Amanda Wallerâs war on superheroes is in full swing, and Batman has asked Catwoman to help him steal something that will help put Waller on the backfoot. This should be easy with the worldâs greatest thief, right? No, because he didnât expect to find Wallerâs newest Suicide Squad in a secret U.S. military base. Batman #151 is written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Mike Hawthorne, inked by Adriano Di Benedetto, colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the backup, Harley Quinn is having a grand old time in a Gotham without superheroes until she has to play hero to stop one of Riddlerâs plans in a story written by Tini Howard, drawn by Marianna Ignazzi, inked by Giovanna Niro, colored by Fajardo and lettered by Cowles.
While Batman has his first meeting with Vengeance, the daughter of Bane, her father faces down Robin, who is seeking to exact his own vengeance for the death of Alfred Pennyworth. Batman & Robin #12 is written by Joshua Williamson, drawn and colored by Juan Ferreyra and lettered by Steve Wands.
The Bat family attempts to stop the Orghams from killing Gothamâs favored sons and daughters. Batman goes to save their prime target: Commissioner Renee Montoya. All while the villains Batman has allied with make their own moves to add a little chaos to the Orghamsâ ordered city. The lead story of Detective Comics #1,087 is written by Ram V, drawn by Christian Duce and Stefano Raffaele, colored by Luis Guerrero and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, Azrael and Nightwing work out some of their old differences in a story written by Dan Watters, drawn and colored by Francesco Francavilla and lettered by Steve Wands.
Will Nevin: Jesus Christ, Matt, I feel like the last time we did one of these Tom King was on Batman, and Batwoman and Clayface were featured players in âTec.
Matt Lazorwitz: Yeah, life gets in the way of the fun. But we should be back to a more regular schedule after this week, and we have plenty of good material to talk about.
Batman
Will: Gonna throw a curveball at you. Can you believe that? First time back in a month and Iâm already giving you the business. Since this is an event tie-in and ultimately doesnât matter, how about we start with the backup? Is this not just the ideal backup story? Totally different (but complimentary) vibes from the main book, delightful as all hell, beautiful, funny and tells a tight little story with real stakes. Also, itâs not mutton chops Riddler. 15/10. No notes.
Matt: I enjoyed this. I wasnât a big fan of Tini Howardâs first arc on the Harley Quinn ongoing, which was this big cosmic thing about Harley getting powers over the multiverse. But her second arc has been much more grounded, dealing with Harley trying to help supervillains with their psychological issues, and this definitely falls more into that second category.
Will: And this really nails Harleyâs motivations. Sheâs not super stoked about the idea of thousands dying in a post-nuclear power plant hellscape, sure, but what sheâs really worried about is Ivy getting pissed off at her.
Matt: The moments between those two at the end are charming as heck. Ivy knows Harley, and when we get to the end, that last comedic button? Perfect.
Will: I guess we have to talk about the main story, right? Itâs fine as these things go, I mean, I read it an hour ago and barely remember anything about it. My strongest feeling? It was strange to see Mother Box/Boom Tube explainers when weâre often expected to just know what those things are in most other stories.
Matt: Itâs been a long time since DC did a crossover like this, where ongoings are dragged into the event. Lazarus Planet, Beast World, even Dark Crisis were mostly contained to one-shots and tie-in miniseries. So this flashes me back to my younger days. And this is fine for what it is. A Bruce and Selina caper? I enjoy that kind of story. But there are a lot of bells and whistles from the crossover here, including Waller having a secret hideout on Czarnia, that are deep cuts. It continues the trend of Zdarskyâs book being big, superhero Batman action.
Will: Speaking of deep cuts, we sure had some ⌠interesting ⌠guest stars, didnât we? When Bizarro is what passes for your A-list appearance, youâre digging pretty hard.
Matt: This is the current configuration of the Suicide Squad from their recent mini, and they arenât A-listers, no, although I have fond feelings for Black Alice from her Secret Six days.
One point with this I also enjoyed was that Batman went in knowing how to deal with Bizarro. Itâs a common trope in Bizarro stories that heroes fighting him stumble over themselves trying to figure out what heâs saying. But Batman, having prepared for this, knows what to say to manipulate that mindset. This is the right kind of preparation; a logical extension of knowing who is out there and knowing how to deal with it. Itâs not Batgod territory, just a smart guy.
Will: And equating Bizarro to a child seems like a clever way to handle him. Yes, heâs crazy strong and every bit as physically dangerous as Supes, but he absolutely doesnât want to work. Hell, Matt, I donât want to work. Work is stupid.
Batman and Robin
Matt: Two issues in a row from the same artist on Batman and Robin? Inconceivable!
Will: Unimaginable! But also ⌠a little uninspired? I didnât love it.
Matt: The art, the story or both?
Will: The art, although I am a slut for spot color. But I wasnât a fan of how those interludes were literally labeled with the time period/story they took place during. Helpful, yes, but a little too fourth-wall breaky.
Matt: I love Juan Ferreyra as a horror artist, and he draws an awesome dinosaur. But his faces are always a little overdone for a quieter story. Not that this is quiet, but it doesnât need the super exaggerated facial expressions. Thatâs my artistic quibble.
Not to put you too much on the spot, but how would you have labeled those flashbacks otherwise? Or would you have just not worried about labels and let the reader sort of put two and two together on the timing?
Will: I think itâs really a question of showing/not telling, right? If we want to place a story during âR.I.P.,â we do a scene at Bruceâs gravesite. For the other eras, Iâd think about some broad touchstones that were going on at the time that we could easily do on the page. Again, not a big deal, but it was a persnickety thing that I noticed.
Matt: I have to credit Williamson on drawing the parallels between Bane and Damian. Even though Damian denies it, the connection of two people born into lives they have no choice but to fulfill, Bane by prison and Damian by the legacy of the al Ghuls, is a compelling connection, and one that would logically speak to Damian.
Will: That was a really compelling and cogent observation, and, yes, it might be a *little* undercut by dosing Damian with Super Venom(â˘), but thatâs going to make for some fun shit in the next issue.
Matt: Iâm curious to see Vengeanceâs reasoning for hitting Damian with that. Iâm doing my best to place this in continuity before Vengeance reformed and became part of Azraelâs supporting cast, which it logically does, as she left The Joker with Bane and popped up in Sword of Azrael without him. Nothing like a continuity muddle, huh?
And yes, âroided out Damian vs. Bane is exactly the kind of stuff I do expect from a Juan Ferreyra-drawn comic, and I am there for it.
Detective Comics
Matt: Iâm going to take a page from your book and start with the backup. The dessert after the meal here is one of the best of the usually great backups from this run. Dan Watters, who wrote both Arkham City: Order of the World and the follow-up Azrael miniseries returns to his Angel of Mercy concept, and we get to see Jean-Paul and Dick Grayson play off each other, a relationship that has never been front and center, but when it pops up is always strained.
Oh, and Francesco Francavilla art! I donât think I could ask for more.
Will: If you hadnât brought up Francavilla, I was going to. Any time we get his work on a Bat title, it is such a goddamned treat. What a week for backups!
Matt: A different member of the Bat family bonking Azrael on the head repeatedly might have either seemed out of character or like a jerk move. But Nightwing, who is an inherently lighter character and who still harbors some grudge from Bruce choosing Azrael to replace him after the breaking? It fits, and that last splash of Azrael getting a bump to the noggin is perfect.
Will: It was just a little BONK, Matt. Nothing the Angel of Mercy can get too upset about.
Matt: Meanwhile, the main story is a tight action piece, which is probably what much of these last few issues are going to be. Weâve done all the thinking, the preparing, and now the chess pieces are moving across the board. The Orghamsâ false flag operations are running, and the Bat family is stopping them. And Batman is going after their main target, Montoya. It nicely puts Montoya in the main action, and is going to put her in a position to work with Batman, a great dynamic.
Will: And you get the feeling of a story coming to (yes, itâs the name of the arc, I know) a crescendo. Pieces like Two-Face and Freeze are falling rather nicely into place, and itâs satisfying to see these things being paid off.
Matt: Two-Face dual wielding silver-bullet loaded revolvers against the Orghamsâ pet werewolf? Hell yes!
This is how you do a âThe fate of Gotham is in the balanceâ story. Weâve slowly worked up to the big battle over nearly 30 issues. As you said, it feels like Freeze and Two-Face were positioned just right early on, and the last-minute additions of Scarecrow and Jokerâs Daughter donât hurt because so much else is well placed earlier. There is always a grain of sand in the cogs, so something unexpected is always going to come up. Itâs just about not dumping a bag of sand into the works in a Shayamalan-esque, âWhat a twist!â moment.
Will: And thereâs a feeling that all of this matters, even the action beats that I usually shit on in other books. Because this run has been so moody, so character-driven, it makes the action stand out.
Matt: As you noted, the title of the arc is âCrescendo.â That final big moment of a symphony or an opera is exactly that. Itâs action and movement. Sure, you can have an exciting story of two people just talking to each other, but weâve been building all these threats, itâs time for it all to pay off.
And to just bring up a snarky point Iâm surprised you didnât make, but I canât resist making, that police commissioner in peril plot would not work if this was Commissioner Savage. We could just watch the Orghams take him and everyone would look the other way.
Will: Aw, shit, I had already forgotten he was commissioner. Do we have different police commissioners in different Bat books? What a fun little editorial oversight.
Buy Detective Comics #1,087 here.
Bat-miscellany
- Speaking of crossovers, this weekâs BatChat podcast has Matt & Will joined by Matt McThorn to talk about one of the greats: DC One Million.
- I (Matt) am super excited for this Montoya as the Question miniseries that was announced; this run on âTec has me looking for more Montoya, and we will definitely be covering it here.
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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.
