Batman #42 Comic Recap/Review

Batman #42 Recap/Review – Gotham crumbles.

 

Batman #42 Comic Recap

Two kids are playing with action figures of the old and new Batman action figures.  One boy says that he doesn’t care what anyone says.  The original is Batman.  This new thing?  They can pump out as many toys as they like, but it doesn’t even have a Batmobile.

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Over in his home, Gordon is training.  Julia comes by and shows Gordon that the Powers Corporation is providing Jim with a vehicle of his own.  However, this is quite different from a Batmobile, and Julia refers to it as a Bat-Truck.  The vehicle can be controlled through the mech suit and will serve as a mobile Batcave.  Suddenly Darryl contacts the two, and warns them that something big is brewing in Gotham.

The company has begun to offer people access to a free Bat-app, which allows citizens to call in threats.  Using this app, the Powers operatives are able to funnel alerts, allowing them to respond and have boots on the ground before even 911 calls are coming in.  Gordon suits up and launches in his aerial carrier.  The crisis is happening in the narrows, one of the most under-represented communities in Gotham.  It’s been burned and abandoned to gang warfare many times in the past.  As Gordon thinks on this, he is suddenly attacked by debris flung from a building.

The attacker is a leader of the Triad in this area.  His name is Gee Gee Heung, and his trademark is the sub-dermal horns in his head.  But the man seems to have new abilities, as he is able to manipulate the molecular structure of silicate.  Silicate is a substance found in bricks, stone, and tar, so the man can essentially alter and move the entire city at his will.

Hueng uses the debris to form a massive and monstrous version of Batman, and as he attacks the Dark Knight, Gordon thinks back on an earlier conversation.  At the Gotham City Morgue, Gordon met with the new police commissioner Sawyer.  A man who Jim brought in earlier, alive and well, is dead.  He died from a high-tech shell, referred to as a seed, that was implanted into his body.  It was designed to dissolve and release a massive dose of radiation.  This new device has been used a least five times now, and it seems that somebody is experimenting with it.  Gordon recognizes every one of these victims as people who he has arrested before, so Sawyer says these attacks must be personal and that Jim seems to have his very first supervillain.

Jim thanks the commissioner and prepares to leave, but Sawyer says he won”t be informing Batman of any further developments.  The Powers Corporation wants the GCPD taking the lead here, and in spite of Jim’s protest, he is reminded that he is a state employee.  He has rules to follow, and if he breaks them, they will shut him down.  Sawyer warns Gordon that Batman has always operated outside of the law, and advises Jim to stop what he’s doing now as it is likely to end badly.  Gordon doesn’t respond to this advice, and rather, true to the nature of Batman,  disappears right in front of the police commissioner using cloaking technology.

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Back in the present, the fight isn’t going well.  Batman is unable to penetrate the rocky armour Hueng has built for himself. Jim is forced underwater, and the suit begins to buckle from the strain of the earth mover’s attacks.  Suddenly, Gordon comes up with an idea, and his foe is suddenly crushed by the Bat-truck.

In the aftermath, Hueng is captured, and he tells Gordon that Mr. Bloom is creating a whole garden of enemies.  Before he can say anything more, the seed in his body activates, and the man instantly dies.  The Bat-Truck is destroyed, but the Powers Company will have other models released soon.  As Julia debriefs Gordon back at headquarters, he confronts her with a question.  He knows that she used to work with the original Batman under an assumed name.  She is flustered at this, but Gordon is only interesting in knowing how Batman did his job.  Julia admits that she didn’t work with him for very long, but she came to understand that Bruce never cared about what Batman stood for.  He simply focused on doing what was right, and the idea of what Batman stood for grew from there.  Gordon worries to much about what people think Batman means, so he needs to stop, and just focus on being himself and fighting for what he believes in.  Gordon agrees to keep her secret, and the two agree amicably to continue their work together.

We then cut back to the kids playing with the action figures at school.  They are still fighting over Batman, so one of them suggests they ask Duke, who knew the old Batman before he died.  The boy is quiet, and doesn’t say much, until Mr. Wayne comes by and asks if everything is alright.  Duke says it is, but he honestly does not know what to think about Batman anymore.  We learn Bruce is working at this school as a custodian of sorts, and is getting along well with the staff and student.  However, when he goes to a supply closet, he is surprised to find Jim Gordon waiting for him.  Gordon says he is Batman, and needs to have a talk.

Batman #42 Comic Recap

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Batman #42.

So, there isn’t a ton to say for this review.  On the one hand, I do mostly like this issue for the same reasons as issue 41.  It feels like a breath of fresh air, and I really enjoy the comic’s storytelling and art.  There were some great moments and action in this comic and I do not want to downplay the comic’s tremendous strengths.  But… I don’t know.   This comic felt like the first Batman core series comic I’ve reviewed on this channel thus far where I finally lost the excitement.  I think it was finally too much suspension of disbelief, even for me.  Between all the stuff with the new Batman tech and ideas, the new Batman being an older man who smoked for most of his life and would likely struggle in even a mech suit, and the whole Bruce Wayne thing, I think this comic finally lost me.

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I think this whole idea of Jim Gordon could work, and it more or less is working fine here in this comic.  But it also feels rushed.  Endgame also felt rushed, but that fit the story.  There was a ton of stuff happening at once in that comic which led to it feeling like the actual end of the world for Batman.  Here, we’re not being given the opportunity to let these new characters and this new Batman soak in.  It feels like we’re shuffling from one plot point to the next, and I’m not getting hooked on the new characters, atmosphere, and story.  So I find myself questioning everything.  Is the Bat-Truck dumb?  Do these new characters bring anything to the table?  Why does the whole Bruce Wayne as a janitor thing feel so silly?

And I don’t really have any answers to these questions, nor do I really care, but this is the sort of things I think of when a story is not engaging me.  So I cannot really recommend this comic.  It was… fine, but nothing that special, and definitely something worth skipping.  I’m not even sure what I want this comic to be, nor do I have any real idea what I would recommend it.  I don’t have any problem with a new Batman, so long as he is done right.  Sadly, no matter how I look at this, things just don’t feel right.  Maybe if they took their time with this idea and let us get used to it, and introduced the Bat-Truck, the Bat-App, and the Bat-Gun, and the Bat-whatever at a slower pace, I’d probably like this a bit more.  As it stands this is too much too fast, and I’m just starting to tune this story out.

It’s fine but just feels like a mad rush.  Rush, rush, rush.  Too many comics get caught up in this fast paced environment these days, and in the case of Batman, I can’t help but think they are just running through this Jim Gordon stuff as quick as they can before the next big DC shakeup.  But you just can’t… shift Batman this quickly.  It should be a big deal, and something that we need time getting used to.  But they’re not going to take their time, so we end up with a half-baked product.

Ah well, it’s time to move on.  Hopefully we’ll get some better content moving forward, but  I am left after reading this comic feeling so… disengaged from everything, that I am honestly tempted to stop covering Batman for a little while.  So let me know in the comments section if you’d like me to keep going, or maybe if it is time for me to find something else to do.  It’s up to you guys, so feel free to share your opinion.  Otherwise, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.