Batman #141 - Comic Review

 

I've seen some very unfair criticisms of Chip Zdarsky as the Batman run has gone on, and it seems like because people aren't enjoying this particular story they've decided that he must be a bad writer rather than considering the fact that he's a good writer, and this particular story just isn't clicking with them. Whilst I myself have had some ups and downs since Zdarsky took over the title I've not complained about his skills, just the story that's being told. But I also understand that we're not at the end yet, and that you have to give things time to play out.  To that point, I'm glad I gave this series at least another issue, as things have definitely picked up since issue 140.

At the end of the last issue Batman wakes up to find out that Zur-En-Arrh has transferred his personality into the Failsafe robot. This issue deals with the next stage of this plan, namely, what will Zur do with Bruce now that he's out of his head. There is a moment when he offers Bruce the chance to walk away from the vigilante life, to go and retire, to embrace being Bruce Wayne, but I think that both of them know that this is an offer that's being made just to that Zur can say he tried, and that it was never going to have a chance at winning Bruce over. 

And thus begins an issue that feels like a condensed version of the very first arc of Zdarsky's story, with Bruce having to try to fight the unstoppable robot a second time, though this time around someone even more dangerous is in the driving seat. It's not a bad issue, and some of the action is entertaining, and whilst it does feel familiar it doesn't really try to re-tread the exact same ground. Bruce is having to try new tactics and doesn't end up doing the exact same things, but it's still him fighting Failsafe again. 

I don't know if it's good or not. It's definitely an improvement over the issue that came before it, and there are some good moments to be found in here, but it's also something we have seen already. I'm sure there will be some who like this, who like the fact that Zdarsky is mirroring the first arc, but there will be others who are going to criticise him for it. Like I said already, there are some who are calling him a bad writer, and this is likely to not change their minds on that. 

The issue ends with something that looks to set up the next stage in Zdarsky's plan, 'The Joker: Year One'. I don't know if it's a view that everyone shares, but I think that whenever you explore the Jokers background or origin it just makes the character less interesting. I don't care who the Joker was before he became the Joker, that just doesn't interest me. So, if this is an origin of the Joker I'm not looking forward to the next arc. However, if it's simply showing the Joker arriving in Gotham and becoming the force that he eventually turns into, his rise to becoming a threat to face Batman then it might be okay. I'm happy to see him as the Joker, but if this is Zdarksy going to before that, giving us a definitive 'here's who he was and how he became the Joker' I'm definitely not going to be enjoying that. 

There's also a back-up feature included that shows that Zur isn't the only personality inside Failsafe, but that all of the other multiversal Zur-En-Arrh's that were inside Bruce went along too. The Earth-0 Zur puts himself in charge of them, and has a little fight with the Batman Beyond Zur before they all fall in line. As with the previous issue, all of these Zur's fail to interest me in any real way. The one good thing that I can say about this is that they're out of Bruce, so when he manages to actually beat Failsafe this entire Zur-En-Arrh thing will be put to bed. 

Despite criticisms of the story, the art on the issue is great, with Jorge Jiménez continuing to do some fantastic work, with Tomeu Morey colouring it. The fights between Bruce and Zur look great, the action is full of movement and power, and there are a number of moments that are a visual treat. The same can be said of the backup art team, which has Dustin Nguyen on art with John Kalisz colouring. It's different enough from the main story that it's clearly a second chapter, whilst still feeling similar enough that it's clear that it's part of the story and something that readers should be paying attention to. Both art teams do good work with this issue, and my criticisms of the book are in no way aimed towards the visual presentation.

Whilst this is an improvement over the last issue many of the problems that I had with that remain. I'm finding it hard to stay invested, and I feel that the next arc could completely break my interest and enjoyment in the series. Hopefully a change of pace from the focus on Zur-En-Arrh will end up being a good thing.

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