Well, here’s Part 2 of “Gotham War,” the current crossover event running through the pages of Batman, Catwoman and a couple tie-ins. If you’re curious about my thoughts on Part 1, you can check out the joint review that I wrote in collaboration with William—the current Catwoman reviewer—here. Those who have read that review will already know that the premise of this story isn’t working for me at all. Now, I’m going to save you all some time and recommend that you don’t buy this book. For those who are curious about why I would say that—let’s have a look…for what it’s worth.
Just about everything that happens in this book is straight-up cringe. It starts with that bad premise that I mentioned above: Catwoman wants to train people to become Burglars; Batman hates the idea and lumps all forms of crime into the same category and gets super pissed beyond reason; now Catwoman and Batman are at war. There’s literally nothing interesting going on there, and for that reason I’ll argue that this entire story should not be published as it is. Perhaps after serious revision with a heavily revamped premise—but at that stage it wouldn’t be the same story anymore, so what’s the point of all of this anyway?
Furthermore, Batman is made extremely unlikable. Not only is he acting like a dumb, spoiled brat, but he’s also cracking down on crooks so relentlessly that he goes from cringey idiot to full-on psycho. This is a Batman who will totally annihilate anyone that’s doing crime, whether it’s petty theft or murder, and there is absolutely nothing heroic about him. I reject every single decision that Batman makes throughout this issue, which ultimately makes me reject the issue as a whole.
When Batman goes on breaking peoples’ bones, I get the sense that the creative and/or editorial team think that they are showing something really badass. The problem is that after having been around for so long, you’d think that the character would have figured out by now that mindless violence doesn’t solve every single conflict, or at least the writers should be able to come up with more compelling scenarios that don’t reduce Batman to a boring, one-dimensional villain. I’m sorry, everyone, but this isn’t the master mind Caped Crusader that we all know and love. World’s Greatest Detective? More like World’s Greatest Jerk. Seriously—what’s remotely fun about having Batman act in this way?
It’s not like the dialogue is well-written, either. When Tim Drake tells Batman that “nothing is black and white,” Batman cuts Tim off and says, “Death is. You’re alive, then you’re not.” Now, maybe the idea is that these lines are so over-the-top that they are supposed to be funny. Or maybe the creative or editorial team thinks that this kind of overcooked grit is essential to the comic. But all I see is poorly executed melodrama. In a comic that takes itself this seriously, I’m almost forced to take every single thing in this book very seriously, too. If there’s anything here that’s supposed to be funny, I can’t see it, because I probably just don’t find it funny in the first place.
Of course it’s not a bad idea to question Batman’s motives. It’s just that it has already been done better numerous times, and this time it’s happening in the context of a story where nothing makes sense, from Selina’s delusions about reducing crime by having people commit more crime, to Batman just wailing at every single one of his allies.
As for the art, I want to start off by saying that I think Jiminez is a very good artist. I have enjoyed his art on lots of comics, just not as much in this one. There’s a lot of fighting in this comic, and I don’t think the fight scenes are that good. For example, Jason, holding a knife, jumps at Batman out of nowhere. Batman is supposed to block Jason’s knife, except he doesn’t, because the knife is still in between Batman’s arms. Since Batman doesn’t have much of a defensive stance and is completely open, that knife could still slice into Batman quite easily. Instead of stabbing his old mentor, Jason, for some reason, decides to move his knife out of the way and he punches Batman in the face. Of course, when Batman slams Jason into a wall, the knife just disappears or something. I guess the knife is just for show; but if it’s not going to do anything, why draw it?
The fight sequence with the rest of the Bat Family is a lot more fun, because now Batman is up against multiple opponents. In these panels, there’s a lot to see, which makes for kinetic and dynamic scenes. It ends in an incredible panel where Damian knocks out Jason; it’s expressive and you can just about feel that blow by looking at the artwork. Unfortunately, as fun as these drawings can be, there’s just not a lot of compelling story-telling here. Fight scenes don’t work when the characters’ motivations are as underdeveloped as they are here. It’s a good-looking book for the most part, there’s just nothing actually interesting underneath the pretty pictures. There’s a whole lot of fighting, but it feels like nothing’s really at stake, and it’s making me tired.
Recommended if…
- For me it’s just cringe, for you it’s cringetastic!
- Fight scenes are dope, who cares about the story?
Overall: This is DC Comics’ flagship book and it’s not up to par. The conflict is forced and nonsensical. Batman is written completely out-of-character to a point that his scenes become boring. The fights are kind of okay, except some of the choreography during the Batman vs Jason segment isn’t that great, and the fight scenes don’t mean anything without well-developed drama. In conclusion, this book isn’t worth your money and definitely not your time. I recommend you read something else, or simply keep your money in your pocket.
Score: 2/10
Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
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