I Am Batman #8 – John Ridley, Writer; Christian Duce, Artist; Rex Lokus, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This book has some interesting ideas, but it unfortunately suffers from pacing that doesn’t let them shine. Since Jace made it to New York, its biggest strength has been in its portrayal of the Fox family as they try to find their footing. Jace tries to operate in concert with the police, Lucius battles to recover his mental health, Tanya makes a difference with a new foundation, and Tiff provides key emotional support for her sister and the rest of her family. It also has a nicely nuanced portrayal of the police—save the police commissioner, who is a one-note monster. The problem is, the villain—a masked maniac whose MO seems to be “torture”—continues to not be nearly as interesting as the characters surrounding him. This issue’s first showdown between him and Batman makes him seem more menacing, and he claims another victim, but his one-note torture porn routine would never make him stand out in Gotham—although the issue does hint at an intriguing motivation.
The bigger question is, does this Batman really have a place in the DCU? Moving Jace and his family to New York does seem to be a smart move right now, as he’s able to stand out more without twenty other Bat-vigilantes running around. But he’s also teed up to potentially replace Bruce once the latter dies in Death of the Justice League. On that front, it doesn’t seem like this run is really giving him the same foundation that Tom Taylor is giving Jon Kent or Geoffrey Thorne is giving Jo Mullein. These battles seem relatively small-scale, and Jace is very clearly out of his depth against supervillains. It works as a family drama and it works as a crime thriller, but we’ve seen multiple replacement Batman storyarcs before. This one feels less like a trial by fire for Jace and more like a guy using his Bat-suit as a way to exorcise his demons. We’ll see how he develops in the coming months before the big event starts.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
