Review: The Gotham War Continues in ‘Batman’ 137
The Gotham War kicked off on a rather uninspiring note in last week’s Battle Lines prologue and lines are further drawn in this week’s BATMAN #137 by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez.
TL;DR
After a nearly 3-month break since the last issue in the Dark Knight’s own series, we see more concern from the Bat Family over Bruce’s current worldview and the role he believes he’s meant to play for the people of Gotham now that he’s aware of Catwoman’s plans for the city’s former henchpeople. He goes on a spree rounding up Selina’s “rehabilitated” criminals, leading to Catwoman and the rest of the Bat Family, save for Damian Wayne, working together to try and stop him. Damian shows up to save his father, who makes a retreat before discovering someone has threatened his ability to protect Gotham by purchasing Wayne Manor from under his nose.
Review
Zdarsky’s script for this book is much tighter than the haphazard writing he and Tini Howard combined for in the Battle Lines, even if Batman’s current personality seems off. In the most recent issue of the series before the “Knight Terrors” event paused everything, Zdarsky set Batman up as damaged goods thanks to his previous dealings, including Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and Failsafe. Batman had to deal with coming to terms with the new state of Gotham while he’s been kept busy elsewhere, and I can’t imagine his most recent dealings with Insomnia or his 8-week slumber revealed in Battle Lines did anything to help his fragile psyche. The presence of Zur-En-Arrh as Batman is stewing in the Batcave near the end of the book does a lot of work to help explain his current actions so far in this event.
I also appreciated how quickly the rest of the Bat Family coalesced around the need to contain Batman. There was some hesitancy in Battle Lines, but the downside to Batman’s actions are now apparent — violent crime is now about to go back up as evident by members of Batman’s rogues gallery starting a new alliance. They don’t try to rationalize Catwoman’s plans. They lay out the pros and cons of each and weigh what does “do the most good” mean in a world where there aren’t absolutes. Of all the Bat Family, I particularly enjoyed Zdarsky’s writing for Jason in this issue. When written at his best, Jason has always been one of the more interesting members of the family given his anti-hero status and it really shows here. The writing for these characters all felt off in Battle Lines and I think a lot of that had to do with how rushed the plot development in that issue felt.
I found Jorge Jimenez’s art really captivating in this issue, even more so after not seeing him on this series during the “Knight Terrors”-caused hiatus. There was something off about the Batman art in Battle Lines and Jimenez brought things right back to feeling normal. He has an uncanny ability to convey motion which shown bright during the major battle between Batman and the Bat Family. I also love the detail he brings to each costumed character. Everyone looks intimidating and ready for battle. Tomeu Morey’s colors and Clayton Cowles’ lettering also continue to lend extra life and depth to the visual tone throughout the book.
Final Verdict
I thought this was a major step in the right direction for the event after Battle Lines. It gave depth to Bruce’s mindset and every character’s actions felt more earned that they did in the event’s prologue. If Zdarsky continues shining a light on Bruce’s psychological trauma and coming to terms with his own mortality, I think this event can lead to some really intriguing long-term ramifications for Batman and Gotham-at-large. The surprise reveal of Vandal Savage at the end was a true surprise as I was fully expecting it to be Selina or the new alliance of Batman’s rogues. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the Gotham War, which continues in Tini Howard’s Catwoman #57 out on September 19th, and if it’s what ends up causing fences to be mended between Bruce and Selina.
Rating: 8/10
