Batman #128: This issue is spectacular. If you didn't believe Zdarksy and Jiménez were going to deliver an epic story after the first three issues, this issue will make a believer of you.
Zdarksy leans fully into the Tower of Babel as Bruce helplessly watches Failsafe use Superman's moves against him (as he would do). Failsafe lures Superman into a position where he can stab him with a kryptonite shard. Bruce and Clark are only saved because Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkwoman, and Martian Manhunter arrive.
Realizing he's outnumbered, Failsafe leads them to a Gotham block that Bruce owns. Showing how deeply the Failsafe program ran, Failsafe deploys a series of countermeasures designed specifically to take out Black Canary, Hawkwoman, and Martian Manhunter. When Nightwing wonders how Failsafe plans to take out him and Green Arrow, Failsafe responds simply that he'll do it personally, since he can clearly just beat them to death. Fun!
I can't explain how brilliant this entire sequence is. Zdarksy shows how Zur-en-Arrh has anticipated the Justice League's every move since Bruce would've anticipated every move. In so doing, Zdarsky also displays an extensive and intuitive grasp of Bruce's character. Plus, Jiménez is on fucking fire throughout these scenes. He not only delivers amazing action sequences but also somehow captures the terror on the heroes' faces as Failsafe surprises them at each turn.
To that point, Zdarksy also uses small moments to convey the situation's seriousness. For example, Green Arrow dryly remarks, "That's...bad," when he and Tim discover Bruce slumped over Clark. (Bruce lost consciousness after bandaging Clark's wound.) I mean, I think we'd all respond with a certain level of terror at seeing Batman and Superman seemingly dead.
At this point, Green Arrow metaphorically throws the keys of the League's ship to Tim and tells him to escape with Bruce and Clark. A barely conscious Bruce sends Tim to the Fortress of Solitude to heal Superman, since he's the world's hero. Before he dives off the plane (so that Failsafe doesn't follow him to the Fortress), Bruce tells Tim how proud he is of him. Again, it's a small moment, but it's also a sure sign that Bruce thinks that he's going to die.
But Bruce (and Zdarsky) isn't done. Aquaman saves him, and Bruce awakens two weeks later mostly healed. Aquaman then informs him that Failsafe has taken over Gotham to goad him into returning. It's a full Brother Eye situation as some Bat-Family members (like Oracle) are captured and other ones (like Cassandra Cain and The Signal) are on the run from the robot minions that Failsafe has patrolling Gotham. Zdarsky ends the issue with Bruce contemplating his cowl and asking himself what the plan is, in a way doesn't inspire much confidence.
The "Zur-en-Arrh: Year One" back-up story is just as compelling as we watch Bruce undergoing his "treatments" to create Zur-en-Arrh. Bruce wants privacy, but Commissioner Gordon gets him on the red phone when Joker starts poisoning people again. Bruce meets Gordon who comments that Joker is behaving like he used to be. Bruce observes that he's behaving like he was before Dick became Robin and lightened up everyone. (I love this comment, a sly almost ret-con of Joker's more cartoonish iterations.) But Bruce realizes the victims of Joker's poison aren't smiling and wonders if Joker isn't broken like he is, a truly terrifying prospect.
In case I didn't make it clear, this issue is a candidate for Issue of the Year. I love everything Zdarksy and his creative team are doing here.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus #3: This issue is rough. The script is basically a never-ending sequence of the characters uttering clichés. For example, Dixon, Junkett, and Miguel all utter some version of, "I knew there was something different about [Elle] when I first laid eyes on her." The plot is better, but at times the visuals don't match what the characters are describing. For example, when Junkett reveals her stash of explosives for Elle to bring to Barnes' facility, Miguel calls her a genius, even though he's just looking at a large metal box. I'm hoping next issue is stronger than this one.
Minor Threats #2: Although this issue isn't as great as the first one, it's still a good time.
Brain Tease puts together the pieces to the puzzle of Stickman's motives and deduces that he's heading to the Trophy Room Nightclub to brag about killing Kid Dusk. (Brain Tease realized that Stickman would've been able to see the Trophy Room's spotlights from his prison cell.) Brain Tease is right, though not in the way he thinks.
In a truly grotesque and shocking scene, Stickman's henchmen roll out Kid Dusk's corpse on a motorized wheelchair. The Insomniac appears and cries over Kid Dusk's body, leading Playtime to realize that Stickman was chumming the waters to get revenge on the elite criminals who never approved of him. Playtime follows Stickman's henchmen onto the roof, but she's wounded when one of their bullets ricochets off a pursuing Insomniac's armor.
Again, although it lacks of some of the first issue's charms, it compensates by showing the very real stakes at play here. The Insomniac's rampage through the Trophy Room makes you realize the Continuum may be too late to stop him from going too far. It also makes you wonder if Playtime is going to realize how far over her head she is here.
Undiscovered Country #21: Now we're getting somewhere.
The Resistance duo bring Ace, Chang, and Janet to a bunker under the completely obliterated Forbidden City, where they're surprised to learn that Pavel is leading the Resistance. Pavel explains that he survived and took over Destiny and then walks the trio through this sub-zone's status quo.
We learn that America opened its doors 13 days after the team entered it and the team emerged with a cure for Sky. Despite the world seemingly on its way to reconciliation, Chang and Janet saw something in America that convinces the AEA and PAPZ to destroy America. Instead, America makes short work of the Alliance in a three-week war, establishing Pax Americana.
Beyond the obvious question of what Chang and Janet saw, I'm also curious how exactly Chang and Janet didn't know that America would win. After all, Pavel describes America unleashing all the horrors that we've already seen on the world. How did Chang and Janet not think it was going to do that?
Snyder and Soule don't dwell on that question, as it's clear we're not supposed to be thinking too hard about these hypothetical outcomes. When President Graves somehow invades the bunker under the Forbidden City, his men mow down everyone. Just like Charlotte and Valentina, Chang and Janet awaken to a new reality, one where they and Pavel rule the world.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Valentina aren't doing so well. They make their way to Sam in Pearl Harbor while discussing how they still feel their wounds from their previous deaths and feel weaker. Sam confirms that they only have so many lives left, and an irate Valentina pins him to the ship where he's a captain so that he can die with them. Instead of moving to the future, they discover themselves in the middle of the Civil War.
This arc has definitely lit a fire under this series in a positive way, but I'll also admit that some of these mysteries are getting old. In a way, nothing here really helps us understand more about Aurora and the series' core mysteries, as we're spending our time just sussing out Zone History's mysteries. I'm sure they'll be connected, but it's probably about time to get there.
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