Gotham War has come to an end, and it's time to find out what the Batman title is going to be now that it's done. Before the mini event I was enjoying Zdarsky's time on the title, the Failsafe arc was ridiculous but fun, and the multiverse story that followed was decent. I went into Batman 139 hoping for a return to this, for a series that felt more alive, that had a writer enjoying the character and mythology and bringing that enjoyment to the page. Sadly, I found that this issue seems to be stumbling somewhat.
Batman is making his presence known throughout the city, taking down thugs and criminals and making himself a figure of fear once again. In some ways it feels like Zdarsky is trying to get back to basics, of a dark, brooding Batman that feels more urban legend than world renowned hero. And a part of this seems to be in going back to his biggest villain, the Joker. Whilst the story before Gotham War dealt with the Joker in a different way, featuring an alternate version of him, and the creation of the Joker across the multiverse, it was still pretty much a Joker story; and as such, going back to this well so quickly feels a bit odd.
The fact that the issue also tries to bring the Three Jokers story into this feels like something of a misstep. Three Jokers wasn't a great story, a lot of fans didn't like it, and the fact that Geoff Johns takes forever to make comics now it ended up coming out later than it should and people had stopped caring. Zdarsky bringing up the fact that there are thee Jokers just made me go 'oh god not this shit again'. It didn't excite me, it just reminded me of this story that is best left forgotten.
Perhaps the biggest misstep for me, however, is the fact that Joker just openly knows who Batman is. He calls him Bruce, he's set up recreations of the Wayne's murder, he mocks Alfred's death. I've always been fine with the Joker knowing who Batman is, as long as he doesn't make a thing of it. The idea that he knows who's under the mask but doesn't care is the one that's appealed to me the most. He doesn't care about Bruce Wayne, he doesn't go after Bruce Wayne because he's not the one who matters to him, Batman is. In past stories the Joker has treated the identity under the mask as nothing more than a disguise, a fake person, and that Batman is the real one. So here, him calling him Brucey and doing the stuff he does kind of ruins their relationship for me.
It's then revealed that everything the Joker is doing in this issue is in service of making Batman let Zur-En-Arrh take control, so that the Joker can fight him. How does he know about this hidden personality in Batman's brain that even he didn't really know about a couple of stories ago? We don't know. We aren't told how the Joker knows, or why he'd care. This just seems to be the excuse to move this grand Zur-En-Arrh story-line forward in some way. The final page of the story also reveals that there's not just one Zur-En-Arrh in his head, but that every version of Batman who appeared in Batman 900 is there, including Zur-En-Arrh versions of the Animated Series, the Arkham games, and The Dark Knight Returns Batmen.
One saving grace for the book is the artwork, by Jorge Jiménez, with colours by Tomeu Morey. Jiménez does fantastic work, and the book is a visual treat to read. The early parts of the book where Batman is just handling normal everyday crime is great, and the page where he's looming over the credits, standing in the pouring rain, illuminated by bright red light, is perhaps the best page in the issue. You can criticise the writing and the story of the book, but it would be unfair to point at the art as being anything other than top quality.
The issue also features a back-up feature that deals with some of the aftermath of Gotham War, showing us that Vandal Savage survived his fall to death in the last part of the story. With his immortality restored, and back at full strength, he decides to get the hell out of Gotham. However, he discovers that the further he gets from the city the weaker he is, and the less his powers work. So for now he seems to be stuck in Gotham, forced to remain if he wants to survive. This seems to be an attempt to keep one of Batman's international villains closer to home, and I don't understand the reasoning why.
Savage has been very similar to Ra's al Ghul in the sense that he gets used in big, global stories where he's more of a Bond villain that Batman one. It works for their characters for a number of reasons, and I can't help but thing limiting him to Gotham is restricting what can be done with Savage somewhat. Though, this could all be part of some long term plan from Zdarsky, as he's proven by now that he likes to lay seeds for things early on, and as such this might play out later down the line.
Overall, my hopes that Batman would get good again after Gotham War has been somewhat dashed. Despite starting really strong, the issue devolved into a mess by the end, and whilst I will likely still check out the next issue it's more a case of morbid curiosity than actual excitement to see what comes next.
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