Batman enters the Abyss in a new era of DC Comics

DC Comics’ Fear StateGotham City has returned to its festive best after the event. It’s too bad that Dark Knight, Gotham City’s resident Dark Knight, is experiencing post-event blues.

Batman, consistently DC’s highest-selling superhero title, has gone through major creative upheaval. James Tynion IV and Jorge Jiménez are out, but DC Comics is moving on like it’s no big thing, locking in a new high-profile creative team in an attempt to stabilize BatmanIn the near future.

So how does the first chapter of an ambitious new Bat-epic, titled “The Abyss, Part I,” differentiate itself from what came before? Is it still high-wire intense as readers have come to expect? Batman? Does it taste any good?

Is Batman #118 being made by you?

Tossing BatmanJoshua Williamson, a writer and Jorge Molina are thrown into the deep abyss with colourist Tomeu Morey as well as Clayton Cowles, a letterer and colorist. (Former Batman artist Mikel Janín knocks out a couple fill-in pages for this issue, presumably for scheduling reasons.) Williamson is practically the only DC Universe artist with an extended run. The FlashA diverse range of DC projects including recent ones such as Justice League Incarnate, RobinPlease see the following: Deathstroke, Inc. (This isn’t Williamson’s first Gotham rodeo, however; November marked his final issue on the Red Hood-centric Future State: Gotham.) Jorge Molina made his first huge splash with Marvel’s Spider-GeddonCrossover series to be launched in 2018 X-Men Blue with writer Cullen Bunn for Marvel’s ResurrXio” initiative. “The Abyss, Part I” is Molina’s first prime-time Batman gig.

Is Batman #118 a joke?

Batman #118 almost unites two issues. By the end, the issue’s a post-script for Fear StateIt is also a precursor to a mystery about a murder involving an international Batman team from Batman, Inc. Neither half is particularly riveting, for reasons that we’ll get into in a bit.

In the first issue, Batman looks grimly at Gotham City as he surveys the city. This is despite the fact that it’s reclaiming its freedom from the chaos and terror that plagues the ruined city. Then, just when it’s beginning to feel like Batman #118 doesn’t really have much else planned for the rest of the issue, it powers into plot overdrive: Five members of Batman, Inc. — a network of Batmans from other countries created by Bruce Wayne in the course of of Grant Morrison’s 2006 run on Batman — have been implicated in the murder of a terrorist known as “the Abyss”, and only Batman can clear their names.

It’s really Batman trying to find something to do right now. Joker War Fear Stateare in the backview, and can’t keep him busy. That’s really what “The Abyss, Part I” feels like: busy work.

Why are we here? BatmanWhat’s #118 up now?

DC aims to keep readers interested in Batman after James Tynion IV’s blockbuster run on the title came to a seemingly abrupt end with Fear State. Pairing Williamson’s popularity (and enthusiastic productivity) while writing in different pockets of the DCU with the A-list sheen provided by artists like Molina and Janin — that is a pretty shrewd way to keep BatmanYou will continue to run at the same speed as before, which is familiar to readers.

Do you require any reading?

This issue has very little story content. to catch up on if you’re going to get anything out of Batman #118. There’s the Fear State saga, of course, though it’s likely most readers who will read this issue are already keenly aware why Gotham City is currently kicking up its heels in celebration and Batman is more moody than usual.

For new readers who desperately want to understand what Batman, Inc. is all about and why this society of superheroes matters so much to Batman (aside from, y’know, using his likeness) the J.H. Williams III illustrated issues BatmanIn the near-legendary Grant Morrison race (Batman Issues #667-669 introduce the Bat-characters in this comedy with an original mad-mansion murder mystery. And to truly grasp the enormity of Batman, Inc. and why the presence of this issue’s surprise villain taints its reputation, Batman, Incorporated#1-8, The oversized one shot Batman, Incorporated – Leviathan StrikesAnd the JLA epic Rock Of Ages (JLA #10-15) aren’t just required reading, they’re essential — because this issue isn’t going to be much help.

This is Batman #118 good?

Batman #118 looks like a million bucks thanks to Molina and Morey; there are splashes and panels in this issue that boast thrillingly iconic looks for the Caped Crusader and set the somber, anxious tone that otherwise eludes Joshua Williamson’s story.

That’s a bummer, because reading a BatmanGotham City has a storyline isn’tAt stake and the status-quo isn’tIt’s a refreshing change in pace that Williamson is about to rocked for ever. Williamson has a lot of pans in a lot of fires, and he’s clearly planning something huge for DC’s very-near future, but his first issue of Batmanis a sleepy, unfocused and disjointed thing.

The setup on its own is promising: Five members of Batman, Inc. — Man-of-Bats (Native American), El Gaucho (Argentinian), the Bat-Man of China, The Dark Ranger (Australian), and The Hood (English) — have been arrested for the apparent murder of a mysterious figure known as “the Abyss”. Although each Bat-friend confessed, the details of the case remain a mystery. Batman #118. Fine.

The execution is so woefully sloppy that it leads to an unneeded rush for a cliffhanger. After a half-hour filled with empty space, the second half of the issue was nothing but a waste. The majority of the issue treats us to a heist sequence set at a billionaire’s costume ball. (Bruce Wayne wasn’t invited, obviously.) It attempts to underscore that Batman isn’t in a celebratory mood after Fear StateWilliamson already made this clear in the issue’s first few pages. Visually, the sequence is equally chaotic and not in a story sense; there isn’t a cohesive sense of geography in Molina’s panel-to-panel work during this heist, which creates a disorienting and confusing (if gorgeously illustrated) jaunt through what is a perfunctory Batman crime-smashing session.

Molina makes the effort to give the issue the epic scope it’s seeking, and he gives Bruce Wayne a hunky, polo-tucked-into-cuffed-khakis fit that is reminiscent of Morrison’s well-loved “Batman as Bond” concept. This issue serves as yet another reminder of what great old runs are. Batmanhave ever been and the derivative nature of this issue.

One panel that pops

Here’s your standard-issue shot of Batman, all mood and simmering intensity, with an appropriate reaction from his quarry. Williamson, Molina and their crew clearly enjoy the work. BatmanThis is a good place to find some Batman crime fighting.