Review by Frank Plowright
Over three previous volumes Chip Zdarsky has pretty well upended Batman’s world. Cleverly, this has partially been down to Batman’s mania for attempting to cover all bases. He’s created a subconscious alternate identity, a sort of partitioned mind to keep secrets, a persona known as Zur-en-Arrh, and that persona now controls another precaution, an invincible robot intended to deal with Batman should he cross a line. Bruce Wayne is now imprisoned while his alterego masquerades as a new Batman. Additionally, in Joker Year One Zdarsky established the Joker as integrated with Batman far more closely than anyone might have imagined, the relationship explored even further as Dark Prisons begins.
The Joker connection is a seductively clever redefinition of what Batman’s been over the years, although doesn’t greatly hold up when placed against over eighty years of continuity. Still, it’s entertaining, and that’s what counts. More convincing is an extrapolation of the doubts and fears that have nagged Batman through his career.
Even Batman’s closest allies are torn as to whether or not Batman remains Bruce Wayne, as are others. Zdarsky has Batman taking a tour of the DC universe reinforcing the new status quo, and there are also brief ties to Absolute Power. Best of all, the title story doesn’t overstay its welcome in having Batman solve an unsolvable problem, which is what we want. An epilogue pretty well resets Batman’s world to what it once was. Alfred’s not back, and there are a few superficial changes, but before the final chapters Batman’s satisfactorily back in business in familiar form.
Several artists contribute, all good, but most prominently and most excellently Jorge Jiménez, again a towering beacon of quality. It’s also nice to see Denys Cowan back on Batman after a long absence. He actually gets to draw very little of Batman himself as what’s on offer is a character study of a criminal henchman with a career going back years who figures he’s now in a position to step up a level. It’s a tour of Gotham in the company of someone who needs to wake up and smell the coffee, but won’t, and Zdarksy brings it home beautifully.
The remainder of the collection ties in with Absolute Power, and this time the intrusion is prolonged. Zdarsky and Mike Hawthorne provide a standalone story for which extra reading isn’t required featuring Batman and Catwoman infiltrating a base controlled by the Suicide Squad. After the cleverness of the title story, though, this is small potatoes despite a sort of Batman vs. Superman battle and a neat ending.
It’s presumably for the sake of completion that two further tie-ins appear, neither of them featuring Batman. Tini Howard and Mariana Ignazzi star Harley Quinn stopping a desperate situation while Kelly Thompson and Mattia de Iulis produce a Birds of Prey tie-in, both fine for fans of those comics, but why are they here?
The title story is very good, provided you’re in agreement with the revisions it introduces, but the remainder is average. Zdarsky concludes his definition of Batman with The Dying City.
