Originally published on Patreon
Last issue the Justice League came to Gotham to try and help out Batman with Failsafe, the highly dangerous robot designed to eliminate Batman if he ever crossed the line and became a killer. And things did not go well for the League. With Failsafe having set traps across the city, it was able to take out every hero without much effort, and an injured Batman was forced to flee the city. Having hidden in Atlantis for a chance to heal, Gotham has been take over by Failsafe.
This issue begins with Bruce looking on as Gotham descends into chaos. Failsafe doesn't care about the city beyond using it to lure Batman out, so allows it to turn into a lawless hellhole where people will suffer, knowing that it will bring the hero to him. But Bruce can't afford to go to Failsafe, and instead banks on the robot coming to him.
When the robot storms Atlantis, looking for Batman, it ends up following its creator to the Justice League Watchtower, where the two of them engage in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that results in Batman floating in space with no hopes for a rescue.
This story is one of the wildest Batman stories I've read for a while. It's not a detective story, it's Batman meets The Terminator, and I honestly love it. We're all so used to seeing Batman as the hero who's always got a plan, who always knows what to do in any given situation. Every 'could Batman beat this hero' conversation seems to rely on the idea that if gen time to prepare he could beat anyone. But now that's been reversed on him, and all he can do is react in the moment, and maybe plan a move ahead at best.
The result is a Batman more desperate, more beaten down, than we've seen in a while. And whilst a Batman at the end of his rope isn't a new thing it does feel kind of fresh and new because I don't think we've really had him being chased all over the world (and beyond) by a robot before. It's a fairly ridiculous situation, and it feels too silly to work, but the writing makes it feel real, and it's an incredibly exciting scenario.
I can maybe see a way for Batman to get out of his situation of being stuck in space, there are heroes that can get to him and save him for example, but I don't know how he's going to beat Failsafe yet; and that's exciting. There was mention this issue that Alfred was the person to be able to reset him, so maybe that will come back as the solution, getting a shape shifter to pretend to be Alfred to shut Failsafe down, but even that I'd have doubts about working.
The art on the book, by Jorge Jiménez, looks great throughout, and one of the things that I've really enjoyed about this story is some of the new designs. Failsafe looks fantastic, and I would love an action figure of him. He's got so many cool moving parts and interesting pieces on him, and the head design looking like a robotic Batman is great. The designs he did for the updated Zur-En-Arrh were really cool too. Every action sequence is designed really well, and the art really puts across how threatening Failsafe is.
The issue's back-up continues to set up for the main story, with Batman forming the Zur-En-Arrh personality in his head, whilst the Joker terrorises Gotham because he believes that Batman has gone mad, and that makes him jealous and angry. It's a decent story, and I love the classic looking art for it, by Leonardo Romero, that makes it feel like a story from decades past.
Overall, this is the first Batman story that I've been really excited to read each new issue of in years, and I really hope that it continues with this quality.
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