Batman #141 – Chip Zdarsky, Writer; Jorge Jimenez, Dustin Nguyen, Artists; Tomeu Morey, John Kalisz, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: For this entire run, Batman has been going up against two main villains—his robotic creation Failsafe, which stalked him to the point of death after Batman was falsely accused of murder, and his deranged alter ego Zur, created as a way for Batman to keep working while Batman sleeps. So basically all this run has been Batman causing problems for himself, and now, his two self-made enemies have combined, as Zur has responded to being pushed out of Batman’s mind by placing himself in Failsafe. This gives him an indestructible new body that can live forever—and he intend to become the ultimate Batman, which means that the original will have to go by any means necessary.
As Nightwing and Barbara Gordon meet with Lucie, Batman’s former mentor and the first cat burglar he ever worked with, she gives them some hints about what’s happened—but Batman is alone, and he won’t survive long enough for help to arrive. So it’s a rematch with Failsafe, one of the few villains Batman was never able to crack—but this time Failsafe has a cunning and evil mind behind the strength. It’s a tense, issue-long action segment without a single break, and the outcome is really never in doubt. But that just gets us to where we need, with Batman alone in a cell—next to an unexpected roommate, one who Zur also wants safely contained. Next up, Joker: Year One, as Zdarsky’s mad plan continues to unfold.
Zdarsky also writes all the backups in this series, and this issue it’s Zur’s turn to take the lead in a story written by Dustin Nguyen. As he prepares to place himself inside Failsafe, he invites in some backup—the other Zurs of the multiverse, and all of them are about as reasonable as he is. The main showdown is between our Zur and the Zur of the Batman Beyond Bruce—who is grizzled and ruthless, but no more stable. Nguyen’s art is the highlight here in a strange and mindbending tale of the mess Batman’s created.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
