The war with Joker has ended, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lasting scars that Batman will now have to carry. Spoilers for Batman #101 follow.
Now that the first big arc of James Tynion IV’s Batman run has wrapped up, what will the series look like moving forward? Well, if you were wondering if it was going to take long to see how Tynion and co. were going to now handle the series, well the simple answer is, not long at all. The brunt of this issue focuses on how Batman will move forward post “Joker War” and well, it feels like the series is about to become a lot closer to the ground.
This issue basically serves as a coda to what “Joker War” is as a story. Sure, there were the epilogues present at the end of Batman #100, but this issue feels like the true ending of said story. The ramifications of plot points are spelled out here as well as the fact that other plots are set up, mainly one involving Grifter. Because of the coda-like nature of this issue though, it doesn’t really feel like much actually happens in it.
Why doesn’t it feel like much happens in this issue though? It’s because it’s almost entirely dialogue, except for one really solid fight scene between Batman and Grifter. Now, dialogue driven issues can be great, but it does fall flat a bit here. Bruce’s financial situation and his options are a bit murky and don’t make the most sense, but they work well enough to explain why Batman won’t be as well off monetarily anymore. We all know that won’t last long, but it’s a nice change to the status quo at least for a bit.
My biggest problem with this issue though is the decision to have Selina and Bruce take a one-year break from each other so that they can sort their individual lives out because of the fallout of “Joker War.” It’s better than them taking a break for contrived reasons as it’s clear that they are still very much in love with each other, but it’s frustrating that Selina won’t continue to play as a big of a role in this book. But hey, at least Batman/Catwoman is on the horizon.
After having Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey as the art team for the past six issues, it’s a bit weird to not see them here, but at least someone who has put in consistent work on this run so far, Guillem March, handles this issue with Morey still on as the colorist. March does a solid job with this issue, especially with his page layouts. The aforementioned fight is fantastic double page spread that is incredibly intense and is pace wonderfully. As for the rest of the issue though, it’s hard for an artist to keep momentum going with a dialogue heavy issue, but he does so here. None of the pages feel stalled, pacing wise, even if the dialogue itself isn’t the best.