At the end of “Gotham War,” a thief broke into Bruce Wayne’s brownstone and discovered that he is Batman. Now he is trying to use that information to his advantage, to make one big score and get out of the life. But things aren’t all that easy in Batman #150, written by Chip Zdarsky, penciled by Denys Cowan and Jorge Jimenez, inked by John Stanisci, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the backup, as Amanda Waller makes her play to conquer the world, Batman heads to Titans Tower to get Cyborg’s help in a story written by Zdarsky, drawn by Mike Hawthorne, inked by Adriano Di Benedetto, colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettered by Cowles.
Batman and Robin are taking a family trip to Dinosaur Island. That sounds fun, right? Well, it’s not that fun, as they are going to find the man who took something important from them, the man who killed Alfred: Bane. Batman & Robin #11 is written by Joshua Williamson, drawn and colored by Juan Ferreyra, and lettered by Steve Wands.
Batman’s allies are gathered, his plans are in place. But the Orghams have plans of their own to cement their hold over Gotham. And neither are taking into account the grain of sand in their carefully crafted machines: The Joker has a plan of his own. The lead story of Detective Comics #1,086 is written by Ram V, drawn by Stefano Raffaele, colored by Lee Loughridge and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, Two-Face and Harvey stand on opposite sides of the trial of one of their henchmen, and the decision will resonate through the final battles with the Orghams in a story written by Alex Paknadel, drawn by Lisandro Estherren, colored by Patricio Delpeche and lettered by Steve Wands.
Will Nevin: So. Let’s talk about this Absolute stuff — both in the event and in the new line set to launch. What are your thoughts on each?
Matt Lazorwitz: We’re very much in the wait-and-see phase. Without giving too much away from the podcast episode that will drop in a few weeks, neither of us is sure what more Scott Snyder has to say about Batman. And eight writers sounds like eight books, and that is a lot to start a line that is running concurrently to the established line.
Will: Who knows whether “a Batman who is working class” will turn out to be the hook, but I’m sure we’ll at least give it a shot. We’ve read worse.
Matt: We have. Of the four there, the Superman one is the one I feel the most apprehension for. Superman who is more alien has been done, and it has never worked.
Will: Ain’t that just Martian Manhunter?
Batman
Matt: So, I have to ask: Is this more what you wanted from this run on Batman?
Will: How could you have possibly guessed? A story with substance and real, actual human characters? Who the hell would have enjoyed that? The main story here isn’t anything particularly novel — how many dirtbags have figured out the answer to the great question? — but it was done with some skill, and I really quite enjoyed it. And weaving in the idea that Bruce makes Gotham better in other ways than smashing faces? Excellent job there.
Matt: This hits a lot of the same beats as one of my favorite single-issue stories ever, Shadow of the Bat #13, “The Nobody” (currently #36 on The Big Board), but as you say, this is about HOW the story is told more than what the story is. This is a really solid way to set the current status quo for people who might be jumping on because of either the anniversary number or the Absolute Power tie-in. You see where Batman is, who Batman is and the lay of the land in Gotham’s gangs. You’re not weighed down by continuity, but it still takes place squarely in where Gotham is at the moment.
Will: Parking that story next to the Absolute Power backup made my head hurt. The first story has weight and stakes, whereas the second is one more round of punching robots. The narration was good, yes, and the appearance from Cyborg was interesting, but I’m so tired of fighting robots. So. Tired.
Matt: Ah, my sweet summer child. Event comics are gonna event. What I’m hoping we see here is more of Bruce dealing with how he feels responsible without wallowing in it. I can deal with all the robots; what I don’t want is Batman sliding back into the guilt and self-doubt trap he just escaped at the end of “Dark Prisons.”
Will: Who is even excited for these damned events? Huh? Find me one, *one,* single actual person who says, “Oh yeah, Absolute Power is my shit, and I’m so into this.” Your point stands, though. It seems like we had some growth there, and the spirit here felt like one more of resolve rather than guilt. Bruce helped create the problem, sure. But he’s going to fix it — and make sure Amanda Waller feels it.
Matt: I enjoy a good event comic. But I don’t think they’re my bread and butter. I am just woefully behind on my books I’m not reading to review, so I haven’t started the event yet. And I have faith that Mark Waid can do something cool with this, even if the pieces aren’t my favorites. But we’ll have to wait and see.
Back to the issue at hand, I did love the two styles of art on this book. They aren’t similar, but that’s OK. Denys Cowan, a living legend, has a gritty style that works for the more grounded main sequence about our thief turned protagonist, while Jorge Jimenez’s bigger style works for all the superhero action, even though he can still pull back and show us some more human moments in the last sequence. It’s good looking work.
Batman and Robin
Matt: Batman, Robin, Bane and dinosaurs. That is a great combination for a simple action comic, isn’t it?
Will: You really ain’t gotta make this shit all that complicated. Ride some dinosaurs, fight some dinosaurs. Simple stuff. What do you know of the history of Dinosaur Island?
Matt: Dinosaur Island first appeared in war comics, in a serial called “The War That Time Forgot.” It occasionally pops up, and was most recently used in some Superman and Super Sons stuff by Peter Tomasi, which is how Damian knows about it. The best, or at least my favorite, use of it was the cold open of DC: The New Frontier, with the Losers winding up stranded there. A very memorable opening.
Will: Bane’s appearance as a … I’ll call him a game warden … makes sense. He’s not a protector in any sense of the word — he does, after all, rip off a dino’s jaw after most likely allowing himself to be swallowed — but he does expect his dominion over the animals to be respected. Woe to anyone in his way, as usual. I like how Batman pointed out how smart Bane is — that’s something a lot of writers fail to remember.
Matt: Treating Bane not as a bruiser always moves a story up in my estimation. But this story also remembers all the things Bane has done, especially the big, neck-breaking elephant in the room. Batman and Robin haven’t seen Bane since the end of “City of Bane.” And while Williamson’s Robin series did have Damian work on some of the trauma from that, he hasn’t really had the avatar of what is one of the worst moments of his life right in front of him before. And while it’s been nice to not have Bruce spend all his time trying to convince Damian not to kill like the early comics of them together, this is the time for that to rear its head again, and to see how tempted Bruce himself might be.
Will: You mentioned the opening of DC: The New Frontier, but how ‘bout the opening in this book? I almost thought it was going to be a silent issue there for a second.
Detective Comics
Matt: I am saying this, and I’m not saying it as a bad thing: The boulder that is the plot of this run has now officially begun rolling downhill. With three issues left, we are going to be getting a lot of action, and that makes sense. We’ve been building to Batman confronting the Orghams for nearly 30 issues. It’s time for some asses to be kicked. Yet still we have time for character, which I respect the hell out of.
Will: It sure doesn’t feel like 30 issues, does it? Gathering allies to confront the Big Bad felt a bit formulaic here, but I’ll allow it — especially since it’s done so well and the backup ties so beautifully into the process. I like how the roster is also relatively small, only four (or five if you count Two-Face). What do you think about the return of Joker’s Daughter? Did not see that coming.
Matt: Nor did I. And honestly, with the amount of Joker fatigue we have experienced? I’m good with it. It lets us get some Joker, by having him set her in motion, but doesn’t mean we’re going to be inundated with lots of Joker. And the way that plot beat works, showing the shining facade of Orgham Gotham and how thin it is above the darkness, is truly well done. Not a big fan of the death of a cat, but that’s a personal thing for me. This is a character who had potential but was used really edgelord-ily during the New 52 (like a lot of the New 52). Pulling back and watching Joker tease the evil she thought she put behind her is some solid Joker characterization, and I like that.
Will: Edgelord New 52 nonsense? Who woulda guessed? I’m interested to see how she gets worked into the main story and whether this is setting the character up for something down the line or if she’s doomed to be forgotten because she’s coming in right at the end. I don’t have a vested interest in her (and to be honest, I’d be a little weirded out by anyone who did), but she’s been away for so long that she’s fresh, ya know? Just imagine — one day we might pine for the Batman Who Laughs!
Matt: That will be quite some time.
While the gathering-the-team sequence, which we’ve gotten over the past couple issues, is something we’ve seen in many books (and in this run when Selina had to gather her team to save Batman), it is nice to catch back up with characters we haven’t seen in a while. Two-Face hasn’t had a big roll in maybe 10 issues, and Ten-Eyed Man has a small part. And that guy remains just super creepy, which is fine by me. I don’t want to get used to a world of Ten-Eyed Man.
Will: He sees the patterns we don’t, Matt. *stares vacantly into nothingness*
Matt: Just creepy.
One of the things I am going to miss most from this run are the backups that fill out aspects of the main story. I love the way they weave in, the different artists we get on them. And this one, with a view inside Two-Face’s mind, was top notch. It’s not as trippy as when he was fighting the Azmer demon, but instead is more grounded in who the two-and-change of him are in that mind. I loved it.
Will: It told a great, simple story in only a handful of pages — a real example of what you can achieve here.
Matt: And a first-time artist on one of these. I’ve enjoyed Lisandro Estherren’s work with James Tynion IV on their Sandman Universe projects, so I was excited to see him pop up here. We’ve gotten so many great artists with non-house styles on these backups, and they all work so well with what they’re given.
Buy Detective Comics #1,086 here.
Bat-miscellany
- In this week’s BatChat podcast, Patreon backer Abigale Heartbalm joins us to talk about three times Bruce Wayne went broke.
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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.
