Art by: Jorge Jimenez
Colors by: Tomeu Morey
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: May 7, 2024
Batman #147 gives Vandal Savage a new place of prominence, sets up a long overdue confrontation between Waller and Failsafe, and gives Bruce a new Bat-Suit.
Is Batman #147 Good?
All things considered, Batman #147 is pretty darn okay. More setup than action-packed progress, Zdarsky moves the players in place for the forthcoming Absolute Power event, and as setups go, this is one of the better ones.
When last we left Batman, he escaped prison during a riot to go on the run, regroup, and reassess his situation. Meanwhile, Failsafe establishes himself as the tougher, harder-hitting Batman of Gotham City by establishing the ruse that he's Bruce Wayne's mind inside a mechanized body, a "failsafe" in the event of Bruce Wayne's death.
In fairness, none of the Bat Family pressed to confirm the circumstances of Bruce's death or to even see the body, but let's put a pin in that for now.
Now, Vandal Savage is named the new police commissioner of Gotham City, a move that barely gives Failsafe any pause. Amanda Waller is none too pleased with "Batman's" harder stance on crime, so she sends a black ops team to infiltrate Wayne Manor, but their invasion is quickly thwarted by Damian Wayne.
Later, "Batman" praises Damian's capabilities and shows him his plans for developing more "Batman" using Amazo tech and the consciousnesses of Batmen from across the multiverse. Damian gets wise to the true nature of the plan by deducing a mind transfer isn't possible unless it was the Zur versions of Batman from across the multiverse, leading Damian to conclude that Failsafe is Zur and not Bruce. Failsafe responds in kind by capturing Damian and replacing him with a doppelganger built with Amazo tech.
Elsewhere, Bruce recalls memories of fellow Justice Leaguers encouraging him to rely on his allies as he works in a cabin off the grid to stage a comeback. Thankfully, the smartest Robin, Tim, figures out where Bruce is hiding and goes offline to bring him supplies and lend a hand to stage the return of Batman in a new suit.
Backup Story
Warden Captio calls Edward Nygma to the prison yard for a chat about why Nygma keeps getting caught when he's so smart. What follows is a contentious discussion about ego, embarrassment, and personal responsibility.
What's great about Batman #147? Again, as setup issues go, this is a pretty darn good one. The developments concerning Damian make for great topics of discussion in the "What do you think will happen?" category. We get a few nice Father/Son moments between Bruce and Tim. Also, I'm eager to see what street-level trickery Bruce cooked up with his new suit.
Regarding the backup story, it's fine. Psycho-analyzing Batman's rogues is nothing new, but the backup ends with a promising cliffhanger about a new method for rehabilitation.
What's not so great about Batman #147? Sadly, DC can't seem to put out any comic that isn't peppered with plotholes and confusing questions. Why on Earth would anyone name Vandal Savage as the new police commissioner? Where is Renee Montoya while this leadership change is going on? Where is the Bat Family while all this is going on, and why has no one asked to see Bruce's body if he's supposed to be dead? Where is Failsafe getting all the Amazo tech if he hasn't established a partnership with Waller or Professor Ivo?
The questions go on and on. Admittedly, the issue looks good enough, and the developments are cool enough that you can gloss past them, but the holes are stacking up, with no sign they'll ever get addressed.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Bits and Pieces:
Batman #147 is one of the better examples of a setup issue that moves the players in place for the next big thing. Bruce's next steps to reclaim the mantle of Batman from Failsafe are intriguing. Damian's realization that he's been duped leads to a surprising reaction from Failsafe, and momentum is building. Even the backup shows promise.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Bits and Pieces:
Batman #147 is one of the better examples of a setup issue that moves the players in place for the next big thing. Bruce's next steps to reclaim the mantle of Batman from Failsafe are intriguing. Damian's realization that he's been duped leads to a surprising reaction from Failsafe, and momentum is building. Even the backup shows promise.
7.8/10
See, the problem is one can't ignore everything that was criticised previous issues because they are still a problem here and it only gets added to them. The reader can't ignore the fact that giving batman another personality doesn't make sense, or that the whole backstory of how it happened doesn't make sense (which I explained in the previous issue's review) and how more importantly it doesn't make sense that the family doesn't ask for a body or more concrete confirmation from Zur instead of just standing around and guessing, with every page that goes on and this isn't addressed, it gets worse and honestly, one of the selling points of this premise is the conflict of family and friends making a judgement about this before it gets all revealed. It seemed like that was how it was going to go in the earlier issues of this arc but these 3 or 2 recent issues make it seem like that it's not going to happen and that robs the story of having a deep or complex narrative about who bruce is to his family and friends. Instead we are going to continue with the nonsense of Zur putting people in his personal totally legal prison, having a standoff in public with Savage, etc etc. Also I don't care if Tim is the smartest or not ( I hate that approach to the batfamily that started with Tynion anyway, making the family like some kind of power rangers or winx club where everyone has their own kind of 'superpower' and nothing else instead of them all having different and varied sets of abilities. Sure they can all be better at something than the others, but Tim being the smarter one shouldn't mean that Dick, Jason and Damian are idiots compared to him when we all have been shown the opposite or Dick being kind and the heart of the family shouldn't mean that he is the only one the family can't function the best without or that he isn't calculative when we have been shown he is despite recent runs of the character shoving that trait aside etc, and Jason's only trait shouldn't be his conflict with bruce or that he is the angrier one that punches more since he has shown to also be a kind of detective or at the very least a capable mob boss that can orchestrate plots ), Dick and Damian or even Barbara also should have found out about Bruce, I make exception for Jason on the account of him maybe not caring that much about this and waiting to hear from others. Point is, Bruce raised all of them and also has a lot of friends that know him very well.
ReplyDeletePart 2: This run ignores and breaks a lot of this character and world building just to tell and fit a story that isn't that interesting. I feel like this run especially is out of character for Damian, first his role in gotham war and how he reacted, at first it was vey good then went nonsensical to make others look good then now, look as much as he would like this version of batman there would be no way that he wouldn't have demanded a body from Zur, especially since he doesn't care if that would look callous or not. He would absolutely ask for the body so he can bury it with respect or also have it in case he ever considered using a Lazarus pit or something on it or determining what exactly killed his father. In any case he would see it as respecting his sire to give him a proper funeral in anyway he could. You see contrary to some writers at DC, I have read Damian's previous series like Son of Batman, Batman and Robin, I am robin etc ( and Damian isn't even my favourite batfamily character or robin) so I know despite him wanting a certain version of his father to exist, he is way more jaded to believe it's the case, he would doubt zur a long time even if he really had been bruce in a robot's body, and Zdarsky doesn't do anything with the setup anyway, he has ignored the conflict he has created with bruce and damian. ( the same boy who went on an extensive journey to decipher his strange dreams prior to Knight terrors despite his father succumbing to the nightmare is not the same boy who would accept Zur cause he told him that he used to calm him down after bad dreams) I don't know if Zdarsky hasn't read any or has, but it bothers me that he continues to characterise Damian this way and then do nothing else to resolve the drama he sets up with it that might be interesting but I guess who cares since DC keeps breaking their characters and making it hard to invest in any continuity with them. This issue was very mid apart from these problems, but the high point is that new batman costume cause it looks cool at least. 6.5 out of 10. But it's getting tiring and a chore to read and I wish this run would be over except that I fear a writer would come that would even write a worse run. I am considering ignoring these batman issues for future cause I am basically repeating myself every month. Hopefully something better happens for the Bat side of the DC universe I guess. Or any side of the DC universe I guess lol.
DeleteGlad you liked it. Description helps me continue to save money in not wasting it on Batman stories that I will hate.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it will ever change. Seems like Batman comics died for me in December 2020, after Peter Tomasi left Batman Detective Comics in Issue 1033. Turn out the lights. Pick up an issue once in a while and always end up regretting it.