Written by: Chip Zdarsky
Art by: Jorge Jiménez, Tony S. Daniel
Colors by: Tomeu Morey
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Jorge Jiménez, Tomeu Morey (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: February 5, 2024
Batman #157, by DC Comics on 2/5/25, brings the arc and Chip Zdarsky's tenure to a close when Batman races to stop the Court of Owls, KGBeast, and the Laws of Physics to prevent WWIII.
Is Batman #157 Good?
Recap
When we last left the Dark Knight in Batman #156, Batman turned over the evidence that proved Jim Gordon was innocent of murder. With one challenge down, Batman raced to Nygma's office building to rescue Mad Hatter and stop the Riddler from sowing chaos. Unfortunately, the Riddler figured out too late that he was played by the Court of Owls into turning over the encryption codes needed to launch WWIII to the Russians, enabled By Commander Star, aka KGBeast.
Plot Synopsis
Batman #157 begins with an all-out race to stop Leonid from leaving the country on a private jet with the nuclear encryption codes. Batman arrives at the airstrip in time to launch a grappling hook and catch a ride just as the jet takes off. As the plane ascends, Batman uses a small explosive charge to blast open the passenger door, leap into the hold, and fight Leonid's bodyguards.
Elsewhere, the small explosion set off in Nygma's skyscraper renders the building burning and unstable. Through the rubble, Nygma makes his way to Jim Gordon and begins to choke him for his part in spoiling Nygma's plans. Suddenly, the building shifts and sends part of its level collapsing sideways.
Commander Star continues to egg the crowd on with socio-political rhetoric. Batman eventually incapacitates Leonid and his men and takes control of the jet, but the jet begins to descend after the controls are damaged in the fight. Batman kills two birds with one stone by using controlled explosions to blow off the wings and crash the jet in the middle of the street, stopping immediately in front of Commander Star. Batman leaps out of the plane and beats KGBeast to a pulp.
The issue ends with Bullock being fired for disobeying Vandal Savage's orders, Bruce learning William is not his biological brother but still getting a lecture about his father's mistakes and Bruce's squandering of his life.
First Impressions
Well, you could argue that Chip Zdarsky's run went downhill as soon as he pulled the Bat God maneuver of "jumping" from the Moon to the Earth. Zdarsky ends his run with another Bat God maneuver by landing a private jet in the middle of the street and launching into a fistfight, ignoring all laws of energy, physics, and common sense. If Zdarsky is going to end his time on Batman, it makes sense to end by reminding readers how he went wrong.
How’s the Art?
The art looks great. Jorge Jiménez, Tony S. Daniel, and Tomeu Morey do their level best to make Chip Zdarsky's over-the-top, silly script look intense and visually exciting. Jiménez and Daniel make every leap, fall, kick, and punch look vibrant and pummeling.
What’s great about Batman #157?
It's over, Johnny. IT'S OVER! Chip Zdarsky wraps up all the major plot points reasonably well and injects more than a fair amount of double-sided social commentary to get his politics out on the page.
What’s not great about Batman #157?
The issue doesn't feel rushed, but the solutions to several problems are way too easy to take as plausible.
There's no way Batman could precisely guide a private jet down the middle of a city street without wings. There's no way Batman could leap from the cockpit, with the plane still in motion, into a perfect fighting stance against KGBeast. There's no way Batman could beat KGBeast that easily.
And there's no way Bruce would sit still to be lectured about wasting his life by a guy who almost scammed him and his company out of millions.
Goodbye, Chip Zdarsky. You won't be missed.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Batman #157 ends Chip Zdarsky's troubled run with more Bat God shenanigans. The art is great, and the bigger plot points get resolved, but the ending strains plausibility on multiple levels, so it's a mess.
5/10
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Part1- Words cannot describe how frustrated and angry this comic made me and I am not even american to care about the politics there! It's the plot and cringy dialogue and outright character assassinations left and right that has made this run unbearable to read. I didn't think it was possible after King but Zdarsky managed to write worse imo at least cause the amount of damage every single character in his run from the Batfamily members (Gotham War) to Gordon and even poor Thomas Wayne have taken far surpasses King's and if you know anything about my opinions, you know that I truly dislike King's writing, hence the "achievement" Zdarsky has managed here.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear to me not even a little research was taken about Batman's past otherwise they wouldn't continue to act as though Bruce has never done philanthropy and charity. He has done wayyyy more than whatever he was attempting to do here from giving jobs to said henchmen that catwoman taught to be better criminals (lol) to creating housings and clinics for the poor to time and time again trying to rehabilitate his villains even to the detriment of his close relationships ( for example Jason). This idea that he only punches poeple and that he had done nothing till now with all his money and company only just signals that they either don't care about or don't know his history. This whole run has been creating problems to claim they were always there that not only were not there but also solving them in the worst ways possible to damage characters. To sum up Zdarsky's run:
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DeleteOops, it got deleted. I will repost part 2 in a sec for my- this- is unfinished ocd😅😂
DeletePart2- 1) Bruce would not compromise his psyche to the level of having another personality on purpose. He would never entertain someone like Captio because he has made it a point to research criminal psychology extensively. Not to mention if a percieved kill was the trigger to that whole fiasco, then Zur would have been activated longggg ago.
Delete2) no Joker is not and should not be an apprentice to combat Batman even before he was really Batman. He is just a villain. Stop making him the star wars equivalent of the rule of two.
3) No Nightwing and the batfamily, least of all Jason "you are too soft on the bad guys old man" Todd would not take the side of criminals who work for psychopaths like Joker and Scarecrow and would definitely not train them to be better thieves instead of giving them actual jobs and rehabilitation.
4) Batman would not take a scenic route along the beach with Catwoman when there is active fighting going on right that moment and hinges on him making it back on time. He would be in general smarter and craftier in his fights as well. Not getting back from the moon crafty lol, but actual tactics and analysis.
5) Enough said about his philanthropy so I will skip this.
6) Thomas Wayne was just a man trying to be good that died young. There, that's it. No secret this or that. Why is it so hard to digest and write a compelling story about that? He was a parent that was lost to his child in an early age, it's so disrespectful that writers feel the need to 'add' something to make him complex as if him not being a bad person or being just a normal guy wouldn't warrant a story. And on that point, I am still waiting for that Martha was actually more "complex" (the way they describe character assassination) storyline any day now.
7) They made James Gordon do sth so out of character and horrible only to explain it by mind control to then completely wreck his character again this issue. All we got out of that was that women who cheat on their husbands did not need to be saved from their problems (lol , I wish Gordon would have just let those guys kidnap her so she could save herself from that as well lol) and are the real victims here and that James Gordon has been perhaps barring some reboot (again) irrevocably ruined. Also where is Barbara during all this???
8) They ruined Thomas just to bring in a character to lecture Bruce about things he has endured way more than this guy. Also again, guess the mother was completely blameless in all this and had no idea that Mr. Wayne had a wife right? Lol.
9) what was the court's plan exactly???
I am not sure Jim Lee and Loeb will be able to save this title at this point. It has been horrible since Rebirth ( a good 4 years or so), King, Tynion, Zdarsky and I was not impressed with the recent Halloween title from Loeb either. 0 out of 10.
Seriously. Gotham War was especially infuriating for me given how Selina and the Bat Family were made into naive idiots because "rich people won't suffer if they are stolen from" and other insulting rhetoric. I'm not sure if all blame goes to Zdarsky or Also Howard but it was an OOC low point for everyone involved.
DeleteI think just on name recognition and nostalgia, Hush 2 will do fine but much like the first Hush, will also be maligned with criticism on whatever potholes there will be when it's over. I really don't have high hopes for the story, as I wasn't a huge fan of the first Hush story either and regardless feels like a desperate cash grab given how inconsistent the Batman title has been for years.
I think if Hush 2 isn't written well, it would not be received anywhere near Hush 1 for the simple fact that it has been years since a good arc has happened in this title and I predict readers would have way less tolerance than what they would have had back then. I genuinely can't remember a good arc from this title except maybe the very first storyline King did at the start and that's only that first couple of issues. Nowadays if I want to read a good Batman storyline, I go for other titles and else worlds like Batman and Robin recently (since the new creative team took over) or for example Dark Patterns which has been promising till now ( and amusingly it is doing the same story GA is doing right now but wayyy better)
DeleteBut tbf I don't know how the last Halloween has been received in general or in terms of sales, maybe the name recognition or nostalgia are enough. I don't like it sadly up to this point. Batman and Robin year one by Waid is better at it in what it's trying to do.