The robot rebellion is here, and Batman and Superman are its prisoners. But as other heroes leap into the fray, can the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel figure out how to stop the AI revolt in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #16, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Steve Wands.
Spend an issue watching the world through Dick Grayson’s eyes in Nightwing #105, written by Tom Taylor, drawn by Bruno Redondo, colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Wes Abbott.
This is it: Catwoman’s allies vs. Black Mask’s, with Selina facing down Black Mask himself. And the drums of Gotham War are beating. Catwoman #56 is written by Tini Howard; drawn by Marcus To, Marco Santucci and M.L. Sanapo; colored by Veronica Gandini and lettered by Lucas Gattoni.
Will Nevin: Brother Matt, I’ve finally found the secret to enjoying Riddler: One Bad Day. What if it came with a copy of Killing Joke?
Matt Lazorwitz: See, that’s a quandary. Which book makes the other look better? For me, I think it would make Riddler feel worse, because while Killing Joke is problematic as all hell, it is masterfully done, while Riddler is just ponderous. But that’s just me.
Will: I get that the one thing inspired the whole event series/clustermess of mediocrity, but to have them actually packaged together astounds me. Let us never speak of this again.
Rise of the Machines
Matt: Mark Waid loves a good deep dive into DC continuity, we all know that. But again, this proves that he can use all these wide and varied characters and concepts and still give us a cohesive story, which many a lesser writer could not.
Will: You say “cohesive,” and I say, “My mind is spinning from all of these characters.” At the core, though, this is a simple enough story: A.I. bad. And, hell, that’s just the plot from half of science fiction from the last 75 years. I can do that.
Matt: It is a lot of characters, true, but the simplicity of the plot makes that a little more doable. And the more important ones get easy introductions. Especially the goofy ones like T.O. Morrow. Non-goofy character with a goofy as hell name.
Speaking of goofy as hell names, while Newmazo is a really terrifying threat, a true AI who can absorb the powers AND intellects of those around him, you’d think he’d use that intellect to come up with a better name.
Will: I know we’ve talked about the show before, but since I’m old and forgetful, I cannot recall whether you’re an American Dad fan. Point is, that name brings to mind a pen name from episode 1014: D.O. Rothy. Stupid, but funny. But since this is not an American Dad column — and since Editor Dan is ignoring the imaginary emails I sent regarding one — back to World’s Finest. This continues to be a *stunning* book visually. Dan Mora does everything asked of him and then some in this story.
Matt: Hell yeah! There are artists who draw amazing action. There are artists who draw great character interactions. And then there are the rare few who can do both. Mora is one of that breed. The three pages where Newmazo’s captives prepare to escape has so much kineticism while also having these moments where Ted “Blue Beetle” Kord is giving Batman side-eye for thinking they can do something about this with no gadgets and Superman looking despondent at his weakened state. Oh, and Waid kills the dialogue between Batman and Green Arrow.
Will: Poor Oliver. But Batman *would* get all the credit, even if he didn’t chase after it. That’s what a good brand does for you.
Matt: Final note as we head into the last part of this story: It says something that Newmazo, when he has the chance to wipe out one hero solo, goes for Batman rather than Superman. He knows who the real threat is.
A Matter of Perspective
Matt: Give Tom Taylor credit where it’s due: He has never met a gimmick he isn’t willing to go in on, and go in on hard, especially when he’s working with Bruno Redondo. The previous Nightwing issue that was one continuous panel was just delightful, and this issue, entirely drawn as if you were looking through Nightwing’s eyes, is certainly something I haven’t seen done for this duration before.
Will: When I don’t have anything particularly interesting to say as a writer, I love churching it up with a gimmick. Or a few fucking curse words. To be clear, there’s certainly nothing wrong with this story — although it’s a bit strange to see a physical relationship between Dick and Barbara treated so casually. But I guess that’s the current status quo? Anywho, it’s an interesting idea that plays out the same over 30 pages as it would five.
Matt: Yeah, at this point Dick and Babs have been a couple for most of Taylor’s run, so most of two years of real time, so I think this is status quo at this point. That didn’t even make me raise my eyebrow, but I have been reading this book and Batgirls all along, so I have seen more of that evolve.
While you’re right that this handles this in no way that it hasn’t been done in shorter versions, it shows you the real talent of Redondo. He masterfully pulls off these pages. It would be so easy for this to be a jumbled mess, and while there are moments that are a bit jumbled, they’re logical. Falling off a moving train that was just blown up is going to be disorienting, and so if your view is that of the character falling? Yeah, it’s going to be jumbled.
Will: I like how that wasn’t a point that was belabored. That could have easily been drawn out over a couple of pages, but smartly, the creators understood that you can get that chaotic vibe across in a single two-pager. And you’re absolutely right about Redondo — this is not an issue that could have worked with one of those jumbled three- or four-person art teams (like we see in our next book).
Matt: And while you’re new to this book, the end of it finally gets us some movement on the Heartless plot. This pharma-bro a-hole has been a mysterious supervillain working in Blüdhaven since the beginning of the run, and this is the first time Dick has confronted him out of costume. Respect to Taylor for doing a slow burn, since we don’t get much of that nowadays, but it feels good that Dick is now meeting his evil opposite number for more than a quick punch-em-up and we might get some momentum there.
Will: Movies need more Nazis (go see Sisu, people!), and comics need more pharma butt wipes … in addition to more Nazis. The “Mr. Wing” bit felt more than a little forced, but when it paid off in the “Mr. Hole” joke, I guess it was worth it. You promised that this issue would feel a bit more grounded after spending time in Hell, and you were right: Give me a real world problem as embodied by a singularly evil person, and I’m sold on a book.
Matt: You should go back and read the Nightwing Annual from last year so you get a fuller picture of Heartless. Dude has an evil Alfred. Another reason for Alfred to come back: He has his own Wrath now, and they have to throw down.
Will: Gentleman’s gentleman vs. gentleman’s gentleman. Two men enter. Only one continues to butle. I appreciated the editor’s note in re: Heartless and how it explained Dick doesn’t know who he is — some really helpful context for both this issue and whatever is coming up.
Prelude to War
Matt: This issue is the last one before “Gotham War” (Well, the last one before Knight Terrors sends every other plot across the line to a screeching halt for two months, technically), so we’re putting the final pieces into place to show exactly what is going to drive the wedge far enough between Batman and Catwoman to make this whole thing happen, while also paying off some other long-term plots. And the script definitely works for that: Selina finally puts Black Mask in his place, TomCat smacks down his duplicitous ex, and Eiko and her Yakuza deal with the Russians.
Will: Leave it to comics to get us interested in a story and then take a month off before getting to it. *eye roll*
Matt: I’m going to take a second away from the review to just say something to DC that I can’t believe they don’t know, but it seems like they still don’t. This thing where you put the whole line on hold for X months and put out a miniseries to fill the spot? It is a bad idea. As someone who sat through Flashpoint, Convergence and Future State working at a comic shop, or at least helping out occasionally and thus being friendly with my retailer, these are a great excuse for readers on the fence to both skip two months of book and then possibly not come back. I still wouldn’t like it if these were numbered as part of the series, but …
Will: I guess from DC’s perspective it has a couple of advantages, namely tossing out a bunch of tryout and tie-in books knowing that there’s a fair chance they’ll sell. While I don’t think we’re at peak event burnout (That wave crested with Secret Empire, I feel), I agree with you: I still wouldn’t do this. Ain’t worth it.
Matt: Yes, back to the matter at hand. Speaking of slow burns, Tini Howard has been building Catwoman’s rivalry with the Gotham mobs since the first issue of her run, and this pays it all off. Everything that has happened to Selina comes into play, including the murder of Valmont and her time in jail. It’s so easy to write Selina as just a burglar, but we’ve seen her do so much more, and for Batman to hold her in such high regard, she has to be more than just someone who loves shiny things, and we see all of that here.
Will: Speaking of Batman, it has to be incredibly difficult to write their relationship and feelings for each other as Catwoman inches (jumps?) further into criminality. You can see her being able to rationalize this: “All my people will obey your One Rule(™)! We’re actually making the streets safer, and we’ll only be taking from the rich!” But, come on, Batman is never going to go for Criming, The Right Way … aside from all of the times which he’s already agreed to something like that.
Matt: The problem here strikes me as how long can Selina keep her people from breaking the One Rule. Eiko Hasigawa isn’t going to tow the line for long, and is only doing it this far because of her feelings for Selina. And since Selina can’t threaten her with mortal consequences, all that will do is create a schism. It makes this all the more precarious and all the more interesting.
Will: And all the more frustrating that we have to wait for “Gotham War.”
Matt: The highlight for me was TomCat. We’ve watched Daario go from the pampered son of a mafioso with a secret in his earliest appearances into someone who will stand his ground and fight for what he cares about. The scene is so small, just two men fighting while hashing out their messy, complicated history, and that is always more interesting to me than a big shootout.
What’s also important is he isn’t Bat family material, and that’s good! Striking the balance between someone who now has new confidence and skills but isn’t so overpowered that they suddenly are one of the greatest martial artists in the DCU is one that could easily go the wrong way.
Will: And I loved how the note closed out his relationship with his ex. I “loved” you. Past tense. His reflection with Selina on how he couldn’t kill him was great, too. Just some wonderful character development.
Matt: Selina has a lot of history with Black Mask, going back to the Brubaker days, and to see her really turn the screws on that misogynist d-bag is a treat. And knowing to exploit the fact that she has the one thing that matters more to him than anything else? It seems like Selina has learned a thing or two from Bruce over the years. Or maybe vice versa.
Will: Maybe this is not giving her the credit she deserves, but this really felt like a Batman move: putting a bad guy in his place while also maintaining control over him. Almost like fiddling with Two-Face’s coin — if you control what controls the bad guy, you control the bad guy.
Matt: Except Harv has a good side; Black Mask definitely does not. Black Mask still being out there is a bomb waiting for someone to start the timer. I’m curious to see if he figures into “Gotham War” or if he’s going to wait for a weakened Selina to be easier pickings. We’ll have to see.
Bat-miscellany
- This week on the podcast features three stories with the Mad Hatter as a villain. If you like it when Will rants here in print? You should hear him go off in audio.
- Another month where we avoided the Murphyverse. I call that a win.
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.
