Batman’s putting together a new team.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: Mikel Janin
Colors: Jamie Chung
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
“I Am Suicide” part one! Batman has always been crazy…but this? This is suicide! In order to retrieve Psycho-Pirate and save Gotham Girl, Batman must recruit a team from Amanda Waller to break into the most impenetrable prison in the world and steal from one of the Dark Knight’s greatest foes…Bane. The next great Batman story begins here!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the previous Monster Men arc concluding elsewhere, something that I didn’t get to see, Batman kicks off a new arc that ties to events that have been kicking around since the beginning of this relaunch. Tom King is back in full control this issue and the art team has shifted with Mikel Janin coming on board with Jamie Chung coloring it. This is definitely a different approach from the original arc and the previous mini-event arc and it works very well as Janin definitely has some great style in character design and there are some wonderful action moments in a limited way within this issue. I’ve enjoyed Janin’s work before so I wasn’t surprised but it was welcome to see just how well it flowed here.
The general premise is that things are picking up where we left off before in how Batman is intent on doing what he can to ease what Gotham Girl, aka Claire, is going through. With the problem with Psycho-Pirate being out there and more related to that, Batman knows that the only way to deal with her problem is to bring that to a close. And because it involves Waller and what she’s revealed previously, he knows he needs a particular team to go in and do this. While we’ve seen him pull together a good group to work with in Gotham, it’s been clear that the intent is for them to watch Gotham itself. He’s not building an Outsiders group or something here to go with him on these kinds of assignments. He’s trying to ensure future protection of the city for when he’s gone. So when he tells Alfred he may be away for a few weeks you can take some comfort in knowing there’s a solid team that will deal with most threats.
So, where does Batman get a team that’s going to be right in helping him go after Psycho-Pirate, who is with Bane down south these days? It’s a pretty odd crew as he heads to Arkham to get some recruits and even odder with what happens with Jewlee as I’m unsure if she and Punchee are actually participating or not. That said, having him bring in the Ventriloquist is intriguing, especially as he’s no longer working with the dummy, and we get a really great sequence with Bronze Tiger that shows that these two are definitely an interesting pair together that very much admire and respect each other. The best is the end though as it looks to be bringing Catwoman back into the light, a character I haven’t read since the start of the New 52 books so I have no idea what her exploits have been recently. Here’s hoping for a touch of recap on her next time around. Suffice to say, King is assembling quite the odd team for Batman.
In Summary:
I’m a sucker for books that work the idea of putting together an odd group for a mission, hence being big into the original Suicide Squad book back in the 80’s or things like Outsiders. Batman is moving into the next phase of the larger arc that King has been orchestrating and there’s a lot to like here in the characters he chooses, the kinds of interactions that we get, and just the smoothness and ease of it all. This is all taken to its own special level with Mikel Janin’s artwork as I love the character design style, especially with the colors used, and just the flow of action with some of the layouts. The piece with Batman and Bronze Tiger is just spot on perfect and fun to watch play out. Here’s hoping the arc only keeps the momentum and engagement.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 19th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
