“Fear State” has begun, and the Bat family is caught on the back foot. As is Simon Saint and his Magistrate. It’s looking pretty good for Scarecrow in Batman #112, with a lead story written by James Tynion IV, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. And in the backup, things might actually be worse for Clownhunter in a story written by Brandon Thomas, drawn by Jason Howard and lettered by Cowles.
The Joker’s tale continues as Penguin and Bane cross paths, hunting another fragment of the Mother Box in a maze, in another villain vs. villain fight. The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #7 is written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Jesus Merino and Vanesa Del Rey, colored by Ulises Arreola and Eva De La Cruz, and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
DC debuts its partnership with Webtoon in the first three chapters of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, a look at what the Bat family does when they’re not fighting crime. The web strips are written by CRC Payne, inked by Starbite, storyboarded by Maria Li, with backgrounds and rendering by Lan Ma, flats by Jean Kim and lettered by Kielamel Sibal.
Matt Lazorwitz: So I think you’re rubbing off on me, Will. This week, I read two digital comics and only one in print. This is a big change for me.
Will Nevin: It’s nice being able to fit your entire collection in a backpack. It’s not so nice being at the mercy of an industry monopoly with the resources to develop a worthwhile app but refuses to do so because who the fuck knows. (To be fair to Jeff Bezos’ Funny Book Rounding Error, a Comixology overhaul is coming, but since I’ve yet to see the only feature anyone wants confirmed, he can kiss my pasty white ass.)
What were you saying, Brother Matt? Batman comics or some such?
Fear State of Mind
Matt: We’re jumping right into “Fear State” in this issue. Not a lot of preamble, although a bit more recap of Fear State: Alpha than would have been needed if DC did recap pages…
Will: Hey, that was last week’s rant. No need to smash our heads against that particular rock again. My first impression here? I’m not sure the good people out there need to read both Alpha and Batman #112 — seemed to me to be a real “either/or” kinda deal.
Matt: True. The only bit of information we got in Alpha that wasn’t here is the specific knowledge that Scarecrow’s mind control is coming from Mad Hatter tech, which I’m sure will be revealed in the due course of the event.
Will: They’ve done quite a bit of “telling” rather than “showing” when it comes to the Mad Hatter-inspired addition to Scarecrow’s arsenal. What have we actually gotten in the story that shows/explains how this version of Jonathan Crane is scarier? So far, it’s just been Batman’s exposition and assertions that Scarecrow’s “in his brain” and that he “can’t trust” it.
Matt: While the run-up did a good job of setting up a more intimidating Scarecrow (the use of the faux Scarecrows throughout Gotham, the way he has manipulated Simon Saint, the much creepier bits of Scarecrow lording over Batman), there isn’t much in this issue to further Scarecrow’s plot. I feel like there’s a lot of setup here, furthering your point that this and Alpha are both part ones and are an either/or rather than an and.
Still, there was some fun material here. I specifically liked Barbara’s eye-rolling “*sigh* Why did I know you were going to ask that?” when Bruce asks her to contact Ghost-Maker. Barbara knows no one likes that guy, Bruce. Why can’t you learn it, too?
Will: It’s Babs’ job to know things, such as the fact that Ghost-Maker sucks. Yeah, I didn’t mind this issue at all, even as I wouldn’t go out of my way to push it on anyone. I thought the narrative thread with Saint’s propaganda was good, despite him looking weirdly boxy in a few panels.
Matt: And the fact that he keeps vomiting out of anxiety. That joke will get old eventually, but for the moment, I love it. We saw it in Alpha, but Saint’s scrambling to try to salvage his plan is a slow-motion trainwreck I’m really enjoying. And now that we see just how off the rails Peacekeeper-01 is, this is going to get way worse before it gets any better. Saint strikes me as a “Kill the witnesses” sort of fellow…
Will: And why not introduce another maladjusted, probably wannabe cop cyborg to the situation? I’m sure that’s gonna work out real well, Simon.
Matt: Simon Saint has never met a problem that a cyborg can’t fix. Or so he thinks anyway.
Will: It’s like “A little old lady swallowed a fly” but with crazy men and robot parts. There are worse reads out there.
Matt: Absolutely. Tynion writes a good Batman, a fine Harley and a great Oracle. Frankly, with Oracle’s somewhat snarky side-eye comments, it really makes me wish we could see more of Tynion’s Alfred.
Will: :’-(
Penguin’s Labyrinth
Matt: OK, so we’re seven issues in, and at this point, I think we’ve gotten most of our villain combinations in. But this one I really liked because there was a particular character beat in it that really worked for me.
Will: Oh? Do tell.
Matt: At the end of the story, a story where Penguin has been judging Bane, both to himself and to Bane’s face, Bane quotes Dostoyevsky at Penguin before leaving him. And then Poison Ivy explains the reference to Penguin. This hits both characters spot on; Bane is a hell of a lot smarter than a lot of people (both in the comics and more than a few creators) give him credit for, while Penguin is a poseur and a snob. Penguin aspires to the wealth and standing the Cobblepots had, but has none of the class that should go with said standing.
Will: That was a nice bit, and the classic “one tells only lies, the other tells only truths” riddle was also fun. But, as always, my plea to letterers is to calm the hell down — the separate and hard-to-read letters for the Angel Pengy and Devil Pengy nearly ruined a cute gag.
Matt: Oy, yes. White lettering on red balloons is very difficult to read. I first discovered I needed glasses when I had a professor who insisted on red marker on whiteboard for class, so I have a particular lack of affection for that color combo; it just is bad.
Will: Here’s a question for the Bat historian: When did Joker get his own lettering? It came to me as I was looking at all of the various styles on one page (traditional house, Joker, Angel Pengy and Devil Pengy) and, again, concluding it was Too Much.
Matt: The first time Joker got recurring distinct lettering was during the Morrison run, although that was different from this. That was green on white, all lower case. It changed when he entered the New 52, and has continued to morph to what we have now.
Will: Ugh. That Morrison lettering sounds so unpleasant. My point here is that I don’t want anything that’s going to distract from the overall story, and I *especially* don’t want lettering that’s hard to read, which — and this comes as a surprise to some working letterers, I know — is the shitkicking point when reading comics.
Batman is for the Children. And Tweens. And Teens.
Matt: This is my first exposure to Webtoon, which is very obviously designed for mobile device reading, and reads best that way. I initially tried reading this on my desktop and quickly swapped to a tablet for a much smoother experience.
Will: I might be a digital-first fella, but I have never enjoyed reading panel by panel — it seems too static to me and doesn’t really convey the full experience and majesty of what reading comics can be. But you’re absolutely right in that a tablet/phone is the way to go here. That gripe aside, I thought this was pretty cute — maybe not the sort of stuff I’d seek out, but a fun read nevertheless. I even had a moment where I tolerated Damian. That was unsettling.
Matt: Absolutely. I don’t think either of us is the target audience for this story, but it was pretty delightful. None of the characters are out of character, but they’re all a bit lighter. Bruce is still the straight man among the younger members of his family, but he isn’t a jerkass drill sergeant. I liked chapter two especially, where they’re all fighting over the last of Alfred’s award-winning cookies!
And hey, Alfred is alive and kicking. These type of slice-of-life stories with the Bat family would NOT work without Alfred.
Will: And what a neat idea to have the first episode be Duke Thomas’ move-in day — that’s a meta narrative if I’ve ever seen one.
Matt: It works all around. I think this is a great way to reach a very different audience, and it’s free. Talk about DC stealing Marvel’s thunder. No subscription needed, just accessible, all-ages stories featuring your most famous character for free.
Bat-miscellany
- If the new Amazon/Comixology app doesn’t have customizable reading lists, what the fuck are you even doing, Jeff?
- So … Clownhunter doesn’t recognize Scarecrow. Scarecrow, who has been all over the news for weeks. Scarecrow, who is one of the most notable members of the entire Gotham lunatic fringe. That seems like a bit of a stretch. We’re not talking Crazy Quilt or Great White Shark. He’s the freakin’ Scarecrow.
- My kingdom for a copy editor: “…They have been pushed to the brink, scared out of their minds. They are capable of anything right now. And Scarecrow is here, ready to push them over the brink.” [Grote’s note: !!!]
- If Webtoon can correctly color Damian, seems like the main line can do it, too.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. 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 creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
