Batman #104 Review

Writer: James Tynion IV / Artists: Ryan Benjamin, Danny Miki, Bengal, and Guillem March / DC Comics Batman #104 gave us a peek into the backstory of Ghost-Maker and we learned why he could end up being one of Batman’s most challenging foes in a while.  In a flashback, we see that Ghost-Maker was a lot like Bruce Wayne. Like Bruce, he also traveled the world to learn every form of martial arts there was to learn. He even had a similar goal to become the world’s best crime fighter. Where he and Bruce differ is that he’s not doing this for vengeance. Or justice. He’s doing this just because he can. And because he respects the craft.  Yes, you read that right. Mans wants to kick ass simply because it’s something to do and he wants to be the best. Not because he cares about the people he might be saving.  What really worked for this issue was the opportunity to see Ghost-Maker from a few different perspectives in time. In the present, where he is actively trying to prove that Bruce has been going about protecting Gotham the wrong way. Then, there’s a flashback shown from Nightwing’s perspective containing the only time that he’s ever seen Ghost-Maker. Batman was as emotionally compromised as he’d ever been and in a rare moment, Dick needed to give him reassurance that he was doing things the right way. Lastly, there’s the earliest flashback, where Bruce and Ghost-Maker are fifteen years old. Even then you can see how much they differed, even though they had simila…