In Detective Comics #1,042, Batman and Huntress conclude their battle with The Jury in the feature, while in the backup, Deb Donovan and Red Hood continue their investigation into missing supervillain corpses as the oddest couple in Gotham. The feature was written by Mariko Tamaki, drawn by Viktor Bogdanovic, inked by Daniel Henriques and Bogdanovic, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Aditya Bidikar. The backup was written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Max Raynor, colored by Diego Rodriguez and lettered by Rob Leigh.
It’s the fight you never knew you wanted: Man-Bat vs. Killer Moth in The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #6, written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Jesus Merino and Juni Ba, colored by Ulises Arreola and Nick Filardi, and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Matt Lazorwitz: So, let’s start out with the big-ish news out of DC this week: After James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez leave Batman in November, the new creative team is going to be Joshua Williamson and Jorge Molina. To me, this is … a very safe choice. Molina is a solid penciller who has a lot of work on major titles in his background, if none that really jump out, and Williamson has written work I love, although like Tynion, his superhero work can run hot or cold for me, but his creator-owned/indie horror and fantasy (Nailbiter, Ghosted, Birthright) is the work that absolutely jumps out at me.
Will Nevin: Williamson strikes me as a replacement-level fella who won’t sink the book or bring anything exceptionally new to it. He’s A Guy, and by definition, as you said, a safe choice. If DC had been nice enough to ask me for a safe pick, I would have chosen A Guy With Upside, like Tom Taylor or Matthew Rosenberg. If they’d let me pick someone interesting/marginalized in Big Two writing circles, I’d go with Bryan Edward Hill or Becky Cloonan. Or maybe someone I’ve never heard of before.
New ideas on Batman. Wouldn’t that be something?
Zombie Space Slugs Vs. Batman
Matt: This is theoretically the end of everything Mariko Tamaki has been doing with this book from her first issue before “Fear State” kicks off, and while there are some cool bits, it is immediately marred by the return of Viktor Bogdanovic on art. It kills me that editorial or whoever was scheduling couldn’t work it out so Dan Mora would be here for the climax of this story. It just throws things off, and even though Bogdanovic has been involved in previous issues, he reads like a poor man’s Mora.
Will: I have griped about his art before, but it didn’t bother me this time around. Go figure. Maybe I was too unsettled by the issue generally — I hate Batman being an almost passive observer in his own damn book.
Matt: I see where you’re coming from with the passivity, but I was able to deal with it since he was the only one who was able to resist Hue Vile’s influence in the slightest. He fought the killing urge; he was able to handcuff himself. These were supreme acts of will, which is something Batman is known for. It did take him out of the action, but it’s nice that he was able to do it and wasn’t just another zombie.
Will: I know we didn’t have a lot of space to handle his transition (or whatever), but what did you think about the process of his zombification? We’ve seen that story told before in The Batman Who Laughs and DCeased, and while those are both books that deal with the idea more squarely and devote more space, they also do a better job. Which I guess is the point of those books? What I’m saying is that I was quite whelmed.
Matt: It was definitely quick, especially compared to how we’ve seen Vile’s victims transform before. I know the text addresses it, with Penguin saying the parasite took hold too quickly, but that feels more like justification to move the story forward than anything that had been earned. The whole issue felt rushed, which has me wondering if this was an editorial mandate of, “Hey, the crossover has to start next issue, so wrap it up!”
Will: One thing that struck me as interesting — the plan seemed to be to take the diseased Batman to some public place in order to continue to discredit capes, but obviously that didn’t work out. However, that still seems to be someone’s plan. And speaking of plans, Worth was really ready to abandon his idea to kill Batman, wasn’t he?
Matt: Batman was always secondary to Worth; his vendetta was against Bruce Wayne. So it seems like he didn’t really care about Batman, as his death was a means to an end. And speaking of Worth, boy howdy did we call him being betrayed by Penguin! The minute the going got tough, Penguin jumped ship after leaving Worth behind. It’s the old adage about not having to be faster than the zombies, just having to be faster than the slowest member of the group fleeing them.
Will: Funny you mention that moment — I thought it was one spot where the artistic storytelling failed because you had to really pay attention that the goons who came in shooting were all infestified with parasites. Because, look, if you’re in Gotham, people could pop into your room shooting for any reason, and we need to be specific when that reason is brain worms.
Matt: That’s Gotham for you. Also, I read some commentary online of people taking shots at Tamaki for letting Huntress “kill” Vile in front of Batman and him not coming down on her. I’m sorry, but even by Batman’s particular code against killing, Huntress only killed the worm he spit at her. It’s not like she put a bolt in Vile. Even she earns a pass on this one. And I liked her reference in the final scene to her initial backup and going to lay flowers at the grave of her friend. Nice callback there.
Will: Those people are stupid as fuck because I’m pretty sure Batman’s rule against killing doesn’t extend to space slugs that give people rabies. And I had a tough time figuring out that moment (who had the extra flowers?), but I am a dumb and you are right and that puts a great bow on the whole narrative.
Matt: As for the backup, well, I love Deb Donovan. We get a little of it in the main story as well, but I love her as this sort of haunted, beaten down reporter who still wants to do the right thing even though Gotham sucks.
Will: Aside from that dumb moment where she’s screaming for a drink in the hospital, I’ve enjoyed all the Deb content we’ve been lucky enough to get, and her inclusion here was no exception. I also thought the Deadpool cameo was super neat in the backup — can’t believe the lawyers were able to get that cleared.
Matt: Hah! Rosenberg is writing a fun story here, and I like his handle on Jason Todd, and Jason’s banter with Deb is funny without being too precious. And was that a pouting Bruce Wayne at dinner with Vicki Vale, or just some similar generic white guy?
Will: Oh shit, is this an actual disagreement? That Todd stuff was awful. Even if it was actually Deadpool, it was too zany, and for Todd, there was zero edge. I boo that content, Matt.
Matt: Maybe I was too distracted by the mask. I thought the dialogue was OK, but I don’t understand the reverse bandana; Jason tends to wear a red domino mask under the hood when he knows he’ll have to take it off. I think maybe it’s just that Jason isn’t being so edgy as to come off as super edgelord vigilante, so I’ll take that. But see, folks, we don’t always agree and can stay friends!
Will: That’s what my mom and dad said, and it didn’t work out for them, Matt! Now I’m worried about us. And I don’t think it was Bruce, by the way. Looked like a shrimp in a suit that was two sizes too big.
[Grote’s note: You two aren’t allowed to break up. Not when you’re about to launch REDACTED.]
Where Are We Now?
Matt: Up front here: ever since reading his book Djeliya, I’ve been a big fan of cartoonist Juni Ba, and drawing a monster fight, of sorts anyway, is right in his wheelhouse, so I was an easy mark for this issue.
Will: I don’t wanna yuck your yum, but it didn’t work for me. Visually, it’s a great, fun style. But it didn’t match up with the story — or, I suppose, my expectations for the story. You’re a better reader than me.
Matt: I wouldn’t say that; I’d just say I have slightly different tastes with some art. I also am honestly not sure what my expectations for Puzzlebox are anymore. I’m still enjoying it a lot, but I have this feeling like all of these asides are going to add up to something, because I’m not reading any clues in them, just a supervillain vs. supervillain action narrative. Is there something embedded in there I’m missing at this juncture?
Will: We’re still focused on the Riddler whodunit, or at least we’re supposed to be focused on the question of who offed the guy since it does pop up as a reminder in this issue. For me, the Joker is still the highlight — whatever qualms I have with Rosenberg’s Red Hood, they do not apply to what he’s done so far in this series. But whenever we leave the interrogation room, whenever the focus strays from Joker, my interest and enjoyment wane. Really, I don’t think I’ve liked an issue as much as I liked the first one.
Matt: That was definitely the most Joker-centric, and I too love Rosenberg’s quippy, clever Joker. We only really got him for one page this issue, and that does feel like a missed opportunity. There are a couple other villains I’m not as partial to in this issue with how their voice comes across, Bane particularly, but as long as Joker still reads the way he does, I’ll live with it.
Will: Bane content? What Bane content? Sounds like another one of those “director’s cut” digital bits I have to pay extra to see. (Thanks again, DC.) Langstrom, though, didn’t read quite right to me — seems like most recent interpretations have him at “Man-Bat, hell yeah” rather than “I would prefer not to be Man-Bat.”
Matt: Man-Bat is written to suit the story, not just here but in general, although he has definitely leaned more toward the former than the latter since Justice League Dark. The timeline for where this story takes place is so ambiguous, I just read it as existing in some nebulous, Infinite Frontier no-space of a timeline and am along for the ride.
Will: We are in the days of Schrodinger’s continuity. It has taken place. It will never take place.
Bat-miscellany
- I feel bad that I can’t ID what type of liquor Bruce gives to Deb. If it was a bourbon, I could give you a brand. Alas. Scotch, maybe? That seems right.
- I don’t know if we’ll ever see Mr. Worth again. I’m not sure if I’ll miss him if we don’t, but there was more potential to this guy than what we got here.
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.
