I Need a Shot
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: David Marquez, Alejandro Sanchez, John J. Hill
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 28, 2019
While I usually try to avoid anyone who is infected as a general rule, I was pretty excited to figure out the mystery of who the Batman Who Laughs got to. The problem is, DC decided to ruin a big part of it by just announcing a bunch so they could solicit some future books. Way to go! I mean, now I'm stuck with the mystery of if I am as sick of the Batman Who Laughs as I think I am. Well, let's see if I can crack this case...
We open with Clark hanging at the Daily Planet when he gets a call from Batman. While he goes to Watchtower, he can sense something is up and it all goes to hell from there.
It's an okay start, though right out of the gate, it was a little confusing. It makes more sense as you move on and get to Earth-0 and settle in.
We get some of our Batman and Superman and it feels clunky as they think of each other to get the reader up to speed on what Batman and Superman are all about. Batman is moody and Superman is nothing like him. Alright, I was wondering that for a long time! We get to the gist of the story when Gordon tells the Dynamic Duo that a kid has been taken by...a Superman Who Laughs! Okay, that's a pretty cool tweest right out of the gate.
We continue with the idea that Batman and Superman are different as we head to Crime Alley and find out Bruce's parents died there (oh my, really???), name drop the contingency plans and talk more "What Ifs..." as they find the Batman Who Laughs Batcave. It all just seems to happen with no tension whatsoever and really, it's just boring.
Things pick up a little bit as Batman and Superman find out they can't trust anyone and that point is brought home with a very big exclamation point! The issue does end with an awesome cliffhanger, I just wish it wasn't such a slog to get there.
This book does not feel big at all. Maybe it's because we already have so much going on between Year of the Villain, Event Leviathan, Justice/Doom War and more, but this felt very uninspired. Joshua Williamson spends most of his time telling us about the differences between Batman and Superman and if it's for those who don't know that already, what are they going to know about the Batman Who Laughs?!? The book really had an odd focus throughout and leaves me really worried about it going forward. David Marquez's art was good so at least we got that.
Bits and Pieces:
This was not a good start to a series that is already playing catchup to all the big things going on at DC Comics right now. The issue ends with a great cliffhanger, but if you have even a tiny bit of an idea who Batman and Superman are and read the Batman Who Laughs, you can just skip to the last page and come back next month. This was a really big disappointment for me!
5.0/10
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