Now that the first arc of Batman Incorporated has come to a close it feels like the series can settle in and start to have some fun; especially as Ghost Maker seems to have put to bed the majority of the issues the team has with him being a leader.
The second arc of the series begins by bringing the international team back to Gotham, a move that feels a bit odd as I thought the entire point was for them to be off in the world going places Batman normally doesn't, but it does mean that we get a few familiar faces turn up in this issue. Perhaps most exciting of all, however, it means we get to utilise one of Batman's scarier rogues as the main villain of this arc; Professor Pyg.
Pyg is one of the relatively newer villains in the Batman mythos, and one who's still largely unknown to casual comic fans who don't read a lot of books. That being said, he has been slowly introduced into the public consciousness through appearances in other media such as Arkham Kinght, Beware the Batman, and Gotham. Because there's been little done with Pyg since his first introduction there's still a lot of stories that can be told with the character, and a lot of things about him that still feel very fresh. Add on to this the fact that he's one of the creepier, more disturbing enemies that Batman has, and his inclusion in this series feels like it's a fantastic idea.
Pyg is on the rampage in Gotham because someone has stolen something from him, and he's grabbing up every boss and costumed criminal he can to try and find out who has the item. We see this in the opening moments of the comic where he has Riddler tied up and is threatening him with a chainsaw. He later tells a room of captured criminals, including Killer Croc, Mr Freeze, Clayface, and even poor Kite Man that the person who tells him where his treasure is gets to live, whilst the others will be experimented on. He even threatens to make one of them his 'greatest work of art yet' (possibly hinting at some horrific dollotron version of a known character at some point maybe?).
Because of his rampage the Batman Inc team are being sent to deal with it and bring Pyg to justice. To be fair, with the amount of dollotrons that Pyg usually has going around with him a larger team isn't necessarily a bad idea. There is some internal issues going on in Batman Inc, however, as Clownhunter still doesn't seem to be quite cool with Ghostmaker, and is unwilling to follow his orders. We also get some background into Red Wing, and get to see a bit of his personal life too.
The scenes with the various team members are really enjoyable this issue, and it's cool to see them various interactions that take place as they split off to tackle various missions. Ghostmaker and El Gaucho seem to have put most of their differences to bed, and El Gaucho appears to be giving Ghostmaker more of a chance here, listening to him explain why he does what he does, and talking to him more as an equal rather than an authority figure to rebel against. Knight and Grey Wolf talk about being the newer members of the team, and how it's going for both of them. And we get a fun moment where Clownhunter calls Jiro and Red Wing, the two younger guys on the team, geezers; resulting in the line 'Wait, how old does he think we are?'
After the turbulence of the opening arc it's really nice to see a team actually beginning to form now, rather than just a collection of characters working together. Things aren't perfect yet, you can still see the cracks and the places where they still need to work their issues out, but for the most part they seem to have started to come together. This is more of what I wanted from this book, a team of odd characters that probably wouldn't be able to support a book of their own, but make for a really entertaining group book. The fact that that's also married with one of the creepier villains that they could have gone up against makes this, for me, the best issue of the series to date.
This issue also saw a change in artist, with Michele Bandini as artist, and Rex Lokus as colourist. The new art looks really nice, and it fits the story well. There's a ton of details on all of the characters, and the art really makes Pyg and his minions look creepy and disturbing on any page they're on. The change in art at this point also helps with the fact that the characters are changing and evolving into a team too. The personal changes feel like they have a visual indicator thanks to the new art.
This was a fantastic issue of Batman Incorporated, one that is bringing the team back to Gotham, yes, but doing so in a story that feels like it justifies it. I'm super excited to see what the book does with these characters now that they've finally become a team, and anything that it does with Pyg is sure to be a wonderfully disturbing time.
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