Renee Montoya must face the changes she has not been able to make, and her own complacency, while trying to bring fallen officer Danny Ortega in alive in GCPD: The Blue Wall #6, written by John Ridley, drawn by Stefano Raffaele, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Ariana Maher.
Ra’s al Ghul’s newest plan to save the world has begun. He is on a collision course with Batman. But this time, Ra’s will win. How will he change the world, and how will Batman react when he must face some harsh truths? Batman: One Bad Day: Ra’s al Ghul is written by Tom Taylor, drawn by Ivan Reis, inked by Danny Miki, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Wes Abbott.
Simon Stagg has been poisoned, and Batman and Superman are looking for the killer. And since the number one suspect is Stagg’s sometime employee, Metamorpho, well, this might take some superheroes to track him down. But the investigation turns up a suspect closer to home in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #13, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Steve Wands.
Matt Lazorwitz: Sorry for going radio silent, loyal readers. It’s been a hectic few weeks here at BatChat central. But we’re back and raring to go with two final issues and the start of a new arc.
Will Nevin: And here’s a promise to anyone who missed our coverage: I swear that we’ll pick up that issue of Paul Dano’s Riddler book we missed. And whatever else Matt wants to circle back to. I just need me more Dano, bay-bee.
Matt: Yeah, like the issues of Batman, Detective Comics and the other core canon. Minor things like that. Although, gotta say, Dano had a hell of a year last year. Were there two more excellent but divergent performances from one actor than his in The Batman and The Fablemans in 2022? I can’t think of anyone.
This has been Matt’s Movie Corner. Now on to some comics.
Up Against the Wall
Matt: So, was this a perfect ending? No. But was it generally satisfying to what this series has been building? I believe so. GCPD: The Blue Wall has been about the system and how it fails people, and while I think some of the elements were rushed, I appreciate the story it was trying to tell.
Will: This issue is as the series that came before it: timely, serious, a bit rushed and maybe not the most well-written book. I didn’t like how all the rookie cops had some part to play in Ortega’s plot, and I didn’t like the treatment of Montoya’s alcoholism, which was something we had worried about since it was brought up. But this was as good a conclusion as this series was going to get.
Matt: I don’t know if I think Montoya’s alcoholism was treated badly, but it was definitely rushed. That was an element that should have been something we saw her struggle with, and instead she seemed to just put the metaphorical bottle down, which is not something I have seen in the alcoholics in my family — and there are quite a few — be able to do with such ease. We were given hints of the struggle, but not enough to really make it seem like the momentous effort of will that it actually was.
And yes, the two other rookie officers proving intrinsic to Ortega’s downfall was pat, but there are some things I am willing to chalk up to narrative, especially in a mystery, which is theoretically a clockwork type of story. Things in real life are rarely as pat as they are in a whodunnit or procedural.
Will: I found the alcoholism to be exceptionally rushed. She went from taking a shot in the last issue to drinking in the office in this one. Smacked of unbelievability to me.
Matt: I don’t think we got a clear enough timeline between the end of last issue and the beginning of this. If it was the next day? Probably. If it’s been a week of Ortega on the street and the GCPD unable to find him? Much less so. I guess I put in a few more days to allow for it to read right to me.
Will: Ortega’s father mentioning the alcohol seemed off too, but I can’t exactly put my finger on it — seemed like a really forced inclusion, I guess. We got anything else to say about this book? It was interesting, filled a nice GCPD niche while taking on racial and systemic issues, should have been longer but was ultimately a bit underwhelming.
Matt: I have to give a positive note on the ending. One of our biggest complaints about The Killing Joke was how Gordon’s sudden, “Bring him in by the book!” was in character but was also out of left field. Here we see Montoya struggle with the decision of whether to let the officers who want to just lean into shoot on sight, well, shoot on sight. But she makes the right choice. It’s an important part of her arc, and I’m glad that felt like it got the attention it was due.
The Demon Vs. the Detective
Matt: We’ll do a final ranking of the One Bad Day one-shots at the end of this section, but this time let’s start talking about the comic first.
We haven’t done a ton of Tom Taylor comics in this column or on the podcast; he’s far more often aligned with the Superman family these days, so we leave that to our pals over in SuperChat, but this was a very Tom Taylor comic. It took a social issue, in this case climate change, and looked at it through a superhero lens. And I feel like climate change works better than school shootings or hate crimes for that; while it is still something we all need to deal with, it’s less personal and thus less likely to come off as insensitive or painting everything with one brush like his work in Superman: Son of Kal-El has.
Will: I’ll go ahead and spoil it, Matt: This was my favorite One Bad Day and a great note to go out on. Taylor does non canon so well; it frees him to follow interesting ideas in the comic book universe, whereas so many other writers retreat to their own stupid notions of what a character could or should be. This book had action, believable motivations, a Ra’s who tried to work within (or at least close to) Batman’s code, even a surprise or two. It was also beautiful as hell. I loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
Matt: I am torn between this one and Penguin as my favorite, but I agree on all your points. Ivan Reis is the sort of prototype of DC’s house style right now, but he takes that very classical superhero style and amps it up to 11. It’s helped by phenomenal colors from Brad Anderson, who gives the book the right tones in all of the right places.
Will: Those two are neck-n-neck for sure, with maybe the Freeze book behind them. The worst sin most of these books have had — aside from Tom King’s awfulness — was simply being forgettable, something this one is not.
Matt: Nope, it is not. And it is also one of the better uses of the conceit. We see the bad day, the death of the wolf that is the last of its kind, and how that sets the events of the story in motion. The least of these didn’t focus as strongly on that core idea, how one day, one MOMENT, can change a life. This issue definitely did that.
Will: But at the same time, it didn’t dwell on that, like, say, the Catwoman story that insisted upon returning to the … I wanna say … broach? This did basically Ra’s origin and went on to give us a new story that showed how his trauma informs his life and his decisions in unrelated plots.
Matt: And it’s a great plot. I often am befuddled by immortals who make shortsighted plans. Ra’s doesn’t have to worry about the short game, so of course he can spend years, decades even, maneuvering the right people into place before dropping the hammer. And that’s exactly what we see. It’s exactly why Ra’s is a chessmaster. You shouldn’t be looking for his next move. You should be looking five moves down the line, and this captures that perfectly.
Will: Absolutely. It’s a point Ra’s comes back to several times, that no life is worth more than the future — not even his own. And how he kills Batman to *temporarily* sideline him? And poor, grieving Damian putting on the cowl? This is a smart ass book, and we haven’t been able to say that about the OBD line as a whole.
Matt: Taylor has shown in DCeased that he loves Damian; heck even in Injustice, where Damian is on the wrong side of things, he is more nuanced than a lot of Damians. It was nice to see him write a close-to-canonical Damian and show he still captures him. If DC ever decides to give Damian an ongoing again, it should be Taylor who writes it.
Will: Damian was human here and had emotions! I couldn’t hate him. Tom Taylor is a wizard.
The Elements of Murder
Matt: A new arc of World’s Finest, or even a new issue, is like slipping into a comfy pair of your favorite pajamas and slippers at this point. It just feels homey and comfortable.
Will: Does feel a bit like Waid playing all the hits, right? I could have done without the super deep dive into Metamorpho’s origin because none of those characters mean anything to me, but I can’t argue with the spot where the book ends up … even though it’s been done before. And done a lot.
Matt: You gotta give Waid his fun. That’s what this book is: fun. And would you rather have just had a panel or two explaining all the Metamorpho stuff? It is important to understand exactly what a huge dick Simon Stagg is. And to set up the fact that Stagg is the kind of guy who would fake his own death to fuck with either Bruce or Rex. Because he’s not dead. That is one of the things about a book set in the past; you can’t kill off a guy we know is alive many years in the future.
Will: Maybe it dwelled too much on Metamorpho’s condition, which seemed like a great excuse to dip into some wonderfully illustrated body horror while not exactly serving the narrative. But I got nothin’ against explaining more about Stagg and what a dick he is, which I’m still not entirely clear on.
Matt: I’m going to call it right here: I think Stagg faked this whole thing to either frame Rex or Bruce just to get over on a business rival or the guy who is making time with his daughter. Because that’s the kind of guy Simon Stagg is.
And also, credit to Waid for the way he wrote Sapphire. She was created as a stereotypical airhead, and has often been portrayed that way, and as shallow. Here she is a more fleshed out character, even from only one page.
Oh, and I want more of Dan Mora drawing Java, unfrozen caveman bodyguard. Granted, I could take more of Mora drawing just about anything.
Will: Mora fuckin’ rocks. I also liked the idea of Jimmy getting a byline, which was a smart way of getting around the fact that Clark would never publish a story accusing Bruce of murder.
Matt: This is how good reporters work, writer’s room of Batman Eternal. You don’t just avoid publishing a story that your boyfriend is a dirty cop because it might hurt his feelings.
Will: And at the same time, Clark promised him the story. Everyone is acting ethically and logically. *ahem Batman Eternal*
Matt: I’m looking forward to seeing how all this plays out. Yes, Bruce Wayne: murder suspect has been done already (I have three stories already picked out to make up an episode of the podcast about it), but sometimes it’s how the story is told more than the story itself that really makes it.
Will: I trust Mark Waid to get us there in an interesting way. What about you?
Matt: Hard same. And with Mora drawing? Gonna be a very scenic trip.
Bat-miscellany
- This week on the podcast, we’re celebrating 40 years of Jason Todd.
- To be timely, we’d like to pay a moment of respect to two creators who passed this week with deep ties to the Dark Knight. Golden Age inker Joe Giella, who inked and occasionally penciled many Batman-related comics over his more than 50-year career, and Michael Reaves, writer of many amazing episodes of Batman: The Animated Series as well as some great Star Wars novels and many of the tentpole episodes of another of my favorite classic animated series, Gargoyles.
- And I will cherish each remaining issue of Batgirls and Tim Drake: Robin. You were too beautiful for this world.
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.
