Batman #5 Review

Writer: Tom King /Artist: David Finch / DC Comics Issue #5 of Batman works well when it comes to using secondary characters to improve the story of the primary character. But, in this arc, that primary character isn’t even Batman. It’s the city of Gotham. While Gotham, the superhero, has had his emotions intensified to a blinding rage, it’s safe to say that the events of the past 24 hours would have led to similar results anyway. So Batman tries to de-escalate the situation by letting the novice hero understand that Gotham-the-City can’t truly ever be saved, but it can surely be lost and the battle to prevent that from happening is non-stop. After trying to make himself appear to be at fault for everything that’s gone wrong, he learns the situation is past the point of de-escalation and calls reinforcements. While King gets to open up the DC toy chest and play with some other great characters from the Justice League, he doesn’t let their presence overtake the story, which would be understandable if it were to happen. Instead, they show up, spend a couple pages doing their thing, then it’s back to Batman defending Gotham-the-City from Gotham-the-Superhero with every weapon in his arsenal. We finally learn the weakness and full origin of the mysterious new heroes through some feel-good Duke Thomas moments and it pays off because it looks like we’re going to get another main character added to the Bat-ranks. Notes

• Alfred Pennyworth is the definition of a ride or die. Literally.
• Gotham Girl and Duke Thomas could become a thing and I’m really excited about that.
• Seeing Gotham single-handedly take out the Justice League means this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him. I hope. That comeback could be one for the ages.

8.5 Destroyed Batmobiles Out of 10

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