Batman #149 review

This issue wasn’t among my planned purchases this week. I bought World’s Finest and wrote about that. I bought Titans and found it better than usual, but it didn’t have much in the way of comment hooks. And I bought Nightwing, which can be covered by >sigh<. So, I went back to the DC list and noticed that the loooooong Zur-En-Arrh storyline looked to be pretty much over; not completely, as some Bat-robot or other looks to be a big part of the upcoming Absolute Power business, but so far as the story that’s been filling this series for the last couple years goes, it’s done.

Which means this issue ties a bow on one of the big plot elements and looks to the future. Left over after the defeat of Zur-En-Arrh – maybe Batman thought him up on ‘Talk like a pirate day’ – is a Bruce Wayne clone it created to be his Robin. The problem is, he’s no longer a teen wonder, he’s suffering quite the growth spurt.

Bruce II has just a couple of weeks left, with even geniuses like Mr Terrific unable to halt the accelerated growth. There’s time, though, to get to know ‘himself’ and hear about how Big Bruce lost his hand… which gives Jr a pretty extreme – and gruesome – idea as regards a parting gift.

It looks like the unwanted fingers and wrist do indeed get attached to original Bruce but it’s not stated or shown… let’s hope connection to a naturally ageing Wayne stems the speed-ageing. If memory serves, regular Batman these days is himself his own clone, and he’s not getting super-wrinkly super-quickly. Which is nice.

I think Damian saw this coming…

Poor Bruce Suddenly Sr doesn’t make it to the end of the issue, but he does make it to Big Bruce’s new home, a big old house going cheap due to its having been a temporary Joker lair. In the heart of old Gotham, bought with part of the billions Batman here recovers from Z-E-A’s offshore accounts, our hero hopes it will be Club Bat.

Those are the expressions of sidekicks expecting to find Joker fish lurking in every last nook and cranny.

Dick and Babs, of course, live in Blüdhaven these days, so they’d be visitors rather than residents, but the offer does lead to a lovely moment between the one and only Dynamic Duo.

And while I’ve been a little whimsical about this issue, the scenes with Bruce and Clone Bruce (or maybe Clone Bruce and Clone Bruce) are really rather affecting.

And that brings me to what makes this issue really special, as I think I see what writer Chip Zdarsky has been working towards all this time.

Z-E-A was the epitome of Bruce’s paranoia, but he’s been stripped away and my Lord, Bruce seems happy. Could it be that after a couple of decades of a Batman who’s almost as deranged as his foes, we’re back to Bruce Sane? The only thing that has me worried is that the title of the story is ‘A good fantasy’, a phrase which came up in Dick and Bruce’s chat, above.

Maybe we could have a happy, well-adjusted Bruce for a while, at least? That wouldn’t preclude Batman doing the intense Creature of the Night bit. Go on DC, let’s have a few games nights with the Bat-Kids. And hurry up and bring Alfred back to life.

The art’s nice, isn’t it? I’m surprised Jorge Jiménez, regular artist last time I looked, isn’t drawing this apparent epilogue. Then again, next issue is #150, so it’s probably a fat book and he was busy with that when this script needed drawing.

Still, the art is nice. Very nice, with the book split between Michele Bandini and Steve Lieber. I am embarrassed to say that having read all 12 issues of the sublime Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen series Lieber made with Matt Fraction, I can’t say for sure which artist did which pages. My guess is that Bandini is drawing the costumed antics, which mostly come at the beginning, while Lieber handles the bulk of the character work after the Bruce II story wraps. There are some great facial expressions throughout, taking in sadness, regret, bemusement, hope… Bruce even smiles a fair few times. And he looks great in a brief bearded sequence.

The characters move convincingly too, the body language serving the story well

And while there’s little punching, this time, what we do get is very good.

Kudos to Nick Filardi for giving us a brighter than usual Batman issue while maintaining the drama, and Clayton Cowles’ understated lettering is spot on.

And that man Jiménez isn’t entirely absent this issue, producing the elegant cover. I assume shiny-haired Bruce is the actual Batman.

And there we have it, the most fun I’ve had with a mainstream Batman book in years. Would More of This Kind of Thing be too much to hope for?