The Bat family races to save the young men targeted by the serial killer Asema. Batman confronts the killer, but the results are not what he was expecting. Detective Comics #1,093 is written by Tom Taylor, drawn and colored by Mikel Janin and lettered by Wes Abbott.
The Amazon rainforest burns with mystical fire. While a League team tries to stop Infernoās plan there, the Atoms continue to work to restore the powers to heroes who lost them. The wide tapestry of the DC Universe continues to grow in Justice League Unlimited #3, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Ariana Maher.
The mastermind behind the assault on the Watchtower is revealed. Can the Question, with her distinct lack of superpowers, stop a threat way out of her weight class? The Question: All Along the Watchtower #2 is written by Alex Segura, drawn by Cian Tormey, colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettered by Willie Schubert.
Matt Lazorwitz: DC just announced the first crossover of the All-In era. Thoughts?
Will Nevin: Canāt say Iām surprised that Mark Waid is the architect. Heās quickly become a real driving force (again) at DC, hasnāt he? Also, Iāll eat any number of hats if Batman gets one of the three unannounced chapters ā although it would be an all-time throwback treat if we take a break from 2 H2sh 2 Handle for a totally unrelated story.
Matt: I would prefer that, but Iām expecting second issues of JLU and Worldās Finest, and either a one-shot or maybe a Superman title to lead into the āSummer of Superman,ā as DC is calling it.
Will: āSummer of Superman,ā huh? Wonder if thereās anything else that might be coming out that makes DC want to build around Supes.
āTec
Matt: When you have a Bat family, itās nice to see someone actually use them, you know? And while itās not a ton, itās a logical use of all of those characters, and not just one panel of them skulking about. We get some good interactions between Batman and his Robins in this issue.
Will: One of my favorite things in any Bat book is when someone in the family deservedly gives Bruce shit for something, and we had a great moment of that here: Batman says secretly surveilling the kids is important for their safety, and the family claps back that so is prying into his relationship with the new mystery woman.
And speaking of things I historically love in Batman canon, how do we know that someone is about to die or get their mind erased, Matt?
Matt: Hmmmm ā¦ is it when they learn The Secret?
Will: Bingo, buddy boy!
Matt: Last issue, I called the mystery in this story a non-mystery, and it absolutely seems that way. No swerve here. Asema is either Bruceās new love interest or her employee, the mad scientist, and regardless, they are working together on this scheme, so the difference is negligible.
Weāve spoken on the podcast for sure, and in the column too, about how a predictable story isnāt bad, and I think this is OK for what itās doing, but I wish the mystery from Batman wasnāt also a āmysteryā from the reader. I think this would read a bit better if we were following Scarlett out in the open and seeing her machinations play out right now, instead of it being hidden in plain sight.
Will: The flashbacks are another minor irritation as well. I donāt mind them, and this one (Scarlett and her mother apologizing after Joe Chill was presumably named as the shooter in the media) is perfectly fine and consistent with the established lore, but it seems like the arc has had an inconsistent focus on the flashbacks. First issue was seemingly nothing but Thomas Wayne and the Chills, but from what I remember of the last issue, there wasnāt anything dipping back into the past. Iām not arguing for a rigid structure (settle yourself, Tom King), but I would like some consistency to what the story is doing.
Matt: Yup, there were no flashbacks last issue, which made me wonder if it was just for that first issue.
We talked on the podcast recording last night (coming to all of you in a few weeks) about Batmanās flexibility with The One Rule, and how there are instances where even Batman can struggle with his own decision not to kill. This story, though, as is often the way with Tom Taylorās work, doesnāt have this moral ambiguity. Asema is killing maybe not nonviolent offenders ā we canāt be sure what the teens she is taking out have done ā but going after people who arenāt currently committing crimes, or violent ones anyway, and who have served their sentences, so there is no moral equivalency. Would this be better if there was more of a moral quandary here, or would that muddy the waters?
Will: What would you call a contrivance that doesnāt break the storyās believability? Is there a word for that? Because thatās what we have here. The drug program relies on youth. Young offenders tend to be minor. Those two things work in concert to not give us a moral quandary. And I think thatās fine? Iām having trouble coming up with a way that this could even be more complex given the storyās inherent requirements.
Matt: And I suppose the moral complexity comes from both the existence of the program to begin with and Bruceās choice to take it. Money continues to be a driving factor in this story. Someone rich enough to buy out and cancel a Penguin contract? That is both serious money and serious pull. I am assuming one of Scarlettās clients took care of it for her, which opens up a whole set of questions and issues as itās not just Scarlett who is going to want to keep this project going, but some powerful and dangerous people, too.
Will: And donāt you know that just grinds olā Ozās gears? I wonder if he might become a more central player in this story because of that embarrassment. That seems like a real Penguin move.
Buy Detective Comics #1,093 here.
JLU
Matt: Iāve said it once, Iāll say it again: Mark Waid is a master of balancing character and action.
Will: Aye, that he is ā in addition to being great at juggling multiple plots.
Matt: Completely true. And knowing Waid, theyāre all going to come together in a satisfying way. We have two major plots in this issue: the crisis in the rainforest and the Atoms working to help a couple of our heroes with scrambled powers. We also get a little bit with Airwave, and hints at Batmanās hunt for the now missing Martian Manhunter. Thatās a lot, but I never felt lost or like this is overstretched.
Will: Not at all. And I like how, as we talked about in the intro, that the Inferno Cult is a bigger, wider problem ā so big, in fact, that weāll have a six-part story that really gets after it.
Matt: And itās big enough to warrant this Justice League. I was listening to a podcast that is a rewatch of Justice League, and more than one writer or animator made the point that a threat for the League needs to be one that canāt just be solved by Superman. And Inferno, with its magical connections and scope, absolutely is something that needs more than just Big Blue.
Will: Isnāt that the thing that *always* bedevils Justice League runs? They can get into a rut quickly if the fate of the planet or the galaxy is at stake in every single story. But we donāt have that problem here (yet). Itās global in scale, sure ā and the hopping from location to location is certainly fun ā but the stakes are not yet at that level, and they donāt necessarily have to be. Yes, the Amazon burning down in a magical fire is bad (terrible, even!), but itās not like all life on the planet is about to be extinguished ā¦ or that the sun has gone dark.
Matt: More than that, the big, global problems are juxtaposed with more intimate ones. I loved the Plastic Man/Phantom Girl power-swap sequence, and the Atomsā work to help them. And the Question (more on her in a bit) confronting Airwave about being homeless and living on the Watchtower, and her empathy, keeps this from being just fight after fight.
Will: And that Airwave stuff felt like a natural (and human) thing for a station cop to handle. Like, yes, there is a lot of craziness going on, and theyāre in space ā¦ but sheās still a detective who can figure stuff out. Also, shoutout to Airwave for watching a classic like Back to the Future Part II.
Matt: Iām waiting for the Airwave shoe to drop. This poor kid is clearly in way over his head. We know heās working with someone bad, we know he doesnāt necessarily want to and the more time we spend with him, the more painful itās going to be. Itās Chekhovās Two-Face; you donāt want to get attached, but itās hard not to.
Will: How tragic it is to be cursed with knowledge as a reader. But thereās some hope too, you know? He hasnāt done anything he canāt take back ā¦ yet.
Buy Justice League Unlimited #3 here.
Question
Matt: In the previous issue review, I said I assumed the big bad here had to have some connection to Superman, since their pawns were Superman villains. And I was right. I have never felt more of a kinship to Montoya as I did when she said she should have realized who was behind this, because in retrospect, it was obvious.
Will: As someone who is not up on his Superman, I always assumed that the āReign of the Supermenā types were all good. Are you telling me Cyborg Superman is a baddie?
Matt: Indeed he is. He took on a Superman identity to tarnish the legacy of the Man of Steel. He is a technopath who can control machines and build new bodies out of them, so someone screwing with Watchtower systems with a mad-on for Superman? It was right there.
Will: And as weāve talked about already in this series, that makes him a really good foil for Montoya as someone way above her GCPD pay grade. Heās a challenge to overcome, and how she does it should be interesting.
Matt: Iām hoping we get some more of her team as the series progresses to help her with that. Both of the Blue Beetles were taken out this issue, so that is going to give them an incentive to take down the Cyborg and his buddies.
It was good to see Renee go and make her peace with Batwoman. While they might not be 100% better, itās nice that the conversation they must have isnāt hanging over the series. Thereās too much to do for that to weigh down the plot, and more interesting stuff to happen between Renee and Kate.
Will: Itās hard to have time for interpersonal drama when youāre a cop patrolling a space station for the most powerful people on the planet, isnāt it?
Matt: Sheās Renee Montoya. She always finds a way for the drama.
Iām enjoying Cian Tormeyās art on this book, and Romulo Fajardo Jr.ās colors really help with the shadows in this issue. When you have a shadow caster like Nightshade as part of your cast, you need someone who can color the contrast, but also someone who can compose a page so when the shadows are creeping in, you donāt lose whatās going on on the page, and this definitely succeeded for me.
Will: Weāre saving Waid and Chris Samneeās Batman and Robin: Year One #4 for next week, but that didnāt mean it wasnāt a solid week for art.
Matt: Dan Mora, Mikel Janin and Cian Tormey make for a hat trick.
This is halfway through the series, I believe, and we have the reveal of our big bad. Are we assuming the back half is going to be more of Renee trying to figure her way out of this mess? Because that sounds like a good time to me if it is.
Will: *Dukes of Hazzard narrator voice* How is Montoya gonna get out of this pickle? Come back next month to find out.
Buy The Question: All Along the Watchtower #3 here.
Bat-miscellany
- This weekās BatChat podcast features the last Batman comic we havenāt covered created by Darwyn Cooke, as well as two stories related to that final issue.
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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.
