Batman: Fear State

It's been a minute since I last posted about comic books so let me take a look at my last batch of comics I bought a few weeks back. 

Among those books was the conclusion of the Fear State storyline by James Tynion IV in his final issues as the writer of Batman.  

Gotham City mayor Christopher Nakano, pushing a law & order agenda, makes a deal with industrialist Simon Saint and his organization known as the Magistrate and theirs Peacekeepers to bring order to Gotham through severe draconian methods.

No more mass executions by murder clowns on my watch, says Gotham's new mayor.

Which is not a bad goal to have. 

But getting there....

Before making Gotham City safe, Simon Saint is determined to make a bad situation worse but making Gotham's citizens even more afraid.  To that end, Saint is working with Dr. Jonathan Crane, the fear mongering Scarecrow his own damn self. 

What works about the Fear State storyline is how much it resonates with real world politics, the weaponizing of fear to control the populace. Think Donald Trump and others of his ilk who have parlayed fear into a political force. There is no appeal to be rise above fear but rather the rhetoric that you should be afraid and there is more to be afraid of.  

Granted, Gotham City is a place where there are mass executions by murder clowns so yeah, there is stuff to be afraid of. But Simon Saint's message is that Gotham is worse than you think it is and if you are scared, you're not scared enough.  

Another thing that works for this storyline is that Batman is fighting more than just stopping a murder clown for killing a bunch of people but rather fighting for the soul of this city he has sworn to protect. And he's doing it with diminished resources, without the unlimited wealth of Bruce Wayne and with his own mental capacities compromised by the torture he endured at the hands of the Scarecrow.

But there is a vast and varied network of allies who lend a hand. Barbara Gordon back in the role of Oracle, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain both taking up the mantle of Batgirl, Harley Quinn working hard at her own redemption, new characters like Ghost Maker and Miracle Molly. 

And with gorgeous artwork by Jorge Jiminez,  the Fear State storyline was a visual spectacle.

Fear State marks the end for James Tynion IV as the writer of Batman who has delivered some solid epic tales during his run.

I still have Batman on my pull list and I am intrigued by what Joshua Williamson has planned with his return to Grant Morrison's Batman Inc concept.  

Batman by Jorge Jiminez