As Batman lies beaten by Failsafe, the Justice League comes to his rescue. Or tries to anyway. Batman #128 is written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the backup, see the origins of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh in a story written by Zdarsky, drawn by Leonardo Romero, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Cowles.
Itās 1961, and PI Slam Bradley has found his way into the biggest crime in Gotham history: the kidnapping of the heir to the Wayne fortune. Gotham City: Year One #1 is written by Tom King, penciled by Phil Hester, inked by Eric Gapstur, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
The Joker is back in a changed Gotham City, so he hits the road to make things funny again. But our narrator, who seems to have insight into the Jokerās mindset, has a strange secret all his own. The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #1 is written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico, colored by Arif Prianto and lettered by Tom Napolitano. In the backup, Jokerās preparation to attract the eye of Power Girl might have created something new in a story written by Rosenberg, drawn and colored by Francesco Francavilla and lettered by Napolitano.
Matt Lazorwitz: We came into this week with some high expectations: new issue of Zdarsky/Jimenez Batman, the start of a noir detective story set in Gotham, and the first issue of the follow-up to our book of the past year, The Joker. I donāt know if anything could have lived up to those expectations.
Will Nevin: The expectations game is a dangerous one, and we almost always come out losers. We did here, I think. But youāre right ā nothing is as good as what we wanted these books to be.
Gotham Falls (Again!)
Matt: OK, so a couple issues ago, we had that all-action issue you werenāt so hot on, but I enjoyed. I donāt know if weāll have a reverse of that here, but I was less hot on this issue, especially when we reached the ending. Oh, Gotham is once again under the heel of a threat that is after Batman. It must be Wednesday. The fact that Failsafe has taken over Gotham feels reheated after Bane, Joker and the Magistrate.
Will: Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggh. One *more* Gotham-has-fallen story. How trite. This had more Leaguers in the mix, but the outcome was certainly never in doubt ā if Failsafe can beat Batman and Superman, what chance do Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter stand? (Also, Wonder Woman and Flash were ā¦ busy. Or something.) Outside of the Zur-En-Arrh stuff, this first arc has been the equivalent of a lesser Michael Bay picture ā flashy and occasionally interesting but 100% skippable.
Matt: The parts that have held my interest the most have been, surprising no one, the interactions between Bruce and Tim. Zdarsky is continuing the work Tynion did in his Detective Comics run of making the relationship between Batman and this Robin central to each otherās lives. And Bruceās saying heās proud of Tim got me pretty good. We know Batman is not the most emotionally demonstrative guy, so any of those moments are always things to watch.
Will: But aside from that, there is *nothing* else going on here. This arc is seriously a victim of decompression and, as weāve already said, retreading ideas that werenāt exactly fresh to begin with. I keep waiting for substance, for the sort of creative spark I know Zdarsky is capable of after reading Newburn. But itās just not happening.
Matt: I think this might wind up being an arc where the backups are more interesting than the main story. We go from Catwoman and Penguin to a story of a young Batman developing the Zur-En-Arrh persona, and how that is going to tie in with Joker. I have found Zdarskyās writing of the characters here spot on, at least, so Iām curious to see what his Joker sounds like.
Will: I get Zur-En-Arrh as a concept, I really do. Itās the theoretical uber Bat, stripped of Bruce Wayneās humanity and possibly moderating effects. But the suit. Is that a real suit he changes into? A suit he sees in his mind? These are the things Iām struggling with.
Matt: At that point? I think the latter. He constructs the suit out of detritus in āBatman R.I.P.,ā so itās not something he had handy there. I am hoping for some explanation of why heās wearing the most garish Bat suit possible rather than going for all black, frankly. That might have been in āR.I.P.ā and I donāt remember it, but weāll get there when we read that story for the pod.
Will: I am continually threatened with more Grant Morrison. Abuse, I tell you!
Gotham Noir (No, Not That One)
Matt: So ā¦ weāre out of continuity here, yes? As much as Tom King said something about this being canonical, there is no way this works, right? This isnāt a good or ill issue here, just a question because trying to set anything to a fixed point in time is just asking for continuity issues.
Will: I was trying to figure that out myself ā are we even sure what earth weāre on? I donāt know how far back I can trace the Wayne family tree, but it seems like weāre either getting some additions, this isnāt canon or some mix of the two. I donāt know what to think of the villain here adopting the Bat symbol. I did, however, pick up on the inclusion of an owl blanket for little Helen. Bats and owls. Always warring in Gotham.
Matt: Yes, the owl blanket is an obvious nod, one that I expect to be a red herring, but weāll see. My first thought on this being non-canon is that Thomasā father has always been Patrick Wayne, not Richard, so that either makes this non-canon or no one paid attention to the continuity going in.
But moving to the actual story, this was ā¦ serviceable noir. But as with the above story, it felt derivative. Thereās the obvious echoing of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping (which is probably why that was in my head when we were recording last night), and the end screams The Maltese Falcon. At least with the latter, if youāre gonna steal, steal from the best.
Will: At least Tom King doesnāt do anything wonky with the structure. After reading his last, I dunno, 15 books that overly relied on form or structure or gimmicks, I appreciate that heās telling a straightforward noir story here ā¦ and also probably looking for an excuse to write about race. We as two white guys are probably not the best candidates to talk about another white guyās exploration of the topic, but Iāll give them credit for the disclaimer at the very least.
Matt: Yes. I have seen too much mainstream media try to whitewash (wordplay definitely intended here) racist language to make it more palatable to certain audiences, so Iām glad theyāre not pulling those punches here. But as you said, we are not the guys to talk about how this presents race. Iām curious to see where all this goes, and whether an Easter egg (more on that in the notes at the end) means anything or is just something for the hardest of hardcore DC nerds like me.
Will: We asked for more Slam Bradley. We got more Slam Bradley. And it wasnāt terrible ā¦ so far. Those are all victories in my ledger.
Matt: Yes, this feels like an issue #1. This is setting up a bunch of stuff that will hopefully be paid off. And if you donāt squint at the details and see that they donāt line up with what we know from the past? It is solid, if not flashy.
Return of the (Clown) Prince
Matt: So, as I said at the top, this week was all about expectations. And coming off the Tynion Joker series, the expectations were high. And Iām not sure where I fall on this one. Maybe itās just the ending to the main story. After being subjected to Three Jokers, seeing more than one Joker makes me twitch a little.
Will: As weāve said a billionty times, Joker was not good because it had Joker in it ā Joker was good because it was the ultimate Jim Gordon story. (Also, backup story, we can stop making Killing Joke visual gags. Let it go.) I really donāt know what to make of this. The idea of Joker taking his act national is a good one ā like him globe-hopping was neat in the last book ā but Iām just as apprehensive as you about the inclusion of a Joker lookalike who was ā¦ turned because he was near death? Left in a pit somewhere? We could have at least had some more exposition about what happened to Joker Deux after he was shot.
Matt: OK, so hereās the thing. The backup seems to indicate that Joker Deux, as you call him, is not entirely real. That story, being narrated as it was, is rife with unreliable narrator-ness, but seeing the black-clad Joker step out of one of Mirror Masterās mirrors makes me think heās something else. Itās hard to tell from his bagheaded appearance and one panel unmasked, but it looks like he still has two green eyes, versus the heterochromia Joker has had since Harley shot him at the end of āJoker War,ā so Iād wager that is going to be our visual cue as to which Joker is which.
Will: Thatās a mighty mighty deep cut there, Matt. But Iām at least right in that this is setting up a revenge story, correct? I canāt see going anywhere else after the āshot and left for deadā angle.
Matt: Factor in that solicitations have indicated that Jason Todd is going to be hunting Joker, with Rosenberg taking him out of the end of Task Force Z, and you definitely have the makings of a grindhouse revenge story.
Will: *insert TODD SFX here*
Matt: But story quibbles aside? This is a pretty comic. Di Giandomenico is fresh off The Knight, and his work has never looked better, and I will take any opportunity to see more Francesco Francavilla.
Will: You canāt say that these books didnāt look good this week.
Matt: Final note: Did you read Two-Face, Riddler and Black Mask scoffing at Joker’s return as a meta thing about Joker saturation? Because I sure did.
Will: If I didnāt read it that way originally, I do now. Guffaw.
Bat-miscellany
- In this weekās BatChat podcast, we read three stories by the master of modern crime comics: Ed Brubaker.
- Gotham City: Year One is going to be littered with Easter eggs, I have little doubt. This issue has one that is particularly obscure and awesome: On the southside we see the shop Rags āNā Tatters in the background. Thatās the shop owned by the Regan family, who are the keepers of the suit of rags, and whose modern family member is the superhero Ragman.
- Thatās two appearances in five weeks of Gaggy, Jokerās former sidekick. Thatās more play than that character has gotten in decades.
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.
