Batman Comics!

Batman has been on my pull list at Acme Comics nearly continuously since July 2006 when Grant Morrison took over as writer.  

I followed Batman under the New 52 with Scott Snyder's run and from the beginning of DC Rebirth with Tom King at the helm.

Tom started strong but sorely began to try my patience near the end of his run. 

These days, Batman is written by James Tynion IV who is writing a dense, action packed storyline of existential dread ripped from today's headlines.   

Gotham City is the target of the machinations of one Simon Saint, a super rich tech billionaire with designs to bring ultimate order to the chaos of Gotham through his Magistrate program and his Peacekeeper enforcers. 

The mayor of Gotham City is a feckless politician all too willing to turn the city's police services over to Saint because citizens being killed by murder clowns is bad for his poll numbers.

Meanwhile, Saint's plans to take control of Gotham relies on the services of one of Batman's most fearsome foes, the Scarecrow. 

Using his own patented fear toxins as well as stolen tech from the Mad Hatter, Scarecow is ratcheting up the anxiety level of everyone in Gotham City.  

Meanwhile, the Scarecrow has totally screwed with Batman's brain. 

There is a tangled web of deceit and treachery at work here. Simon Saint thinks he's using the Scarecrow and the Scarecrow thinks he's using Simon Saint.  

Someone has usurped Barbara Gordon's Oracle persona, feeding Gothamites a steady stream of fearmongering misinformation. 

Meanwhile, the Scarecrow has totally screwed with Batman's brain. Batman has barely managed to escape the Scarecrow's clutches but the trauma of his mental torture is still lingering.

Batman is going to need all the help he can get.   

Tynion has introduced over the last year a new partner in Batman's war on crime in the form of Ghostmaker.  He trained with the same warriors that Bruce Wayne worked with in his formative years.  But unlike Batman who has a personal interest in fighting crime, Ghostmaker fights crime because he can and he's very good at it. And he has few personal rules and his fully prepared to use deadly force to put down a bad guy.

Ghostmaker is Batman without the moral center. 

But for the moment, Ghostmaker has resolved to help Batman because it's fun and afford several chances to show up Batman that he's better at this than Bruce? 

Tynion is writing a very tense and packed narrative that is beautifully illustrated by Jorge Jimenez whose detailed pencils and dark moody inks presents one of the very best looking versions of Batman in ages.

The downside to Batman right now is the price point at 4.99 an issue.  DC justifies the added buck with back ups that are seem slight and inconsequential.  The Ghosthunter back up came to nothing, setting up a story that will continue in a Batman Annual coming out this fall.  Clownhunter was in the back up slot for 3 issues that definitely felt like filler.  I will give the Clownhunter some props for Jason Howard's Will Eisner like layouts.  

Still, Batman is a solid read. Sadly, James Tynion's turn as Batman's writer will be coming to an end soon as he turns his focus on his creator owned projects.