Review: BATMAN #110

A Bloody Brilliant Batman Book!

Batman #110 opens up on an explosive opening between Batman and the first model of cybernetically enhanced Peacekeepers. The action is exciting, expressed with wonderful art from the pens of Jorge Jimenez and excellent world-building from storyteller James Tynion IV. To focus on the art for a moment, Batman and his world look so vibrant and natural, setting a standard for all current DC books to be judged by. There’s one scene in particular where Nightwing is jumping from building to building, and his prior movements are marked by a really cool neon blue outline to signify what he’s done before striking his landing to answer Batgirl. A lot of Batman regulars show up in this issue, with notable mention being Harley Quinn. Doctor Quinzel’s characterization is spot-on, landing somewhere between the cute and kookie clown from Batman: The Animated Series and her more brazen and obnoxious incarnation from The Harley Quinn show.

In addition to excellently nailing her character, her design and depiction in this are just top-notch; she’s pretty so pretty in fact, it’s a shame we didn’t get a variant cover sporting this frankly lovely vision of everybody’s favourite girl power jester.

A New Age For Gotham

Behind the action of Batman doing battle with a bulky new figure is the current affairs of Gotham City that really serve to enrich the action with quick context that doesn’t get boring or overstay its welcome. Panic has gripped Gotham as Scarecrow has something big planned, and Mayor Nakano is placing his trust in Saint Industries and their corrupt private militia dubbed the ‘Peacekeepers’ instead of local law enforcement and ol reliable Batman. Batman struggles as he’s cut off from the rest of his team against a foe that is both lame and intimating at the same time. Peacekeeper 01 has a weak design looking like a corporate Captain America, making him visually uninteresting. Still, he’s smart enough to fight Batman in a tower where he can’t communicate with his team along with destroying his cape and grapple, so there’s no way Batman can flee from forty stories up.

With a little luck and support from his team, Batman manages a daring escape only to be rescued by Harley and newcomer Ghost Maker, who is alright as supporting characters go; he looks like if Moon Knight worked for Aperture science from Portal. These days Batman is working with Harley, who informs our hero the man behind the Peacekeeper costume was an abusive guard at Arkham Asylum who delighted in tormenting the mental patients held behind the asylum’s walls. She dubs Peacekeeper a real piece of work and cusses him out in a well-justified fit of rage despite the hypocrisy of her own criminal ways.

A Side Story?

The book concludes with an unrelated side story depicting Ghost Maker doing battle with a large reptile man without the use of his high tech suit of armour. I’ll spare you the details of this side story and just say it’s boring and centres around a character that I could not care less about. I sense this was an attempt for one of the writers at DC to push their creation into the spotlight and out of the shadow of the bat. These are wasted pages that I’d prefer to be dedicated to the adventures of Batman, who is the title character of this book. I have a sneaking suspicion this is a test to see if he can be given his own book, but thus far, I’m not impressed by the Batman wannabe shortening the end of this story for some side venture.

“Batman #110 is a tight entry in an exciting story with sleek and sexy art showing off these heroes the way they ought to be viewed.”

SCORE: 4/5 Stars

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Publisher: DC Comics