Batman #65 Review

by Hussein Wasiti on February 20, 2019

Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Guillem March
Colouring by Tomeu Morey
Lettering by Steve Wands
 
As THE PRICE completes its third, penultimate chapter, I find myself knowing less about the story than I did when it first started a few weeks ago. I understand why it exists, as it is giving series writer Tom King a bit of a break from the hectic twice-monthly schedule, but I don't understand it from a plotting point of view, or even a thematic one.
 
I genuinely don't think this story is going to actually, really conclude next issue. I think this story is just going to set up the next stage of King's run, or perhaps influence something down the line. This issue is just a series of nothing happening, with every event taking place suddenly reversed at the cliffhanger. I was interested when a particular character from King's run returns here, but it is almost immediately done away with and any momentum I had in the issue is gone.
 
What's Claire's deal, exactly? I'm referring to Gotham Girl. She wants to be a hero, and laments that she wasn't with her family when they were mugged and saved by Batman. She claims that this gave her brother a better "origin story." Clearly this character has the potential to be a very subversive superhero character, but Joshua Williamson is either restrained by King's plot, or doesn't know what do with her. If she's so concerned with being a better hero than Batman and the Flash, then why is she trying to resurrect her brother from the dead? Won't that mean that she'll be back to living in his shadow, following his every move as opposed to forging her own path? This isn't really addressed in the issue. I don't even understand the ending.
 
Guillem March does a hell of a job with this issue, though. I'm not sure if March has ever worked with Tomeu Morey before, but their work together is incredible and this might be the best March has ever looked. He does tone down his style to make the characters seem a little less exaggerated, which is fine, but the typical March characteristics still come out every once in a while and I found that very appealing, visually speaking.
 
This is just very misguided. There's nothing much wrong with this issue technically, but nothing makes much sense as Williamson is left to juggle old Tom King plotlines that were never well-explained to begin with.
 

Our Score:

5/10

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