Batman #148 – Chip Zdarsky, Writer; Jorge Jimenez, Artist; Tomeu Morey, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s finally here—the big showdown between Batman and Zur. Zur is armed with the body of Failsafe, the ultra-powerful robot designed specifically to kill Batman, but Bruce Wayne might have something even more effective—the Bat-family. There’s a great segment where Dick, Barbara, Jason, and Tim have it out with Bruce that feels more real than most things we see with these characters, particularly the scene with Jason. Damian is still being held captive by Zur’s own Robin, while if I have one complaint about this issue it’s that Cass, Steph, and Duke are relegated to fighting in crowd scenes. They’re core Batfam too! But before the family reunion can be complete, there’s a robot army to take on.
Zdarsky’s run has been out there, as one would expect from a writer of his style. It’s dealt with some seriously bizarre concepts, calling back to Morrison quite a bit. But despite that, it’s characterization has been spot-on since the start, especially in the way it pulls in plot threads from all around and builds on them. The brief scene between Tim and Damian helped to put aside a lot of the long-time bad feelings between them (and their fans). Even one of the most derided stories in the run, Gotham War, winds up playing a key role in this issue as the backup plan to take on Failsafe winds up hinging heavily on the plot involving the Lazarus Serum that was found under Gotham.
This final issue has a lot to cover, so fortunately this is an over-sized main story. We know that Failsafe isn’t going to be fully defeated here, as he’s going to be one of the main threats in Absolute Power this summer, so in many ways this issue comes down to the threat of Daniel Capito, the behind-the-scenes manipulator who has been steering things since the early days of Bruce’s training. The action here is superb, and the plot kept me guessing throughout. This felt like a perfect wrap-up to Zdarsky’s main arc—so it’s a pleasant surprise that he’s not mic-dropping here. He still clearly has a lot left to say on the character, as he’s continuing to deliver an all-time great run just like he did on Daredevil.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
