Batman and Robin are on the hunt for the real killer of Ra’s al Ghul as Batman Inc. tries to protect the Secret Society from the Demon’s Shadow and Deathstroke and family are on the run in Batman #123, written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Howard Porter, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the backup, the never-before-seen first fight between Batman and Deathstroke continues in a story written by Williamson, drawn by Trevor Hairsine, colored by Rain Beredo and lettered by Willie Schubert.
With Gotham hunting him, Terry McGinnis has to go back to beyond basics to counter the sentient city and search for new allies in Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #2, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, drawn by Max Dunbar, colored by Sebastian Cheng and lettered by Aditya Bidikar.
As Two-Face and company rescue the rest of Task Force Z and run afoul of a certain Dark Knight, the questions of how this all came to be and who is pulling the strings are answered in Task Force Z #7, written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Jack Herbert & Daniel HDR, colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Rob Leigh.
Matt Lazorwitz: So, as we did in this week’s BatChat pod recording. Let’s hold a moment of silence for Neal Adams, one of the true Batman greats.
Will Nevin:
Sound and Fury
Matt: So, we’re really just talking about the new issue of Batman here, but there were two intervening issues of “Shadow War” in there. And, honestly, things haven’t really moved that far from the end of Part 1, have they?
Will: Got a whole lot of Deathstroke and/or Damian shit I didn’t particularly care about at least. Other than that? Nope, not much development in this-here story.
Matt: We surmised after Part 1 that this felt like it could have been a three-issue arc on Batman, and nothing much has proved us wrong.
Will: Here’s a question for you that we might care about: What do you think of this Damian suit? And when did it first appear?
Matt: It first appeared in Robin #1, I believe, or maybe in that backup that led up to it in Batman right after Infinite Frontier. I’m of two minds. I don’t particularly like the color scheme. I prefer a Robin costume with more color. But it does suit Damian’s personality and his attitude. He’s not a greens-and-yellows kind of guy. He is definitely more of a red-and-gray one.I don’t think it’s a bad costume in general, I just don’t know if I feel it’s a ROBIN costume.
Will: I’m with you — I don’t like the execution, but the idea seems right because Damian is not the bundle of kinetic joy that Dick was. Maybe it’s too much gray? Not enough black? I feel like I’m looking at one of Nike’s new alternate City Connect baseball uniforms; I wouldn’t be opposed in principle, but when it gets out on the field, it just don’t look right, Brother Matt.
Matt: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this story, and I think that is what’s bugging me. The idea, the League of Assassins vs. the Secret Society, is a really cool one. But it feels like it never wants to make up its mind if it wants to be a big action epic or a character piece. And you can do both, no doubt, but you never get enough of either to really satisfy either urge. And none of the parts have anything to define them. The Batman issues have a ton of Deathstroke, and vice versa. Wouldn’t it be better if we saw the events from the different perspectives of their leads in each of their titles?
Will: You’re absolutely right — this is a very linear story that progresses from point A to point B to point C in orderly fashion. While it might sell more books (since this issue of Batman wouldn’t make as much sense without the issues of Deathstroke and Robin that preceded it), it doesn’t give the readers a very engaging story. You might compare this storytelling technique with what we saw during the weekly run of Detective Comics in “Shadows of the Bat” — with the flash forward, we knew what was going to happen to the good Dr. Wear. The intrigue was learning how it was going to happen. There’s a mystery here, sure — Who put out the hit on Ra’s? Who’s the fake Deathstroke, and what inspired his costume choice? — but it’s not all that engaging.
Matt: The engaging stuff here for me should be the character work. This is Bruce and Damian’s first real interaction since Damian left the Batcave in that last Tomasi arc on ‘Tec. Deathstroke, comics’ worst dad by a country mile, suddenly has a new son that he can try to do right by. And the two kids are half-brothers! That is a ton of grist for the character mill. But instead we get an interrogation scene, a couple pages of Batman Inc. and the Hood remaining the biggest jerk on a team of kinda jerks.
My favorite character beat, and I know it’s a cliche, is Bruce setting off a trap when Damian tells him he has a girlfriend. This makes me picture Bruce Wayne trying to give any of the Robins “the talk.” And Alfred stepping in and telling him to go play with his batarangs while he takes care of this.
Will: “The secret, Master Dick, is to master your dick.” Sorry, couldn’t help myself there. Also, since you mentioned Batman Inc., I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far without mentioning the return of our favorite character. Matt, aren’t you so excited to see Ghost-Maker?
Matt: This is the right amount of Ghost-Maker if he has to be in a comic. Three panels of page time, and a little dialogue in others. That’s what I can say about that.
But hey, the backup here is still fun.
Will: Fun and unfortunately done. I think we all could have used more Jokerized Deathstroke. But “Shadow War” will continue in Deathstroke while … Abyss comes back to Batman? I need Chip Zdarsky to get here quick, Matty Lazors.
The Future Doesn’t Look Bright
Matt: OK, so funnily enough, I think my issue with this iteration of Batman Beyond is the polar opposite of my problem with “Shadow War.” In the crossover, not enough is happening, and we’re getting what feels like padding. Here? We get so much exposition! I’d much rather get to see Terry do the things he talks about in a couple of scenes vs. these hugely wordy montages.
Will: And I hated alllllll of the two-page spreads. So many in a row! Lots of things to gripe about in this one.
Matt: Which, again, is a shame. The core conceit here is, also again, solid: Batman vs. a sentient and malevolent Gotham. Great idea! But all the potential of last issue seems to be squandered here by a wall of text. I like that Terry is narrating to the deceased Bruce, but I could use less of it. We don’t need to know every one of his thoughts. Let the art speak for itself.
Will: I like the idea of Gotham as a character, too — after all, why not take the subtext of a lot of modern Batman and make it text? — but consistently using female pronouns to refer to it is a lil’ bit suspect.
Matt: I can see where you’re going there: some stereotypical psycho-stalker ex vibes. I wish there was a previous personification of Gotham that was female so we could have some canonical reason, but this is a city, not a ship. Not all cities use female pronouns.
I feel like the pacing police today, because again, if we were going to introduce a new villain, in this case Gestalt, why would we spend so little of the issue with them? We get that two-page spread, but it’s all so intentionally jumbled because of what they are, they feel more like a plot contrivance than a character.
Will: And how convenient was it for Terry to take off his mask so Gestalt could make intimates with his brain via the eyeballs?
Matt: This book isn’t so far gone that I’m giving up hope, but this issue was a definite step down from the first. I still want to cover it for another issue or two to see if the ship rights itself.
War Plans
Matt: But fortunately, the third book of the week is by far the most solid.
Will: This bunch of weirdo fuckups? This is fun.
Matt: Red Hood and Two-Face are the new Thelma & Louise. They are gonna drive that Task Force Z right off the damn cliff together. This issue is the getting-the-band-back-together montage, only it turns out the sleazy bassist has sold all their instruments for drugs. Only the instruments in this case are drugs, and I don’t think Mr. Freeze can play the bass, but you get where I’m coming from.
Will: Matt, you don’t know that Freeze can’t play bass, but since you said as much, I’ll give you a pass there. For me, Two-Face continues to be an incredibly engaging character, and there needs to be space for this interpretation — a solid(ish) citizen operating in the gray spaces of government who still can’t be trusted — in the wider world of Gotham. Think of it: Harvey trying to bust Mayor Nakano’s chops in some plausibly legal way? Oh, I want that. Also, Harvey’d eat Nakano for brunch and still have room for cocktails and dessert.
Matt: And Jason is showing off his skills in this issue. Zsasz is a guy who, when written right, can give Batman a run for his money, so to see Jason not only take him out, but to do it using his brain and not his violent streak? I’m here for that.
Also, Jason fears no woman, confronting the creepy doctor twins buck naked. That is a very Jason Todd moment. I have waxed and waned on how much I like Jason since his resurrection, but between this book and Chip Zdarsky’s Urban Legends serial, I definitely have come around on him.
Will: How much longer do you think this story can keep running? If we’re not making any more resin and resin is pretty integral in resurrecting these baddies …
Matt: I believe this was solicited as a 10-issue series, so this is the beginning of that snowball rolling downhill phase. We have new team members, including our ol’ pal Grundy, we have a heist lined up for next issue, and then we have war with Geri Powers and Mr. Bloom. That seems like a good amount for three more issues.
Will: Good on the creative team for getting 10 issues out of this — that’s two trades and a super-special collected edition. Speaking of that heist, what do you think is Batman’s plan for the undead?
Matt: Hmmm … Well, after fighting them in Batman vs. the Undead, the sequel to Superman & Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves, I’d hope it’s just stay away to not get dragged back into that mess.
Will: Superman & Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves … hmm. That sounds like the sort of thing I’d read once for a podcast and hope to never, ever pick up again.
Bat-miscellany
- This week, we have another BatChat podcast where we’re reading three stories starring Catwoman. No tie-in to anything, really. Just felt like talking about Catwoman.
- We’ll circle back to Killing Time next month, try to do this in two-issue bursts. Let’s see how that works.
- Editing note for Batman Beyond: “pray” =/= “prey”
- Nice to see a Miracle Molly reference in Beyond, though. If these newer characters are going to matter over the long term, they should feel integrated into the fabric of Gotham. Small, passing references — when they feel natural — do a lot to make that happen.
- Just announced an hour ago: Dan Watters writing a Sword of Azrael miniseries. We asked for it after Arkham City, and we got it.
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.
