While Two-Face joins forces with the General, and Batman and Robin experience growing pains in their relationship, Bruce Wayne faces a threat like none he has ever experienced: Gotham Child Protective Services. Batman & Robin: Year One #2 is written by Mark Waid, drawn and colored by Chris Samnee and lettered by Clayton Cowles and Samnee.
The Justice League and Justice Society race to stop Eclipso, and Batman and Superman face down the shadow demon himself in Batman/Superman: Worldâs Finest #33, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Adrian Gutierrez, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Dave Sharpe.
Thereâs a new sheriff in town on the Justice League Unlimitedâs Watchtower: The Question. Renee Montoya has been recruited by the Trinity to investigate someone or something attempting to take control of the Watchtower. With the help of a team of heroes (including Batwoman, her ex) Montoya begins an investigation unlike any she has taken part in before. The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1 is written by Alex Segura, drawn by Cian Tormey, colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettered by Willie Schubert.
Will Nevin: We forgot to discuss a very important thing last week. Do you remember Alfredâs narration in Absolute Batman #2? The bit about explaining âadvance forwardâ as a way of getting âBatman AFâ into the book?
Matt Lazorwitz: Oh, Scott Snyder. That was a bit tryhard, but it did make me chuckle, at least. That book is definitely what it says on the tin.
Will: âTry hardâ is probably the nicest thing you can say about it. What a groaner.
Bruce Wayne: Unfit Dad?
Matt: Weâve talked in the past about how Robin as a concept doesnât work nearly as well in 2024 as it did in 1940. We look at things with a different lens, and that includes both child endangerment and weird rich bachelors adopting orphans. And Waid starts out this issue absolutely calling that to the front of the readerâs mind, because there is no way Gotham Child Protective Services is not going to watch Bruce Wayne, noted gadabout and playboy, like a hawk.
Will: And opening with the social workers basically saying as much was a great way to ground this. And I also loved how Bruce is at odds with the public image heâs cultivated â not being taken seriously is one of the few problems that the mirage of Bruce Wayne, Professional Layabout, might have.
Matt: Itâs something we so rarely see, but it makes so much sense and is a thread that makes perfect sense to pull in this story.
In the first issue, we talked about how nice it was to see Bruce treating Dick better than some other writers have presented that relationship. With this issue, Bruce is a little harsher, and I have been thinking that over since I read the issue. We knew it was going to get here, and I am OK with it. Bruce seems to be a hardass toward Dick in the training scene because he wants Dick to take this seriously, something any tween isnât going to do out of the gate. To Dick this is still high adventure, not life and death.
Will: And that ties in quite nicely to the moment at the end, doesnât it? We donât often see a mainline Bat book go so gruesome â a man just burned alive using his last breaths to confess what happened â but this is important for Robin to see, to understand that there are real stakes here and that thereâs no net. And thankfully the teaching part here is mostly implied â we donât get a Miller-esque Bats growling, âTime to look at the face of death, boy,â which is definitely what we would have gotten in the Jeff Lemire version of this book.
Matt: There is a playfulness to this book that we donât get from a lot of Batman comics. Bruce shaking his fist at Dick behind the back of the CPS worker and Dick blowing a raspberry at Bruce arenât what I would expect to see in many mainline Bat books, but it absolutely works here. Couple it with that gruesome ending, and you might think youâd get some dissonance, but it actually works well. Waid knows how to balance these tones.
Will: Heâs also great at juggling the various storylines here, moving along both the Bruce-and-Dick relationship and whatever the General is plotting for Gotham and Harveyâs place in that scheme. Itâs certainly strange watching Dent volunteer to play second fiddle in someone elseâs three-piece crime band, but, again, in Waid we trust. Right?
Matt: Oh yeah. And with Harvey, thereâs always the coin to consider. He says it came up telling him to do business with the General. But what happens when he flips it again and it comes up the other way? I donât think you can play that too often, because it can become contrived, but establishing it right at the beginning tells me the coin will become important in that relationship as the book continues.
Will: I would not want to be the General when the coin comes up the wrong way or Harveyâs ego finally snaps whatever fragile tie the two might have.
Buy Batman & Robin: Year One #2 here.
JLA vs. JSA
Matt: Look at that! A three-issue story. I honestly canât remember the last time I saw an arc on a mainstream book that was three issues. One and six are common enough, and two and five probably next. Three and four are less common in what we get out of the Big Two now. So we get three-act structure over three chapters.
Will: And hooboy, was there a lot of stuff in here. I think this worked at three issues; anything longer and we might have had to suffer through an extended JLA vs. JSA stretch that nobody wants to see.
Matt: Waid has a lot of balls in the air here, with so many characters. And splitting the teams up into smaller units combining different members of each team harkens back to the Silver Age team-ups between these groups, which is so very Mark Waid. Because of all the characters, not everyone gets the time to shine, which is a shame because two of my favorites, Elongated Man and Wildcat, probably get two or three sentences each. But better that than trying to have nearly 20 characters get the spotlight in as many pages.
Will: Youâre looking at people; Iâm thinking places. I know youâve got the dossier on the Republic of Mustan floating around in your brain, right?
Matt: That one had me a bit confused. I think it might be new, maybe a seed for a future story. DC has so many fictional nations, though, it might be a minor one from one of Waidâs earlier comics. I have failed you, and I apologize.
Will: We must, therefore, arrive at one of two conclusions: Mustan is either new to the world of comics with this issue *or* itâs such a deep cut that the prior history of it exists outside of whatâs online. Tough call, really, knowing Waidâs love of esoterica.
Matt: Any other writer Iâd be sure it was new, but Waid is someone who knows his DC even better than I do, something I tip my proverbial hat to.
Waid clearly loves the JSA, and this issue spotlights a lot of what makes them the senior statesmen of the DC Universe. I like the moment of them shaking off the Eclipso effect because they donât have the same doubts that he plays on in the younger heroes. The difference between wisdom and intelligence right there.
Will: In addition to being an experienced hand at telling stories, one even better thing about being the grand old man of DC Comics is that you get to work with the best artists. This and Year One are just stunning to look at.
Matt: I loved Adrian Gutierrezâs work on Blue Beetle with Josh Trujillo, which was a criminally underrated book. Getting the chance to work on a book like this will help raise his profile and get him bigger and better gigs, and Iâm glad to see that.
There Must Be Some Kinda Way Outta HereâŚ
Matt: Been looking forward to this one. I think we both have. And Iâm happy with this first issue. Itâs a lot of setup, but also a lot of character, and I can deal with the former a lot more if the latter is there, too.
Will: And itâs a really different vibe for the Question, ya know? Most of her stories are street-level, grounded type stuff. This âQuestion in spaceâ story? Very different. But sheâs still trying to unravel a mystery, so itâs got some natural grounding to it.
Matt: Precisely. The one ânormalâ person in a city of superpowered and costumed folks is a cool concept. And while Renee is a costumed vigilante, she has never felt like one in her own head. So we get that outsider’s perspective on whatâs going on here.
Will: And some interpersonal relationship drama with Kate. So while youâre right in that this was a lot of setup, thereâs also a lot of potential for this story.
Matt: And aside from Kate, we have a support team of very different characters. The two Blue Beetles, the elder of whom is a goofball who hides a brilliant mind and a lot of insecurity behind that attitude, and the young, enthusiastic hero, and Animal Man, who was savagely beaten at the beginning of Absolute Power by an anti-metahuman mob, all bring different things to the table. Iâm hoping that last bit is explored, because Montoya has her own traumas, and thatâs something that could bond her to Animal Man.
Will: Iâm not going to lie and say I have a lot of familiarity with the Beetles Blue, but they, along with Animal Man, seem like distinctly different characters to pair up with Montoya. How disappointing would it have been to put her on a frigginâ space station only for, say, Harvey Bullock to show up? (No offense, Harvey. Although he might make for a great âfish out of waterâ story.)
Matt: When you have all the heroes of the DCU to play with, why settle on the same ones over and over? Batwoman excepted, because thereâs way too much good drama there to leave untapped.
Opinion time on the ending, so SPOILERS ahead. Batwoman finds a dead body with blood splattered on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which we see in Reneeâs room in the opening. So our killer is sending a message by leaving his victim in Montoyaâs room? Thatâs fucked up.
Will: If nothing else, thatâs Montoyaâs copy of the book, given the bookmarks line up from what we see in the opening. I feel like the cat is also a clue, but I canât suss that one out as of now. A good olâ murder mystery, though, is better than the vague notions of something squirrely that Batman and Superman talk about.
Matt: This has definitely found a way to combine a big, weird superhero story with a murder mystery, which isnât always easy to do. If Segura can stick this landing, I feel like it puts him on a good path to one of the major Bat books, because I would love a more mystery-focused Batman ongoing; I know we have Dark Patterns coming soon, but thatâs only a miniseries.
Will: Dream big, Brother Matt. We know that Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee arenât back for a 50+ issue run on Batman. Weâre going to have an opening there sooner or later. Why not Segura? Iâm for it.
Buy The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1 here.
Bat-miscellany
- In this weekâs BatChat podcast, Patreon backer Matt McThorn (McThorny!) joins us to talk about one of the first anti-Bats who became something more under the pen of Gail Simone: Catman.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
