THIS WEEK: Batman #157 concludes Chip Zdarsky & Jorge Jiménez’s run on the series.
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Batman #157
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artists: Jorge Jiménez & Tony Daniel
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover Artists: Jorge Jiménez & Tomeu Morey
Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez have been the creative team on DC’s ongoing Batman series since summer of 2022. While the overarching storyline of their run wrapped up back in June, the team had a few stories left in them. This week’s Batman #157 sees the team, joined by guest-artist Tony Daniel, colorist Tomeu Morey, and letterer Clayton Cowles, wrap up their final storyline, “The Dying City,” a tale that has touched on many of the various aspects of the dark knight.
The five-part “The Dying City” has been a lot of things all at once. Earlier issues of the story have been everything from a corporate and political thriller to a murder mystery. This final issue, though, is firmly a superhero story, and as he did with the previous issues, Zdarsky’s script delivers the familiar beats of the genre in a satisfying way. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking going on here as Batman beats the bad guys and saves the day, but it’s also never boring watching him figure out how to do it. The plane sequence in this issue may not reach the heights of the earlier issue of Zdarsky and Jiménez’s run where Batman freefalls to Earth from the moon and survives, but it’s still a very satisfying series of events. Jim Gordon has also gotten a spotlight in this storyline, and Zdarsky scripts an effective concluding scene between Batman and Gordon that reinforces the strength of their friendship.
Both the action and the introspection are particularly enjoyable as brought to life by Jiménez and Daniel, who trade art chores on this issue in a remarkably seamless manner. Tomeu Morey’s colors certainly help add a layer of visual coherence to the linework. “The Dying City” is a story that has had four artists in five issues – Carmine Di Giandomenico and Jorge Fornés tackled previous installments – all of whom are top-notch visual storytellers. It’s kind of a shame that Jiménez, who has been the regular artist on Batman for six years, didn’t get to draw the entirety of his final storyline, but such are the rigors of a monthly comics schedule.
If there’s any weakness to this issue and the overall storyline, it’s that it has felt very disconnected from Zdarsky and Jiménez’s overall run on the book. After the conclusion of the Failsafe/Zur arc and the Absolute Power tie-in arc, “The Dying City” started with what felt like a launching point for a new extended run from Zdarsky and Jiménez, introducing a lot of big story drivers, from The Riddler going straight and founding Nygmatech, to the Court of Owls being taken over by the Russians, to the introduction of Commander Star as a foil for Batman, to the murder of Mayor Nakano and Jim Gordon’s potential involvement. It’s easy to imagine all of those pieces being fleshed out slowly over months and years, and yet in just five months they were all both brought in and resolved. It’s hard not to feel like “Hush 2” is to blame for this, though it’s impossible to say whether the run was truncated to make way for that story’s launch next month, or if these five issues have been a fill-in to mark time before that high-profile story kicks off. Either way, for a run that was very tightly plotted and executed during its primary overarching storyline, “The Dying City” just felt rushed and disjointed, and the constantly-shifting artists didn’t help with that.
Still, at the end of the day, Batman #157 is a pretty solid superhero comic, thanks in large part to the visuals, particularly Jiménez’s work on the fight sequence between Batman and Commander Star, which elevate an otherwise fairly routine fight into one that’s striking and very intense. It’s kind of a shame that this team’s run, which has otherwise been pretty stellar, goes out on such an average note.
Final Verdict: Browse.
Round-Up
- Absolute Superman #4 is a Lois-centric issue, as the investigative reporter inside of her continues to awaken thanks to the arrival of Superman. As the months have passed and each of the Absolute titles has established its voice, it’s clear that Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval are having the most fun with the concept, riffing on the expectations that come with a Superman comic in a way that’s frequently very funny and always entertaining. No Krypton flashback sequences in this issue, alas, but hopefully we’ll get back there next month.
- JSA #4 continues the opening “Ragnarok” storyline from writer Jeff Lemire, joined here by guest artist Joey Vazquez, whose style fits nicely with that of regular series artist Diego Olortegui. Lemire has done a nice job focusing on the individual members of the team over these first four issues, and this issue’s focus on Beth Chapel, aka Dr. Mid-Nite, is a nice intro for the character for readers who might not be familiar with her. It’s team-building while the team has already been built, and it’s been great so far.
- Poison Ivy #30 is a special flipbook issue of the series from G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara, with half the issue following Pam and the other following Janet from HR. Both have important conversations as Wilson and Takara seed future storylines and potential conflict between them. This book is just consistently great.
- Justice League: The Atom Project #2 finds Team Atom up against maybe the most unexpected antagonist you’ll ever see, the reveal of which was both a total surprise and also completely logical. Ryan Parrott, John Ridley, and Mike Perkins are telling a great story here in an interesting way, teasing out information in a non-linear fashion that heightens the tension and raises a lot of storytelling questions.
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