I Am Batman #7 – John Ridley, Writer; Christian Duce, Artist; Rex Lokus, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Shifting Jace Fox over to New York from Gotham may have been exactly what the character needed, taking him from being another generic Bat to being essentially his own Batman franchise. Right now it seems to be going very well, with a tense first case and some growing pains with his new allies. The new Batman has been deputized by the Mayor of New York and is working with his own police squad—led by Gotham expats Whitaker and Chubbs, along with some troubled New York originals. How’s it going? They can’t even agree on which case to pursue first. The Mayor wants Batman on the mysterious torture/murder of a prominent real-estate broker in what might be Gotham’s first supervillain case, while Jace is much more interested in investigating the gun-runners tearing NYC apart. The negotiation definitely proves this is not a recreation of Batman and Commissioner Gordon.
The action and supervillain stuff isn’t that great this issue—it all feels pretty familiar, although the last page has a nice creepy edge. Additionally, the character of the racist police commissioner maybe comes off a little over the top. What is excellent is the character work in between the bigger scenes. The Fox Family has obvious been through an enormous amount of trauma in recent years, and a scene between Tiff and her older sister Tam is a great illustration of how that rarely gets addressed in a meaningful way in comics. It’s a small scene, but it addresses things that have been hanging for years. Ridley is doing an excellent job of building up this new Batman’s supporting cast. Beyond the family and the cops, I was glad to see the hacker Vol get an increased role this issue. While it hasn’t completely found its footing yet, it’s giving us a solid new take on a very different Batman.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
