Comic Info
Comic Name: Batman (Volume 3)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mikel Janin/Mitch Gerads/Hugo Petrus
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2017
Batman (3) #11
Reprints Batman (3) #9-15 (December 2016-March 2017). Bane has something Batman needs. Using the Psycho Pirate, Bane is trying to control his addition to Venom, but Batman needs Psycho Pirate to help Gotham Girl. To do it, Batman will need one of the strange teams he’s ever recruited: The Ventriloquist, Punch & Jewelee, and Bronze Tiger. There is one more key to Batman’s quest, and the inclusion of Catwoman could lead to the truth and a reckoning for the murders for which Catwoman finds herself on death row.
Written by Tom King, Batman Volume 2: I Am Suicide is a DC Comics Rebirth title. Following Batman Volume 1: I Am Gotham, the collection features art by Mikel Janin, Mitch Gerads, and Hugo Petrus. The issues in the collection were also included in Batman: Rebirth Deluxe Edition—Book 1.
I read almost all of the New 52 Batman. I never have been the biggest Batman fan, but for some reason Snyder and the handoff to King has been interesting enough to keep me on the series for the most part. The launch of Rebirth did cause me problems however and the first two stories were a bit of a struggle…it feels like it is trying too hard.
The story is divided into the “I Am Suicide” storyline and the two issue “Rooftops”. The “I Am Suicide” story has Batman with a really unrealistically complex team raiding Santa Prisca to capture Psycho Pirate who is the only one who can fix Gotham Girl. For this, Batman is willing to compromise a lot of his ethics and put others at risk (and these criminals are willing to take risks that don’t seem worth the risk). The bizarre kidnap/rescue plan of course comes together perfectly, and it makes me think of how much work and effort Bane put into his original plans to break Batman…but that was somehow more realistic.
Batman (3) #14
The second storyline deals with the ramifications of the raid. Catwoman has learned that she’ll escape death row for the murder of the people who blew up the orphanage (which isn’t really explained in this volume) and she has one last night to spend with Batman. After some crime-fighting and “extracurricular activities”, Catwoman runs off. Batman discovers the real killer is Holly Robinson (whose character has been put through the ringer over years)…Catwoman is cleared and Holly goes on the run. It was necessary, but once again, it feels too perfect. The part of issues I do like however is when Catwoman’s origin is played with with Bruce remember one first encounter from her original appearance, and Catwoman remembering another first encounter from Frank Millar’s Year One storyline.
Both Snyder’s run on Batman, and King’s stuff here is more interesting to me than a standard Batman story, but they both are problematic in their own sense. I like some of the risks and dynamics that King is taking, but it feels a bit like he thinks more of the story than it really is. Time will tell, but it is providing some different and new takes on a character who has been around for ages. Batman 2: I Am Suicide is followed by Batman 3: I Am Bane.
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