Detective Comics #935

“Rise of the Batmen Chapter 2: Apocalypse Now” – Written by James Tynion IV, Pencils by Eddy Barrows, Inks by Eber Ferreira, Colors by Adriano Lucas, Letters by Marilyn Patrizio

The previous issue of Detective Comics put the team together, now it’s time to see them interact. The platonic ideal of a superheroe team book is likely Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men and look the Belfry has its own Danger Mud Room. Sure it was a capes book but at its heart like most Silver Age Marvel titles it was a melodrama fused with the soap opera tendencies that come with long serialization. That’s why it’s jarring to see someone complain about the DCWverse or other adaptations, being too much like a soap. These types of stories are and forever will be cheesey melodrama if not narratively, aesthetically. “Apocalypse Now” doesn’t hit the cathartic climax of emotional excess – it’s only the second chapter – but Batman taking on 50 Batmen and a couple of other moments fit the bill aesthetically.

Tynion is starting to build to the ramp of emotion this issue with a tried and true trope: nobody tells nobody nothing, when honestly would be the best policy. It really is, but then we wouldn’t have the drama…or at least the story as it is configured would have to undergo an extreme pivot. Batman isn’t being completely honest (when is he ever?) with Kate Kane about why she’s on the squad. Tim isn’t telling Bruce about the Genius Grant, aa super full ride through college and the ability to do major scientific work. Orphan isn’t really talking to anyone, most importantly Harper Row. Somehow it’s the shape shifting Clayface who is the honest one of the bunch.

It’s these interpersonal dynamics that make the book interesting, as interesting on a thematic level Batman and Family fighting their hyper militarized doppelgangers is, they are (purposely) anonymous bodies at this point. They’ll disappear at the end of issue 940/41, the family stays. So giving them some juicy secrets to hang over everything is a good.

When Flashpoint occurred, everything changed. In universe it’s because Doc Manhattan stole a decade of time from everyone, in reality Dan Didio had a bad idea. It led to plenty of changes some big others minor, like the giving Tim Drake the name “Red Robin” instead of simply “Robin”. I didn’t care that much at the time, it’s just a name and one he’s been given before in his own series and the excellent Elseworlds title Kingdom Come. What was more damaging then the name change was how they let him be written in Teen Titans, where they completely changed the character and created an immense gap between older fans and new ones. If anything in this Rebirth initiative will be hard it’s bridging that gap between old and new Tim Drake. As Batman states in this issue he kept himself apart from the rest of the family. (Which I think is both generous and contradictory but I’ve purged Teen Titans from my memory banks). Being apart is completely different from pre-Flashpoint Tim Drake, he was someone who wanted to be Robin, he figured it all out on his own; was called “Detective” by Ra’s Al Ghul. In many ways Tim was the Robin fanboy made text. Tynion seems to be trying to bridge that gap with the Genius Grant and it forcing Tim to question is commitment to the family. Why else hasn’t he told Bruce? Maybe, it’s because he really likes being Robin, even a red one, a lot after all.

The titular “Batmen” seems to be referring to two different groups, the “Colony” so named by a formerly comatose Jean-Paul Valley and the team Batman has put together. For now, I’ll stick to calling them “Batmen” since “Colony” doesn’t have the same ring to it. We get our first really good look at them in this issues action sequence. A wacky street race of sorts with Batman. The idea that these are militarized Batman fanboys is crystal clear in this sequence, they’re driving around in vehicles similar to the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.

The notion that this will explore Batman’s relation to the military industrial complex comes into sharper focus with a double page spread sequence between Kate Kane and her Father, Colonel Jacob. Her father represents the military industrial complex and as a military man is not happy with how ineffective and wasteful Batman’s “War on Crime” is, in his view. With the infrastructure behind him, he could take Batman’s methods (via Kate) and really do some good with them. In adapting Batman to other mediums, these authors often militarized the character at least aesthetically. So it’s interesting to see a story turn the tables and have the military co-opt Batman. Now, this is not to imply that Batman is/was never somewhat militarized that’s not true. It’s inherent to the nature vigilantism like superheroeisim ties to fascism. It’s just that the overt militarized aesthetic is lessoned through story telling that transformed Batman into a James Bond-esque adventurer with setting specific gadgetry, as well as his dislike for conventional firearms. This makes Batman into something of a trespasser between the two realms, something Tynion gives shape to in defining the difference between the Kane and Wayne families. The Kane’s motto is “we stand together,” according to Colonel Jacob the Wayne’s motto might as well been “we stand apart”. Bruce is a product of these two ideologies, he is someone who stands together with his Bat-Family (and allies on the inside like Gordon) but is still apart from the populace he’s sworn to protect. Kate is not a blood fusion like her cousin but in serving with Batman is modifying the normal intent that has led to the Kane family having a legacy of military honors.

This issue isn’t as contained as the previous one. Doing a cliffhanger on the promise of a massive action sequence is never satisfying - unless it’s after some kind of episodic resolution – and the issue was more about setting up the family motif and beginning the dramatic ramp. Despite it’s thematic connections, this felt like a thematically disconnected episode of Game of Thrones, good individual scenes that just don’t add up into a greater whole. Not bad, and with the double shipping a much more forgivable ending.

Bits At The End

The art team is doing really good open layouts, with overlapping panels. I like the design choice overall, it makes things feel bigger and you can develop a better sense of spatial geometry (the Kate-Colonel Jacob scene dose this well) but having back to back double page spreads is a bit much. They also turned the Bats symbol into a panel border on two occasions (pictured above and with Batwoman swinging away).