapport with, and I think Deadshot is a good choice for that. That is, of course, if Jason isn’t dead at the end of the issue and a mindless zombie himself. I would not have seen that twist coming.
Will: He’s been dead before, so at least he has experience there. I think I’d be a fan of that particular turn — everyone is dead as hell (except Bloom, which continues to be weird along with his chattiness), and now Jason has no choice but to stick around. Here’s a question for you before we move along in this book: With so many characters dead now (Alfred, Bane, Deadshot, maybe Jason?), are we heading to some massive reset? Or do we just shamble along and bring these folks back piecemeal?
Matt: I think this series ends with Jason turning the tables and exposing his team (and maybe himself) to a full dose of Lazarus Resin and resurrecting them all, and turning on his sketchy government masters. For me, this series is about the journey to getting there, rather than the endgame itself. But Rosenberg has surprised me before, so he might again. We’ll have to see.
Sadly, I do not see Alfred coming back via Lazarus Resin. I just am hoping someone gets to that soon, because as we say every week, we miss Alfred.
I think I liked this issue a bit more than the first. With everything established, we were just able to get into some character work on Jason and Astrid Arkham and some fights. And Barrows’ art is still very solid superhero storytelling. I’m not sure what Mr. Bloom is up to, and what exactly he did to Freeze. And I’m still not sure how Bloom survived being sucked into a black hole …
Will: Speaking of, is this for serious the same Bloom from “Superheavy”? I’m still struck by how the character seems so fundamentally different. He’s so meek, and that was not the vibe I got from him in the Bat Mecha era.
Matt: Maybe this is Daryl? We did see him locked up and all Bloom looking in the Duke Thomas backups in All-Star Batman. That might pay off all his setup as a character.
Will: Or maybe Bloom will rebreak bad at some point? In either case, this is a profoundly weird series that rewards your knowledge of continuity — almost like a darkly funny version of Metal.
Who Shot Riddler? Seriously, I’m Asking.
Matt: If you are reading this book in physical form, these two chapters will comprise the penultimate issue of the series, so we’ve finally reached the end of the Rashomon-style retellings of events, and are moving into the answers phase of the mystery. There’s a lot left to pay off here, because I usually have a working theory, even if it’s wrong, and this? I got nothing as to who shot the Riddler.
Will: If you got nothin’, I’ve got less than nothing. I am, though, really warming to this series — once it’s all collected, when those great “director’s cut” bits are added back in, I think we should cover the whole thing for BatChat audio … you know, in five years when we’re looking for stuff to add to our list of things to get to.
Matt: I agree. Like most good mysteries, this series will prove itself on the reread. On the initial read, it has to be engaging, which it definitely is. But it’s reading it knowing the ending, where you have to see the payoff laid out, that separates a good mystery from a failed one. And when you miss that ending? Woof. Gilda mother f’ing Dent.
The Master Engine will actually probably give the ending a bit of wiggle room, too. A reality warping MacGuffin can be used to reset some stuff, which I’ll be fine with since it was setup, but I don’t want to feel cheated by that either. It’s going to be a very fine line to cross.
Will: This series is just zany enough wherein the mystery both feels real and I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed however it plays out. There have been so many great and funny Joker moments, but I’m not sure anything beats the gem we got this time out: “Go easy on me. I am mentally unwell.” That got a real guffaw out of me.
Matt: Is it just me, or as the series has progressed, have the two art styles gotten closer together? The early stories outside the frame sequence were very different, very sketchy or surreal, while now they are more realistic styles. Not like the current artists are trying to ape Jesus Marino, but it strikes me as an intentional choice that, as we get closer to the “real” story, the art looks more and more realistic. Or am I crazy? OK, I am crazy, but am I crazy about this?
Will: 1) You are crazy, yes, and I’ve been looking for the right moment to tell you, and 2) I thought the very end of this issue, with the inclusion of who I can only describe as an Eastern European peasant woman, was the first jarring art moment I’ve had in a couple of chapters. She looked weirdly like the product of John Romita Jr., but I think you’re right in everything else being more visually consistent.
Bat-miscellany
- Cliche watch: “Time will tell” in ’Tec. Boo.
- This week in the super premium BatChat audio edition, we’ve got another round of all-ages Batbooks for your post-Thanksgiving (almost) family-friendly listening. And for next week, as “Fear State” draws to a close, we’ve got three Scarecrow stories to add to our big Bat board.
- Rick Flag : Suicide Squad :: Randall Flagg : The Stand. Not sure if that holds narratively, but one character has one “g” and the other has two. FYI.
- We really do miss Alfred. *nudge in Joshua Williamson’s direction*
- Gilda. Motherflippin’. Dent.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. 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 podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
