Batman #150 – Chip Zdarsky, Writer; Denys Cowan/John Stanisci, Jorge Jimenez, Mike Hawthorne/Adriano Di Benedetto, Artists; Tomeu Morey, Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Batman has been up against the wall in this run, facing off against the worst parts of himself as well as a whole multiverse. But now he might be facing his biggest challenge – the potential of his secret identity falling apart. As we saw in the end of the Gotham War story, it had been discovered by a low-level hood named Teddy, who stumbled into his brownstone and discovered everything. Now, this loser, a divorced man whose only son is disgusted by him, is faced with a choice – how to best exploit this information and stay alive in a city where the most likely buyers are also most likely to murder you? As he soon finds out, this will be much harder than it looks.
What works so well about this anniversary issue, which is co-drawn by iconic artist Denys Cowan, is the way it shows us Batman through so many eyes. Villains fear him, henchmen may have seen another side. Is he a demon? Is he a hero? Will he kill to protect his identity? The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle – and Teddy gets some much-needed perspective from an unlikely source. Batman isn’t in this story all that much, but his presence is deeply felt – and Bruce Wayne plays a key role in the emotional finale. Zdarzky let this plotline simmer for a while, but he made the outcome count in a big way, and this is and the last issue are the perfect breathers we needed before things hit high-octane again.
And that high-octane hits this very issue, as the backup throws Batman right back into the world of Absolute Power. There’s a strong intro, as Batman reflects back on how he dealt with an unlikely culprit in his parents’ death – the gun company that gave Joe Chill his weapon. But now his own gun is out in the world, as Failsafe has become a key part of Amanda Waller’s arsenal. We get an interesting look into the fate of one of the characters from the first issue, as well as a shocking reveal of exactly how Waller got so far so fast. It’s genuinely impressive how many writers built up this storyline for the last two years.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
