THIS WEEK: Jorge Fornes steps into Batman #155, drawing a detective-work heavy issue within the latest arc…and knocks it out of the park. Plus, we have our usual round-up of blurbs about other DC books hitting shops!
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Batman #155
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
I did not plan to write about Batman #155 this week (I actually planned to write about Plastic Man No More #4, but ongoing comics distribution snags seem to have delayed it…SIGH), yet when I read this issue, I found I had a lot to say about it. It’s actually the third part of an ongoing story arc that is slated to be the last on the book for writer Chip Zdarsky.
Titled The Dying City, the first part of this arc was drawn by regular series artist Jorge Jimenez, while the second chapter was drawn by guest artist Carmine Di Giandomenico (as always, stalwart Batman colorist Tomeu Morey reports for duty throughout, with letters by Clayton Cowles). This arc has essentially been about urban renewal, with a murder mystery on top. It kicked off with Bruce Wayne doing quite a bit of good with a series of public initiatives. Gotham City, it seemed, was finally turning things around…then someone murdered the mayor.
Meanwhile, The Riddler is running around, acting all business-minded, as if he’s gone legit. And on top of that, there’s a new hero in town, a weirdo called Commander Star. Oh, also there’s the Court of Owls. It’s a lot, but it’s all been interesting. The first two issues were like a bunch of different plot ingredients being thrown in the pot. And now Batman #155 this week starts to bring them all together in a really enjoyable way.
It’s an issue built around the mystery of who killed the mayor, and it’s mostly told from the perspective of Jim Gordon. What really elevates it, though, is the artwork of Jorge Fornes. With Gordon working as a PI and sporting his history as past commissioner of the police, it’s an investigation heavy issue, the type of story Fornes is absolutely perfect to draw. The resulting comic here is moody and slow-burning as it slowly unravels quite a bit of what’s going on here (although not all).
I found it to be a really engrossing and well-executed comic, and while it’s not a landmark issue, falling as it does right in the middle of an arc, I think it might be my favorite individual issue of Batman from throughout the course of the Zdarsky run. Part of that is how great Fornes artwork is, but I also think this story arc is just really strong. It’s using a lot of interesting characters in different ways, and doing a great job of incorporating them all into the same plot.
I’ve been a fan of Fornes’ work for a good long while (dating back to his indie days, when he drew the underrated book, Hot Lunch Special), and he’s made some really interesting comics with writer Tom King. But there’s something about his style that just works perfectly with Batman.
Ultimately, I came away from this issue intrigued and entertained, with high expectations for the rest of this arc, and I also came away from it hoping we get to see Fornes do an extended run drawing stories in Gotham. If Batman #155 is any indication, that would be very good.
Verdict: Buy
The Round-Up
- Absolute Superman #2 was another very solid issue from writer Jason Aaron, artist Rafa Sandoval, colorist Ulises Arreola, and letterer Becca Carey. This is one good-looking comic, especially with the way the armor acts and moves and does fun surprising things. Still not entirely crazy about Lois Lane being a soldier who is apparently just now discovering she likes to write, but I like the rest of this book so much, I’m willing to put that aside.
- You know what book is a blast? SHAZAM!, SHAZAM! is a blast. This week brings us SHAZAM! #18 from writer Josie Campbell, artist Dan McDaid (with some inks by Roberto Poggi), colorist Trish Mulvihill, and letterer Troy Peteri. I really like McDaid’s work, as I wrote a few times about the recently-concluded Zod comic he drew, and it works well for the more fantastic subject matter in SHAZAM!. Campbell remains a great SHAZAM writer as well.
- Finally, I thought Two-Face #1 was a nice start to a new Bat-villain series. Christian Ward does a great job scripting the duality of the character, which is heightened at every turn by the rest of the team, from the art by Fabio Veras and colorist Ivan Plascencia, to most especially the letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Oh, and holy cow did I love the image on the very last page. Really striking stuff. Excited to see where this series goes.
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