DC Comics reviews 6/7/22 – Dark Crisis #1, Dark Knights of Steel #7
Batman #124
After the Shadow War crossover, Joshua Williamson wraps his far too brief Batman run to put a bow on his initial arc.
Abyss is back on the loose in Badhnisia and Batman is ready to defeat his latest nemesis in a one-on-one encounter.
Instead, Batman reunites with Det. Cayha, who’s looking for answers on the disappearance of her parents.
Cayha was a good character and Williamson provides her with an outlet to be utilized beyond his run. Hopefully the tease of Cayha joining the Batman Inc. crew comes to fruition as she’d make a great addition to that cast.
Howard Porter provides the art for most of the issue while Jorge Fornes handles a few flashback scenes. It’s not the mid-90s anymore and Porter’s art isn’t as crisp and clean as it was decades ago. That’s understandable though and Porter makes up for diminishing precision with his dynamic sense of storytelling. There’s an impressive flow of the action and smart angles in dialogue heavy sequences.
Tomeu Morey’s color work is exceptional with pleasing blends of reds and blues as an undercurrent of purple fills the panels.
Williamson’s run on Batman was brief, but it helped to stabilize the title after some inconsistent stints from previous writers.
The title is in a good place for the incoming creative team and this was a solid conclusion to Williamson’s tenure.
Rating: 8 out of 10