DC Comics reviews 6/6/23 – The Flash #800, Batman #136, Shazam #2

Batman #136

Chip Zdarsky is doing something different with his Batman run — he’s actually making Bruce Wayne face the emotional trauma from another hellacious mission. This feels novel in the sense that Zdarsky isn’t having Bruce beat himself up for being caught in another world in the Multiverse. Instead, Bruce is struggling to push past his doubt and actual fears about the future.

Typically, a writer making Batman afraid of anything would sound like a recipe for a terrible read. Fortunately, Zdarsky is a writer capable of writing a consistent Batman where these doubts come off as authentic and in character for Bruce.

During his Multiverse trek, Batman had to sever his right hand. Zdarsky isn’t ready to reveal the state of the hand although Batman has something in place. A prosthetic perhaps? In trying to get back into his routine, Batman encounters the surprisingly formidable Penguin Twins and runs into an old ally in Selina Kyle. The Batman books have widely struggled in navigating the Bruce/Selina relationship since the ill-advised payoff to The Wedding arc. Zdarsky has provided a welcome spark to Batman, but this is a challenge for him as well.

The artwork from Belén Ortega is crisp and very effective. All of the characters looked great, but Ortega’s Tim Drake looked especially strong as he appeared youthful without being aged down like he’s back in Young Justice. Ortega handled the action scenes with little trouble as well and would make for a high-level backup when regular artist Jorge Jimenez isn’t available.

In the backup story, Zdarsky with artist Jorge Corona explore more of Batman creating Failsafe when he was in his Zur-En-Arrh persona. Corona’s art is wilder than a usual Batman story feeling like a better fit with a Flash or other heavy movement character. The story is solid though as Zdarsky fills in some of the narrative questions regarding Batman’s backup to take himself out if he ever crosses the line and kills someone.

This was a very solid interlude from the Multiverse saga to the opening act of the Batman/Catwoman War and worth checking out.

Rating: 9 out of 10