DC’s All In Initiative Comes for Batman in a Bold New Jumping On Issue

Whoever said that you only get one chance to make a first impression obviously hasn’t been reading comic books long enough, as in the world of comic books, there are often MULTIPLE chances to make a first impression…well, if you’re successful enough with the first time that the comic book company lets you make the later impressions, of course. You see, in the world of comic books, there is such a thing as a “jumping on” issue, an issue designed to be treated as if someone happened to sample your comic book with this issue, they would hopefully be compelled to continue to read it. Obviously, EVERY issue of a comic book should be compelling enough to get people to want to read more of the story, but the “jumping on” issue is definitely a distinctive SORT of story that is designed to make things as simple as possible for a new reader to follow, while having enough engaging ideas that readers will want to keep reading. DC’s “All In” initiative is based on doing this sort of thing for its entire line of comic books starting in October, and Batman #153 is a perfect example of how to do a jumping on issue.

Batman #153 is from writer Chip Zdarsky, artist Jorge Jiménez, colorist Tomeu Morey, and letterer Clayton Cowles, and it is the second “jumping on” point of Zdarsky and Jiménez’s run, following their debut issue in Batman #125, which was also an excellent introduction to their particular talents (Jiménez’s bold, dynamic action-driven artwork, and Zdarsky’s clever, and twisty approach to the Dark Knight, with that issue having the Penguin frame Batman for murder, which kicked off a WHOLE big storyline when the fail safe in case Batman ever turned to murder was activated). This issue does a similarly fine job, although since they’ve now been on the job longer, the two are even more assured in their skills, and thus the results are even more compelling, and the story feels fresher as a new start.

How does Gotham City change in this issue?

The major changes to Gotham City is that Wayne Enterprises (with Bruce Wayne at the helm again) has put its money into the non-profit sector, specifically helping to revitalize the city, which is felt in the opening sequence, with a hilarious bit where a newly arrived family gets lost in a dark alley, and is approached by an ominous looking man…who promptly helps them with directions. We see that Batman was monitoring the whole situation, celebrating the relative peace and quiet in the city while he can with his old friend, Jim Gordon, who is working as a private detective (now without his old partner, Harvey Bullock, who is part of the GCPD again).

However, another major player in the new Gotham City is Nygmatech, a cybersecurity company started by Edward Nygma, the Riddler, who has seemingly decided to use his obsession with solving problems to, well, you know, solve problems for everyday people with a cybersecurity company.

How do the Riddler’s plans mess with Batman’s life?

Batman realizes that the Riddler can’t possibly be on the up and up with his new company, and we see that the Riddler HAS essentially stolen the algorithm that powers his company from the work of Victor Fries, Mister Freeze, but generally speaking, Batman and Riddler are at a stalemate for now, and Zdarsky gets to do some interesting character work with the Riddler, who evokes the classic “We were drawn to Gotham City BECAUSE of Batman” deal, but frames it in the proper way, which is that, sure, that might be what you tell yourself, but we all know that if it wasn’t Batman, you’d have become obsessed with something else.

The issue also introduces a new “superhero,” an absurd patriotic-themed hero known as Commander Star, who just opens fire on some bad guys with his gun, shooting one of the crooks in the leg. Batman, of course, is outraged, but the problem he has is that the current commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department is Vandal Savage, and so things are not looking great for Batman as a superhero, even if Gotham City itself is trending upwards, as Savage is all about propping up Star, while outlawing Batman.

The sequences introducing Star are excellent Jiménez pages, and if you’ve read Jiménez’s recent work on Mark Millar’s Nemesis, the Star character should feel very familiar, as it evokes a lot of the great work that Jiménez did on Nemesis, with a masked hero with a lot of deadly weapons. Jiménez is such a powerful artist, and Morey’s colors accentuate the whole endeavor beautifully (the colors work best when we see the various shifts from Batman’s action sequences to Bruce Wayne visiting Dr. Leslie Thompkins).

Throughout the issue, we see that the loss of Lucius Fox has left Bruce Wayne with a new C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprises, and she is scheming with Riddler for a merger of Nygmatech and Wayne Enterprises, and when Bruce naturally turns it down, we see that there is a secret twist planned involving Bruce Wayne’s….brother?!!?

I mean, come on, if that doesn’t pique your interest for next issue, what WILL?

This was a great start to DC’s “All In” Initiative, with two of its top creators in Zdarsky and Jiménez celebrating what makes them such good creators, the mixture of action and character-driven storytelling by Zdarsky (with humor, and some interesting political commentary thrown in for good measure) and Jiménez nailing the character work while being one of the best action-centric artists around.

Source: DC