Review: ‘Batman’ #88 Fights A Very Different War bY Tynion IV, March And DC Comics
by Tony Thornley
Batman has had a difficult time on his hands since he defeated Bane. However, a war has been brewing without his knowledge, and it’s one between Batman and any of his villains, or even includes the Dark Knight at all.
James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles fight the most unusual war Gotham has ever seen in Batman #88.
The Batman is wrapped up in trying to recapture the assassins freed by the Penguin. However, the Joker, Catwoman and the Riddler are pulled back into a deadly plot that they had long forgotten about. A plot with deadly consequences for Bruce Wayne…
Tynion has been teasing the mystery of the Designer for the last few issues, with an engrossing B plot. This issue is fast paced and action packed, both in the Batman plot and the villain plot. However, the issue doesn’t give us enough to engage in the Designer plot yet, with our only incentive to care about that plot about it being Catwoman’s struggle with the truth.
March shows two sides here. When he’s concentrating on action or the mystery he does a great job. His pacing in the fight scenes build up the tension, drawing the readers through the page like an action movie. He also has a great sense of horror, using partially glimpsed figures, and obscured movement to make it feel scarier (which Morey’s colors make pop even more). However, there are several moments in which the line art slips into cheesecake, which does distract from the story.
This issue continues this interesting and unique new era for Batman. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot of fun.
Batman #88 is available now from DC Comics.
