Batman #111 Review

 

Fear Factor

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 3, 2021

We are almost at Fear State and with that, James Tynion seems to have one last chance to get his pieces in position.  A lot of people have remarked that his Batman book has become a bit too crowded and I can't argue with them.  Sometimes I am not sure if Tynion is more concerned with character creation than story, but the guy picked up some hardware at the latest Eisners so who am I to criticize?  Actually, I guess that's what I am here for so let's get into the latest issue of Batman, shall we?

The issue opens with more Scarecrow trash-talking Batman that has opened each issue for a while now. I don't want to be mean, but I don't even pay that much attention to these openings since they are purposefully ambiguous and are more for what's to come in Fear State than these issues leading up to it.

We then head off to see Peacekeeper-01 and the Magistrate forces trying to take in the Unsanity Collective.  Of course, Miracle Molly is front and center, but we get some of the other members as well, and it hit me that I don't know enough about them to get the feels that I think Tynion is going for here.  Sure, I don't particularly appreciate seeing a young person get shot, but without much of a connection to Squeak, it didn't matter much.  That goes double for Breaker, who doesn't even have a cute name!  Thankfully, Molly has some new "eye-catching" abilities, and Batman and his crew show up, or it may have been curtains for the Unsanity Collective.

One of the downers with this issue is there isn't much of Batman at all.  He shows up with Ghostmaker and Harley and knocks out Peacekeeper-01 for about three seconds, but that's enough to save Molly, Squeak, and most of the Collective, but also enough to get their mugs on television.  Yep, Simon Saint continues to be a sneaky bastard and runs with it.  I have seen some people complain that Batman has been two steps behind everything in this book and this is not going to change their minds.

The issue does end with a crazy cliffhanger that changes the power structure of the bad guys going into Fear State, and while it's no shock seeing it, it's pretty damn cool!  

Batman #111 is more of a setup issue than anything else.  It sets up Miracle Molly and the Unsanity Collective more on the good side of things while also making Gotham look at Batman and the rest of his cohorts as villains.  The cliffhanger then sets up the (not surprising) Big Bad of Fear State.  The art was good throughout, but there was nothing to get too excited for except that we will finally head into Fear State next issue.

Bits and Pieces:

Batman #111 is an okay issue that gets everything in place for Fear State. Because of that, the excitement is what's coming, not what's happening, and while the art was good,  there wasn't anything that stood out. 

6.5/10