A new vigilante has come to Gotham in order to become its new protector. His only problem though? Batman is still standing. Spoilers for Batman #102 follow.
Now that the epilogue for “Joker War” is out of the way, Batman #102 can begin moving forward past that arc. Obviously, the ramifications of “Joker War” are still present, but there’s no meandering feeling in this issue. Rather, there’s a lot of quick-moving, forward momentum here and it’s all thanks to one thing. It’s all thanks to the introduction of a new character called Ghost-Maker.
Really, the reason that this issue works well is because of the introduction of Ghost-Maker. The issue doesn’t shy away from showing who he is, what his goals are, and what his methods are, but there’s still enough mystery to keep you intrigued in him as a character. Writer James Tynion IV makes it very clear that Batman and Ghost-Maker have a past with each other, but it’s unclear about how deep that past goes right now. However, it’s very clear that the two are two sides of the same coin.
Beyond just Ghost-Maker’s introduction in this issue though, there’s some nice character moments as well. Batman and Oracle have a great repartee with each other early on in this issue, which is very reminiscent of “No Man’s Land.” The difference lands though with Barbara contemplating whether she should just continue being Oracle or if she should continue to go on as Batgirl. It’s quick, but it’s nice to see her actually think about that part of her life.
There’s a great moment for Harley Quinn as well as we get to see her trying to get an apartment. It’s very mundane, but it’s nice to see Harley trying to go on the straight and narrow. For years, she’s gone back and forth as an anti-hero and villain, so it’s nice to see them sticking with the slightly more heroic version showcased in “Joker War.”
Handling art for most of this issue though is Carlo Pagulayan with inks by Danny Miki and it’s really solid for most of the issue. There’s nothing mind-blowing about the art here, but the lines are very clean, the inks bring the right amount of mood necessary, and the layouts tell the story well. The couple of fight scenes in this issue are also really well done too.
The only big problem with the art in this issue though is the fact that Carlos D’Anda handles a couple of pages in the middle of it. D’Anda’s art isn’t bad. In fact, it’s quite charming and he draws a solid Harley Quinn. However, the style between Pagulayan and D’Anda are markedly different and the shift back and forth between the two is jarring. It’s not the most jarring artist shift ever, but it’s still jarring.