The mystery of Abyss and his connection to Batman Incorporated begins to unravel as Batman leads a jailbreak in Batman #120, written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Jorge Molina and Mikel Janin, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the backup feature, Maps Mizoguchi learns what is taking children and Batman faces monsters of Japanese lore in a story written, drawn and lettered by Karl Kerschl and colored by John Rauch.
In Detective Comics #1,051, âShadows of the Batâ begins and the noble experiment that is Arkham Tower looks like it is on a timetable to disaster (shock of shocks) in a story written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Max Raynor, colored by Luis Guerrero and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, âHouse of Gotham,â The Boy is adopted by a less than friendly father figure in a story written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Fernando Blanco, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Rob Leigh.
Azrael disturbs some domestic bliss while the âghost of Amadeus Arkhamâ plays pied piper, leading the escaped inmates down to the true mastermind in Arkham City: The Order of the World #5, written by Dan Watters, drawn by Dani, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Aditya Bidikar.
Will Nevin: Brother Matt, I love it when a plan falls apart. Thatâs the line, right?
Matt Lazorwitz: Close enough for government work.
Will: More like good enough for âincompetent and corrupt as always Gothamâ government work.
Matt: Yup. We have three stories, all that show that people in the DC Universe donât know how to handle prisoners. Two in Gotham, one elsewhere, but the point stands.
Blind as a Bat
Matt: I am generally enjoying Williamsonâs Batman run so far, but I do feel like this issue was treading a bit of water. Stuff happens, sure, but I went back to think about what did, and it felt like it could have been done in half the pages. That problem is not exclusive to Williamson, of course.
Will: This really didnât do much aside from set up the reveal at the end, did it? I will say, though, weâve got quite a bit of synergy between this story and the episode of BatChat Super Premium Audio Edition(â˘) that we recorded Wednesday. How exactly, dear Matt, do members of the Club of Heroes eventually become Batman Inc., and why are they all pissy with Bats at the moment?
Matt: Batman brought them all in when he started the Batman Inc. project in the final third of the Morrison run. I imagine theyâre pissy with him for the same reason they sort of were in the âClub of Heroesâ arc we talked about last night: Batman sort of lost interest and wandered off after he took down Leviathan, the goal of Batman Inc. by the end of the story, leaving them high and dry.
There are some characters here you didnât see in that initial story, like Bat-Man of China and The Hood. But weâre not getting a lot of them here so far. This is a reintroduction after a number of years during which these characters have been away. I would have liked some more time showing who they were, other than a bunch of angry pseudo-Batmans.
Will: The story is a decompressed dud, but can we talk about how fuckinâ great the art is? The Batsuit especially. So often these costumes look like they donât have any character or substance to them. But this here? I felt like I could reach out and touch the suit and it would have a real texture to it. Beautiful work.
Matt: Molina and Janin are doing a fabulous job on this book. Thereâs a panel, as Luthor realizes Abyss has broken into his place, where Luthor activates his new, Batsymboled armor. And thereâs just this subtle little smirk on his face. Itâs a perfect, pure Luthor moment.
Do you think weâre only seeing Lexâs armor in shadows, so it looks darker, or do you think heâs actually darkened its color so it has more of a Dark Knight vibe? I can go either way, so Iâm not sure.
Will: The purple seems a bit more subdued, which could be a style choice on the part of Morey or a more purposeful redesign as you suggest. Either way, it looks rad as hell. Also, blind Batman? Another great visual look.
Matt: I think this is a good story idea that is suffering from decompression. If this had been trimmed down to three issues instead of four? I think it would flow better and be a more satisfying read. The Bats/Lex stuff is really something Iâm into as a concept, and Williamson does have a decent handle on Bats himself.
Will: The story is definitely lacking in the Abyss department. Who/what is she/he/they? Why should I care? The stakes have not been defined aside from Batman wanting to clear the good name of his Inc. colleagues.
Matt: We have one issue left, and I feel like as decompressed as this issue was, that one is going to be packed to answer all these questions.
Will: Maaaaan, that is a tough ask for one issue.
A (Psycho) Pirateâs Life for Me
Will: We gotta give the people what we promised, Matt. Letâs talk Psycho-Pirate (qu’est-ce que c’est). I donât have much experience with him outside of his inclusion in Kingâs run. So whatâs his deal?
Matt: Wow, OK. This is gonna be the short short version of one of the most complex characters in DC continuity. Psycho-Pirate is Roger Hayden, the possessor of the Medusa Mask, a magical artifact that allows him to control the emotions of his victims.
He is one of the few survivors of the original Earth-2 (the one where Huntress was Batman and Catwomanâs daughter). He was the sidekick/hypeman to the Anti-Monitor, the big bad of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and when everything got reset after that, he was one of the few people who remembered the old multiverse. Heâs usually the guy who works for the guy, whether itâs the Anti-Monitor, Alexander Luthor in Infinite Crisis or Bane in the King run. Heâs not a frontline fighter villain, usually playing in the background, and was most recently seen as the second to Darkseid in the Infinite Frontier miniseries. I assume Justice Incarnate, the team of multiversal heroes from that series, are the people he thinks are after him when he connects with Dr. Wear in this issue.
Will: So like a less spooky Scarecrow, gotcha. What do you think it means that he and Dr. Wear go way back? Does that suggest Wear is more than the grifter he appears to be?
Matt: I would assume it means that either weâre dealing with more continuity hijinks, or Tamaki is just simplifying things. Because bringing Darkseid into this would be WILD and a bit much. And Psycho-Pirate has been running around the DCU for years in this world, so they could have met a few years back and not have to bring up Earth-2. He was one of the folks resurrected in the New 52 as well, so thereâs that whole continuity Gordian knot to unravel that Iâd rather not even think about, since a ways back Black Adam pulled a Three Stooges with the olâ eyepoke and just didnât stop till his hand came out the other side.
But this is all very much in character for Psycho-Pirate. Heâs always willing to go along with someone elseâs plan for his own security, and he is more powerful than he gives himself credit for. All these omniversal bads wouldnât keep him around if he wasnât useful, heâs just more than a bit crazy and rarely comes up with his own plans.
Will: As always, you do not disappoint with your knowledge of these things. I think I need to sit down and pray until my continuity headache goes away. In the meantime, how about this issue? So many storyline issues are getting resolved, from olâ Rogâs role in keeping the inmates of the Tower calm to exactly who Wear is working with in his drug dealing side hustle. Poor Dr. Wear, a criming Icarus who flew too close to the Gotham underworld sun.
Matt: Oh, hell yes. If the Gatecrashers werenât enough of a thorn, he screwed up with Penguin? That never ends well (as the backup to this issue further indicates). Icarus is a great metaphor for Wear; good plan, poor execution.
We havenât seen Sandy, his girlfriend from the flashback, in the present, yes? That doesnât bode well for her.
Will: Perhaps, perhaps not. What if sheâs filling some role in the Tower? If youâre going to pull off a big grift, you need people you can trust ⌠people like your brainwashed girlfriend.
Matt: Oh. Oh crap. As you typed that, it hit me: Sheâs faux Harley. A perfect test case for Wear. That is my new theory there.
Will: Brah, thatâs fucked up. Dr. Ocean is male, right? That was my guess.
Matt: Are you thinking Psycho-Pirate replaced a real Dr. Ocean? I figured he was just a fiction Wear created to cover up Psycho-Pirate and to give him an excuse for not knowing stuff about the drugs since his partner, Dr. Ocean, created them.
Will: Youâre asking me like I know stuff. I just remember that Ocean is a character and that heâs gotta be in on this somehow. I feel the need to reread everything now that we know exactly (mostly?) whatâs going on.
Matt: How did you feel about Max Raynorâs art here? Itâs perfectly fine, very house style to me. Not as strong as Ivan Reis, but a close enough stylistic match that it wasnât jarring.
Will: House style is a wonderfully acceptable floor. Exceed it, and Iâm tickled. Fall below it, and Iâm going to be hit with second-hand embarrassment for a publisher that should be able to put out books with good art. But come right in at that level? Good for you! Itâs background noise that doesnât make for good talking points.
The Ghost and the Angel
Matt: Here is another book that is both answering some questions and showing some synchronicity with the pod episode we recorded last night!
Will: Just like we planned it.
Matt: Yes, I am that good! Or that lucky. Or both.
Anyway, we finally learn who the ghost of Amadeus Arkham is, and while Dr. No-Face is a cool new character, I was kind of hoping she would be Jane Doe from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell. Similar skill set, after all.
Will: Oh dear. What a terrible oversight there. But once again, Iâm enjoying this story more as itâs starting to come together, with Dr. Joy slipping into a madness-adjacent space and â as I thought â her patients moving into the Tower in a beautiful bit of synergy across the line. Swing and a miss on that one, Brother Matt.
Matt: This story is very much in the flavor of the Morrison Arkham Asylum and the better parts of Living Hell. Itâs a story of creeping dread, and Daniâs art helps sell that. Dan Watters also knows how to handle structure. The beginning of each page where the ghost recruits one of the inmates, with its repeated phrases? Really well written stuff.
Will: It was like Morrison but something I could actually follow and enjoy. (Sorry, Iâm still saucy about âClub of Heroes.â)
Matt: The character I feel worst for, aside from Dr. Joy, and the one who has gotten the least depth in this story, is Azrael. Dr. No-Face and Professor Pyg are really screwing with his head. The Azrael serial that Watters wrote in Urban Legends helped frame how the writer feels about the character for me, but we havenât gotten much depth on Azrael here; heâs just a dupe, and a super violent one at that.
Will: Seems like thereâs time, right? And a possibility for redemption given his actions at the end of this issue. Much like he would say, keep the faith, Brother Matt.
Bat-miscellany
- This weekâs podcast focuses on three stories from three volumes of the anthology series Legends of the Dark Knight.
- Dark Knights of Steel #4 shows that, regardless of the universe, Alfred is the best.
- A six-issue mini with the Justice League as goddamned dinosaurs? Why the fuck not?
- The literal French translation is, âWhat is it that it is,â and, no, I have no idea what that means, and, yes, I refuse to do any further research.
- Itâs time to find out the true identity of the A-Day mastermind. Finally.
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.
