Batman faces down Red Mask on a journey through the Multiverse, where we see some very familiar cowls in Batman #135, written by Chip Zdarsky, penciled by Mike Hawthorne, Mikel Janin and Jorge Jimenez, inked by Adriano Di Benedetto, Jimenez and Janin, colored by Tomeu Morey and Romulo Fajardo Jr., and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Batman tries to keep a magical sword from the Brood of the Demon, Robin meets Scarecrow and Killer Croc does his best to save the life of a doll he thinks is alive (This is a wild comic) in Batman: The Audio Adventures #6, written by Dennis McNicholas, drawn by Anthony Marques and J. Bone, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ferran Delgado.
Hey, itās everybodyās favorite DC TV star, Peacemaker, in his own miniseries. Peacemaker is out on parole, has a new dog named Bruce Wayne and things are looking up. Until little Bruce is kidnapped by supervillains. Is this gonna turn into a John Wick thing? Find out in Peacemaker Tries Hard #1, written by Kyle Starks, drawn by Steve Pugh, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Becca Carey.
Will Nevin: Itās the 900th issue of Batman. Do you think weāll still be doing this when it hits #1,000?
Matt Lazorwitz: Well, Iāve seen #500-900 pass, so barring DC shutting down? Iām not going anywhere.
Across the Multiverse
Matt: The āBat-Man of Gothamā arc reaches its conclusion in what is as you mentioned the legacy-numbering-inclusive 900th issue of Batman. These big anniversary issues usually try to do something big in scope. And this issue? The scope is huge. Multiversally huge.
Will: Man, is this ever an overstuffed burrito. A lot of it is good! Some of the art is spectacular in how it accurately captures other eras and works. Some of it ā in the framing around our multiverse hopping especially ā is not so great. We got some good plot beats, even if one of those nice moments involved Alfred deciding to stay put in his universe rather than coming home with our Bruce. But a lot of this feels overcomplicated, particularly where weāve made Joker some kind of multiversal primordial ooze that requires the spark of Red Mask to work. Was that something we really needed? I hope thatās another bit of canon that gets quickly forgotten.
Matt: I didnāt read it that way. I think Red Mask CAN create Jokers, but I donāt think heās the spark that created the first Joker. I think he was infected with something when he encountered the birth of the first Joker, the ur-Joker if you will. Thatās why heās resurrecting Jokers as he hops from world to world or powering them up, not appearing at the birth of each Joker to create them.
This is the kind of glorious comic book nonsense you, as someone who first encountered it really as a grown ass adult with an understanding of story structure that is consistent across all media, find irritating because it absolutely is nonsense, while I, as someone who has this as part of his experience for at this point over three quarters of my life, just sort of let it roll over me and accept the premise. Itās not necessarily bad either way, and partially why I think the dynamic we bring to this column and whatever else we write together about superhero comics works. For me, this is childhood wish fulfillment. This is seeing my Batman encounter all these other Batmans. And while I can absolutely admit it is overcomplicated and messy, thereās still a 9-year-old in me who freakinā loves it.
Will: Let me not yuck your yum. But you do have to tell me this: Thereās one Batman (who complained about losing his secret identity) that I couldnāt place. What was he from?
Matt: That one took me a minute, too. Thatās Arkham video game Batman.
Will: Thatās an interesting deep cut for a comic, but now that you mention it, that bit did seem to have the video game aesthetic. Big Daddy Z: confirmed gamer?
Matt: My biggest complaint here has to do with the art. It felt like a waste to get an artist as great as Mikel Janin and only give him four or five pages to draw, and none of them with Batman. Was Hawthorne so backed up he couldnāt draw those few pages? And if you needed another artist, couldnāt you have given Janin something else cool to draw in there?
I have no complaints about Jorge Jimenezās return and his absolutely killing so many different art styles during Batmanās hop through the multiverse, though.
Will: I admire anyone who can duplicate so many different styles, from ā66 to Dark Knight Returns, the video game and everything else. If nothing else, that was impressive as hell. But hereās the thing: Are we getting to a point where we need some kind of hard reset? Weāre already down Alfred. Now Bruce has lost a hand? Iāve got a real craving to get back to some basics in this book.
Matt: The hand will be fixed next issue, I have little doubt. Some cloning tech and heāll have a biological hand again. This is the ultimate question when it comes to superhero comics, really. Change vs. the illusion of change. We (the royal we as in all readers) donāt want to read the same story month in and month out. But if things change too much, thatās also a problem. Itās a question of how far we can get from the source. Zdarsky, as he makes clear in the last couple pages, has underneath all the robots and alternate worlds been looking at a Batman who has lost half a step. And so we are questioning how much more he can lose and still be Batman. I think Zdarsky is probably building to a moment where Bruce has to overcome his own frailty and be BATMAN again, I just donāt know how much longer we have till he gets there.
Will: Donāt mind me, folks. Iām a cranky old man who wants the same five stories over again.
Matt: I just have to add two last notes. 1) Giant Joker sharks eating a mental image of Gotham in a void is Shark Watch to its ultimate absurd ending. 2) The penultimate page made me so damn happy. Bruce and Tim embrace, as Batman admits that Robin will always be there to lift him up and that Robin saved him? That does a Tim Drake stanās heart some good.
Will: He finally met a Batman who was more prepared, Matt.
A Croc, a Scarecrow and a Sword
Matt: If you wanted something a little more simple than all that madness we just talked about, Audio Adventures is probably closer to what you want. Itās not so simple as to be spoon fed to you, but itās still following a couple different straight lines. Well, three, as we have three plots in this issue.
Will: Batman/sword stuff, Robin/Penguin stuff and Killer Croc stuff? Did I get āem right?
Matt: Yes indeed. And they can all be explained pretty straightforwardly, which is good, because weāve seen some delays between issues on this book. I think we even missed covering the last issue.
Will: Weāve talked before about the interesting space this property lives in, more serious than ā66 but campier than TAS. Itās a real tightwire sort of thing, but I think the series continues to work ā¦ even as I still need to get off my ass and listen to the second season of Audio Adventures.
Matt: Having already listened to it, there are a couple fun little nods to events that will happen in that season here. One of the guests at Haleyās circus meets a somewhat gruesome end in episode 1 of that second season. Now you have another reason to jump in.
The most engaging plot in this book continues to be surprising to me, and that is Croc. This much more tragic take on Croc than we normally get, affected by Jokerās love toxin, cradling this doll that now we see he has developed an even greater attachment to? Thereās a tragedy there that is on the sadder, darker side of this world. And the fact that we meet this universeās Leslie Thompkins through that story doesnāt hurt either.
Will: Rare is the Leslie Thompkins moment you donāt like. (Also, to briefly jump back to #900, it was odd to not see her one more time, but I suppose that issue had enough going on.) I thought the ending was pretty fun: Batman is driving, pushing to destroy this cursed sword destined to kill Raās, he finally throws the thing into the forge and the cultās like, āYup. Prophecy still on schedule. Time to kill all the orphans now.ā
Matt: It felt even worse to me! Destroying the sword felt like cutting the wire on the timer of the bomb that made the countdown jump from 15:00 to 3:00. When dealing with nutso mystical prophecies, you only have so much information to work with, but Bruce probably could have waited for the translation of the rest of Raāsā journal. On the positive side, we did get to see some cool horseback riding Batman, which is always something Iām down for.
Will: I loved the computer gag. Bruce: āWhy is it so slow?ā Alfred: āYou built the thing and asked it to do the impossible. What do you expect, asshole?ā
Matt: Meanwhile, Robin gets a snootful of fear gas from Scarecrowās henchwoman (I assume this is the person Riddlerās right hand woman was friends with and talking to on her cell in season 1), and we see his greatest fear. And itās a really smartly chosen fear. Itās not the death of his parents. Itās not the death of Batman. Itās the much more grounded fear of Batmanās disapproval. Thatās a relatable fear right there.
Will: Disappointing Batman? Oh god. I might rather die.
Matt: The art there, of the menacing, fully shadowed Batman looming over the tiny Robin? Top notch.
Will: *cowers*
A Very Different Bruce Wayne
Matt: Now, you proposed doing this book partially because you like Peacemaker and Kyle Starks, and partially because you just didnāt want to talk about any more Joker comics. And I admit to being leery, because this is a Batman column after all. But fortunately, Bruce Wayne does appear in this comic! Just ā¦ not the one weāre used to.
Will: So what if itās a dog? Heās clearly the star of the book. And did you really want to cover *another* Joker book this week? This was a goddamned delight and every bit as fun as you could hope it would be.
Matt: Bruce Wayne the dog is the star of the book, no doubt. And in a book that also includes DCās greatest power couple, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah (for those unfamiliar, theyāre a pair of super science villains that are a brain in a jar and a gorilla he evolved into full human sapience who are both French and in romantic love with each other), that is a tall dang order.
Peacemaker as James Gunn crafted him in The Suicide Squad and his own TV series is a character that Starks was absolutely born to write. He has that same dry humor that the best Starks characters have. He says ridiculous things and doesnāt seem to realize just how ridiculous they are, and that usually makes for the best kind of humor.
Will: It helps that they lean into the John Cena likeness without making it too carbon-copy obvious. This is a series designed for fans of the show to pick up and enjoy ā¦ which seems like a no-brainer for the Unknowable Mind of DC Editorial, but, hey, they make weird calls all the time. Good on them for not fucking this thing up.
Matt: And releasing it in singles now means it will be out in a nice trade in time for season two, whenever James Gunn gets around to that, or maybe even for the Waller TV series later this year.
Itās not just a comic for the TV fans, though. It drops plenty of DCU gold in there. Like I said, we have the Brain and Mallah, we have a cameo from a comics-looking Suicide Squad, and the last-panel reveal means Peacemaker is going to throw down next issue with a major DC Comics antagonist. The TV show did a lot to make me want to root for Peacemaker, even though he is a dick, but that fight, which I wonāt spoil here? Iād root for olā Chris Smith any day of the week against that asshole. And if you know me, and you know Iām talking about an actual physical fight here, you can figure out which monocular DC villain I mean. Thatās one more hint, folks.
Will: You mentioned that Peacemaker is a character Starks was born to write, and Iāll absolutely co-sign on that there opinion, good buddy. But itās not because Starks is so effortlessly hilarious (but, god, does that ever help ā I donāt think Starks has ever written a groaner in his life). Itās that he has the depth and the ability to stick an emotional knife in your ribs at any point. And that was the real strength of the show and Cenaās performance: Yeah, Peacemaker is a raging dick and a moron, but heās clearly been hurt in his life and carries the scars of so much trauma. Also, heāll eat a bucket of poop for peace. Thatās gotta be worth something.
Matt: And you mentioned the leaning into John Cena-ness without going too hard, and thatās one of the great things about the art on this book. But Steve Pugh does a lot of great work here. I think a lot of people know his work from the stuff heās done with Mark Russell in recent years, but Pugh has been doing work in comics since the early ā90s, and his style has evolved and heās grown a lot since his 2000 A.D. and Grimjack work back then. For a book with so much humor invested in little character moments, you need an artist who can capture great facial expressions, and Pugh does that very well.
Will: The scene with the Suicide Squad in which they all say, āWeāre not hereā when heās calling into Waller? That absolutely sums up the point youāre making there. The art has got to be great for these little bits to work, and itās really successful here.
Bat-miscellany
- On this weekās podcast, weāre joined by Abigale Heartbalm to talk about Gotham Academy and read three stories about school in Gotham.
- Steve Pugh drew a Superman/Terminator comic written by legendary Bat scribe Alan Grant. I have a new con grail.
- You can find a collected edition for *only* $55 on Amazon!
- And itās still easier to find than Aliens vs. Predator vs. Terminator.
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.
