An arsenal up in smoke, Wayne Enterprises might go broke, and Julia might croak in this thirty-second episode of DC's weekly Batman free-for-all (but you have to buy it). This does seem a little padded out since it only concentrates on one branch of the story, but everything in here is pretty solid material, and it's good to see that Batman is actually a character in the book with his name. in the title. Though it seems like the real star here is one Julia Pennyworth, even if she may have bitten off more than she can chew.
Yeah, no fucking kidding. I'm working on TWO episodes of Otaku Evolution at once, and this review, AND another GitS: Arise review, and...
Predictably, in the aftermath of the bunker explosion and Bard's leak to Vicki Vale about said bunkers, Batman is now firmly in GCPD's cross hairs. Condemned for keeping secret bunkers with sensitive material in them, our Dark Knight Detective has to eat a little crow about his methods while Hush is out destroying his credibility and resources. Batman insists that the caches are justified since he uses them to save lives, but in this situation, his secret stashes are literally blowing up his face and making him seem irresponsible.
And let's face it, it's an easy argument to make. Should any one person have all this explosive ordinance at his or her disposal? Even for the purposes of helping people, having a lot of caches of hazardous material around the city is just asking for trouble. He's already a vigilante acting largely out of his own authority, but then putting other people's lives at risk by having tons of explosives hidden around town really makes him come off as some kind of paranoid potential terrorist, and that's just the button Hush is pushing right now. Yes, the public probably knows by now that the Batman fights madmen and monsters, but the public trust can waver. I don't even blame the public for being stupid, as they usually are in comics. Looking at the situation Gotham is in here, it's really easy to assume the worst. Hush's plan is pretty damn effective so far.
"Of course, I usually just used bandages for everything, which is why I never made it."
But to what end? Just destroying Batman's reputation? What grander scheme is he working toward? The burning of the city that we saw in the first page of the first issue?
As is usual with any face offs between Batman and law enforcement, Batman easily takes down even an extremely heavily armed SWAT team member. It a very well drawn sequence, Batman turns the cop's own sticky fluid against him in just a few moves. It's good to see that despite his situation, Batman hasn't lost too many steps. Plus it gives as an opportunity to see Julia's talents, easily bypassing difficult locks while Batman tumbles around with the cop. He pretends that he isn't impressed.
"You just got Bat-kkake'd."
Unfortunately, Julia ends up on her own at a cache location that Hush shows up at. This after a little bit of worrying by Alfred over her assistance in this matter. But I can't imagine Julia will have too much trouble against Hush. She is SAS, so I'm sure she can handle herself better than Stephanie Brown did.
"Who who? Who who? Yeah, I really wanna know.."
Fuck that guy up, Julia.
NEXT: Issue 33, But Chapter 11!
- Penguin Truth
(2014)
Story: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Script: Kyle Higgins
Consulting Writers: Ray Fawkes & Tim Seeley
Art: Jason Fabok
Colors: Steven Wands
Lettering By: Taylor Esposito
Cover By: Rafael Albuquerque
Editor: Chris Conroy
Asst. Editor: Dave Wielgosz
Group Editor: Mark Doyle
Batman Created By Bob K--AHAHAHAHA, NO. Batman Created By Bill Finger
