Don’t judge a book by its cover.
That line holds especially true for this week’s BATMAN #155. The cover finds Batman fighting members of the Court of Owls, with Riddler looking on, and the text “Riddled by the Court of Owls”.
That’s not the story of this issue.
What unfolds is a bit of a DAYS OF OUR LIVES soap opera, with Jim Gordon being the man Mayor Nakano’s wife was having an affair with. PLOT TWIST! While that story takes up nearly half of the issue, Bruce Wayne tries to see this long-lost “brother.” Batman interrogates Gordon, and a major shift takes place during an interrogation.
Let’s get the negative out right away. Why is Chip Zdarsky on a current kick of affairs right now? The first three issues of this arc focus on Thomas Wayne (allegedly) stepping out on Martha (MAJOR eye-roll), and now Gordon is the secret man Mrs. Nakano was seeing.
The Wayne portion is just blech. It feels, yet again, like another lazy attempt by a creator to “dirty up the Waynes” for the sake of….dirtying up the Waynes. It wreaks of desperation, and I’m not a fan.
The Gordon angle was a bit eyerolly….until it wasn’t. I was following along with the issue, and almost ready to slap a C grade on it, until a major shift came into play toward the end. It’s a big one that links to a lot of what we’ve been reading with Gordon and could be a key to unlocking this whole story. Zdarsky didn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat, but he did use a hat. And I found this a big redeemer of the issue, and maybe this arc.
Artist Jorge Fornes steps into the pencil duties in this issue and does a fantastic job. Clearly, his influence is YEAR ONE, and when you see that, it’s all you see. That’s meant as a compliment too. I really dug the designs (especially of Batman), and you’d swear one panel of Gordon on a bed is a direct lift from the classic story. Great work here.
Overall, this issue provided a good shift that this arc needed to connect some pieces and create some momentum. The Wayne soap opera needs to be tossed because it’s garbage, but the Gordon/Nakano angle can connect to many other pieces of this puzzle. That’s the riddle I’m here to see solved. – Ryan Lower
