Review: Batman #126

With Detective Comics taking a horror stance to Batman’s crusade, it is left to Chip Zdarsky to bring the more expected style of superhero action in Batman. Man, does he deliver! An action packed issue, with a rash of family members all to try and take down Failsafe!

As it stands, Batman is unaware of his newest enemy. That changes in short order as Failsafe makes his presence known to the detriment of Batman and his “sons and daughters”. It’s a chaotic issues, reminiscent of the first issues of the Joker War.Chip Zdarsky has certainly hit the ground running.

This book isn’t like his pensive Daredevil book where there is a lot of brooding, surprising for a Bat book right?. Instead we get to see Batman put through his paces. Zdarsky does allow for elements of thoughts, though these are the self-centred type which we would expect from a control freak like Bruce Wayne. There are a couple of influences on showing during the book; some are visual like Failsafe, others are the ongoing narrative in both Detective and Batman of Bruce considering himself an “old man”. With the recent Beyond Flashpoint closure of 5G, Dark Crisis setting up replacement heroes, the New Batman and now Batman considering himself old, its inconclusive as to whether DC are looking to replace Bruce. The biggest influence however, is left to the final page where a certain homage to Grant Morrison raises its colourful cowl once more.

The chaotic nature of the book suits the frenetic pencils of Jorge Jimenez, who along with his normally graceful elongated lines, adds a Romita J. to proceedings, especially where Signal is concerned. The level of details are fantastic, though following a minor Twitter interaction, I do feel that Failsafe looks quit a bit like D.A.V.E. from massively underrated The Batman cartoon. Colors are provided by Tomeu Morey, perhaps the colorist of choice for Bat projects and the most consistent of creators, along with letterer Clayton Cowles who delivers as you would expect throughout the book. Maybe it is that sense of “you know what you get’ that ensure letterers don’t get cover credit. Put it another way, if a superstar letterer like Cowles can’t get a cover credit, what hope is there for anyone else?

There is a second story featuring Catwoman, which I still find odd given how she has her own book. Could we have had a Huntress story? Zdarsky, who loves Elektra, gets to flex his muscles with Batman’s own femme fatale as Selina is charged with locating the children of the recently deceased Penguin. Artist Belén Ortega adds a sense of fun that is sometimes missing from the main book; I love Selina’s thigh highs! Colors are a dark affair, it is Gotham after all, supplied by Louis Guerrero with Clayton Cowles pulling double duties.

Can anyone remember when Batman solved a crime? If you said the lat run in Detective Comcs before Ram V you’d be right. Thing is, it seems that those type of stories are rarer with DC seemingly content to delve into Bruce’s psyche; surely there is enough room on the rack for different types of stories, given how much shelf space Batman takes up.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Chip Zdarsky
Art by; Jorge Jimenez & Belén Ortega
Colors by; Tomeu Morey & Louis Guerrero
Letters by; Clayton Cowles
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network