2019 marked the end of writer Tom King’s nearly four-year-long run on DC’s flagship Batman comic. King’s story isn’t quite finished, as he and artist Clay Mann are working on the spinoff series Batman/Catwoman. But as for Batman proper, writer James Tynion IV and artist Tony S. Daniel face the unenviable task of following up on one of the best Batman runs of the 21st Century. Unsurprisingly, Batman #86 works best taken on its own merits rather than as an extension of the previous 85 issues.
King had spent much of 2019 teasing a huge change to the Batman mythos at the end of “City of Bane,” one he suggested could alter the franchise for a generation or more. That change turned out to be not some earth-shattering plot twist, but the simple notion that Bruce Wayne has decided to finally be happy. Thanks in large part to The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, Batman has spent the past four decades as a brooding avenger of the night. A return to an era where Batman was more a swashbuckling detective who actually smiles once in a while is no small matter. The catch is that this is a change to which DC actually needs to commit, or else Batman immediately reverts to the status quo.
Batman #86 suggests DC has little real interest in allowing that change to stick. While this issue definitely reflects the events of “City of Bane,” tonally it’s as dark and bleak as most other Bat-books on the stands. Even as Bruce Wayne celebrates his renewed romantic commitment to Selina Kyle, he’s also mourning the death of Alfred and diving headlong into an ambitious, expensive initiative to restore a city ransacked by Bane. It’s enough to wonder if the already questionable decision to kill off Alfred doomed the era of Happy Batman from the start. At most, this issue reflects a Batman who’s making an attempt at being happier, even if that effort seems doomed from the start.
In terms of tone and presentation, Tynion and Daniel’s Batman isn’t a seamless transition. But again, it works well enough on its own merits. This first issue manages to work as both a mission statement for the run and a fast-paced opening chapter. Even as Bruce and Lucius Fox go over the plan for a bigger, better Gotham, readers are treated to a very action-heavy adventure that pits batman against Deathstroke, Merlyn, Cheshire and several other elite DCU assassins. The new creative team wastes no time before getting to the good stuff, which is always nice to see in a first issue. And if Alfred’s death seems like an unnecessary wrinkle for the franchise, the upside is it allows Lucius Fox to take a much more active role in the book and fill that void in a way that recalls the Morgan Freeman version of the character. This issue actually does more to take advantage of the Bruce/Lucius dynamic than it does Bruce and Selina. Presumably, Tynion and Detective Comics scribe Peter Tomasi are leaving it to King to explore that relationship to its fullest.
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Daniel has been a frequent presence on the franchise over the past decade, including as recently as the opening act of “City of Bane” last year. That brief run didn’t necessarily showcase Daniel at his best, but a new year and a new storyline seem to have reinvigorated his work. There’s a much bolder and more dynamic quality to this issue. Daniel excels in capturing the ferocious nature of Batman and Deathstroke’s latest showdown. As Tynion and Daniel teased last year, Batman has some impressive new gadgets to bring to bear. This issue showcases one such gadget, one which brings a bigger sense of height and scale to Batman’s war on crime. It makes for some visually stunning scenes late in the book and helps open up the book in a way we didn’t always see from the more densely packed pages in King’s run.
The use of color, as much as anything else, helps distinguish this new run from its predecessor. Even though we saw colorist Tomeu Morey collaborate with Daniel last year, there’s a much different tenor to their work now. There’s a stronger emphasis on lighting, contrast and the general environment of Gotham City. The end result isn’t necessarily better than before, but it does feel more suited to a story where the relationship between Batman and his city is more paramount than ever.
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That’s where the new run finds its strongest hook. Faced with the challenge of rebuilding a city nearly ruined by Bane and Thomas Wayne, Bruce seizes the opportunity to remake Gotham into the modern utopia he believes it could be. For anyone who’s ever complained that the idea of a billionaire dressing in tights and punching crime is ridiculous when Bruce should be devoting his wealth to solving Gotham’s systemic woes, Tynion seems intent on telling that story. More than ever, Bruce wants to create a city that no longer needs Batman in the first place. Whether he succeeds or not, the struggle should make for a compelling and very different addition to the line. And who knows? With all the rumors surrounding DC’s mysterious 5G project, maybe this story will have more finality and lasting ramifications than expected.
Source: IGN.com DC's Flagship Batman Series Charts a Darker Course for 2020