REVIEW: Batman #111

Visions Of Fear

Batman #111 opens on the reoccurring imagery of Batman facing down a titanic Scarecrow in a truly nightmarish dream sequence. Dr Crane taunts the dark knight that he will fix Gotham while Batman vows to stop the madman before he plunges Gotham into a state of perpetual fear. The stage is set for the two old rivals to use their chess pieces in the form of the Peacekeeper Core and The Bat Family. By this point, Batman has expanded his circle of trust to include newcomer Ghost Maker and classic Batman rouge Harley Quinn both of which are valuable additions to the team, with Harley being particularly on point. Last we left the crew, The Peacekeepers had stormed the Unsanity Collective headquarters and had two of its members held at gunpoint.

Through clever planning, the girls manage to escape using a device that emits sonic screams not dissimilar to Black Canary’s power. While they manage to get away from being blown away at point-blank, their escape isn’t without a cost as the younger of the two has been shot, and the muscle of the Collective had been taken down so they could flee.

Life On The Line

Our hero has managed to get Peace Maker 01 into a vulnerable position and has a chance to finally sabotage the armor that almost spelled Batman’s doom last issue. However, Bruce’s morals are put to the test when the Unsanity Collective comes crying for Batman’s help to save the injured girl. Without so much as a second thought, Batman alters the team’s objective into rescuing the remaining people in the building instead of taking out the greatest physical threat to his success. The talents of the writer and artist blend perfectly, leading your eyes through the panels in an organic fashion in addition to the direct dialogue and appealing character designs. Overall the tone of this story arc is really exciting, with the city turning against Batman to the point where the new mayor has called for an immediate halt to all masked heroic activity. However, behind the scenes, we are privy to the information that this Peacekeeper core is a ploy to sow distrust towards Gotham’s actual heroes so Scarecrow, and Saint Industries can tighten their stranglehold on Gotham City.

I’m Getting Sick Of Ghost Maker

Just like last time, we get a Ghost Maker solo story towards the end of his book, taking up a whole eight pages that could have been used to expand upon the current ongoing Batman story. It’s enough that Ghost Maker is a supporting character in the actual story, but it really feels like DC is pushing this character so hard it’s getting in the way of the flow of what is shaping up to be an amazing Batman tale. I’m not going to talk about the Ghost Maker section of this book because it’s nothing special, and it committed the sin of short ending my enjoyable ride with the meat of this issue. I get these comics for free, but I can’t imagine I’d be happy if I paid full price expecting a good chunk of Batman story only to have it cut short by a boring Batman wannabe’s side story that tosses us into unrelated events that do not further the ongoing plot. It’s like going to the movies and just wanting to watch what you paid for, not waiting for the trailers to finish only; this is worse because it somehow finds a more infuriating way to rip you out of the experience.

. “An amazing Batman book, but I’m getting tired of these intrusive Ghost Maker “bonus stories.”

Final Score. 2.5/5 Stars

Writer: James Tynion
Art: Ricardo López Ortiz, Jorge Jimenez
Publisher: DC Comics