“Batman #118” New inventive staff! Begin of a brand new story arc as Batman leaves Gotham! “Abyss” half one! As Gotham celebrates surviving Worry State, Batman retreats alone into the darkness. However, when he learns of a thriller involving Batman Inc., it forces the Caped Crusader to depart Gotham for a brand-new journey! Thrills, chills, and worldwide intrigue await! The Darkish Knight begins a brand new story with celebrity artist Jorge Molina and new author Joshua Williamson!
With “Batman #118”, Joshua Williamson takes over from James Tynion IV as the author of Batman’s eponymous title. Not that I didn’t take pleasure in Tynion’s run, however, I’ve been wanting to see what Williamson had deliberate for the Darkish Knight. I’ve very a lot loved his epic run on The Flash. And that run included two implausible crossovers with Tom King’s Batman run: The Button and The Worth. Maybe now that Williamson is the Batman author, we would collaborate with present Flash author Jeremy Adams for a 3rd Batman/Flash crossover.
Batman #118 opens with an uncommon sight of a Gotham-wide celebration. The citizenry is expressing their pleasure and aid at surviving the Scarecrow’s Worry State. And even stranger, they’re expressing gratitude to Batman for saving them. Bruce states, “I’m not used to Gotham celebrating me”. To my reminiscence, he’s appropriate. Batman hasn’t ever loved public adulation from the residents of Gotham in any trendy comics. I believe you’d have to return so far as the Silver Age to see that. However, it’s comprehensible that Batman can be a savior determined by the residents of Gotham after saving them from their current harrowing expertise.
I fairly loved the sequence the place the very sight of Batman is sufficient to ship them operating to the closest cops, demanding to be arrested. And Oracle accuses Batman of having fun with it as effectively: “You loved that, didn’t you?”. In fact, Batman’s reply is a curt “I don’t know what you’re speaking about”. However I’m with Barbara – he obtained a secret kick out of the incident.
We additionally get to see Batman going through off in opposition to quite a few of his rogue’s galleries with none of them technically being within the story. A gaggle of criminals infiltrates a “Villains of Gotham” costume occasion, armed with the practical weaponry to match their costumes.
I really like that Batman doesn’t depend on Oracle’s computer systems to establish the criminals. As a substitute, he makes use of his detective expertise to precisely distinguish the criminals from the partygoers. And I preferred that as an alternative to a direct confrontation, Batman took the extra theatrical method of disguising himself as Killer Croc to assault them.
And I completely adored the sequence of the little woman dressed as Punchline asking the Darkish Knight for an autograph. He simply offers her a stern look and drops a smoke bomb to vanish. However because the smoke clears, we see that he’s left behind an autograph for the kid. He expertly manages to grant the kid’s request in a manner that doesn’t compromise his badass picture. This encounter says to me that Joshua Williamson actually will get Batman.
And it’s adopted instantly by an awesome second that exhibits Williamson’s appreciation of the character’s historical past. Oracle asks him, “What did you do up to now after fixing an enormous case?”. That is adopted by a montage of moments of Batman together with his closest pals and companions: Commissioner Gordon, Robin, Catwoman, Superman, and Alfred. This single wordless web page is poster-worthy. I used to be impressed with the alternative to border the picture of Robin to make it unclear which Robin is proven. That is an efficient strategy to make it symbolize all of the Robins (or the male Robins not less than, because it’s clearly not Stephanie).
We even get a cameo from Nightwing, as Oracle invitations Bruce to come back and have fun together with her and Dick. However, Bruce is unable to just accept, as that is when he learns of the arrest of quite a few of his associates of Batman Inc. So Bruce rushes to Badhnisia to research their supposed homicide of a villain named Abyss. I doubt that Williamson would create a brand new villain who we’d by no means see in motion as a result of already being useless, so I think we can be seeing extra of this Abyss.
I used to be additionally intrigued that Batman dons his Batman Inc. Batsuit for the investigation. Is that this merely as a result of he’s trying right into a Batman Inc. case. Is there some benefit to utilizing the Batman Inc. go well with on this case? Or is Batman retiring his Tynion-era costume to mark the start of a brand new period?
After which there’s the attention-grabbing revelation that Lex Luthor has stepped in to fund Batman Inc. in Bruce Wayne’s place. It’s virtually sure that there’s a nefarious cause behind this. Lex doesn’t do issues like this out of the kindness of his coronary heart. I am additionally surprised if Luthor nonetheless is aware of that Batman within the Infinite Frontier continuity. He positively did within the New 52 period, and presumably nonetheless did through the Rebirth period. However does he within the just lately redefined continuity? That is more likely to grow to be clear as Williamson’s story progresses, as it might positively have a significant effect on how Bruce and Lex work together.
Negatives? Not a single one. We’re just one problem into his run and Williamson already has me hooked.
No matter your emotions about Tynion’s earlier run on Batman or Williamson’s run on The Flash, I urge you to take a look at. Batman #118 clearly exhibits that Williamson understands the character and bodes effectively for the title for nevertheless lengthy he stays as the author.