Batman #91 Review and *SPOILERS*

It’s Going Down

Written By: James Tynion IV

Art By: Rafael Albuquerque, Jorge Jimenez, Carlo Pagulayan, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey
Letters By: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 18, 2020

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Before we jump right into this newest issue of Batman, normally I take this opening paragraph to talk about where we are in the series and I will do that in a couple sentences but before I do that, I wanted to send my best wishes to all of our readers out there and encourage you all to remain safe during this trying time. Remember to stay alert, but not anxious. Wash you hands for 20 seconds often, avoid touching your face, and if at all possible, try to avoid contact with others. With that being said, Batman is currently in an odd place because we’ve finally gotten to the meat of Tynion’s first storyline and well, there hasn’t been a whole lot to be really excited about at this point. Not to say that the book isn’t enjoyable but we’ve been teased so many things for the past few issues, I’m just hoping to see some actual story progression in this issue. Let’s jump into the latest issue and see where it takes us.

We open our issue with The Joker who is at a local Gotham rooftop bar enjoying a drink as he tells us his side of the story when it comes to the meeting with The Designer. The way he presents it is almost storybookish as he goes through what each of the four visitors wanted but when it came to him he revealed what he knew. He knew that with all their plans in place, The Designer would be able to take advantage of the chaos and take Gotham for himself. Needless to say, Joker didn’t like that at all as he wanted Gotham too and so he killed The Designer. After telling his story to the bartender we see that the bar patrons have been kidnapped and he is using the bar as his staging ground. He makes a call and says that he is ready to make his move now that Batman has set the city up for him. We cut to Deathstroke who is still fleeing from Batman’s drones and their full on attack by the order of Harley Quinn. However, Batman decides to cancel the attack and Harley loses her control over the drones as Lucius sends them back to base. Deathstroke immediately knows that this means that Batman is there with him and we see him appear above Deathstroke in his new Batwing.

The battle between the two starts off but we see that Batman’s mind is somewhere else as his inner monologue reveals that he is trying his best to try and out-think The Designer. Catwoman meets back up with Harley and the two head off to do their own mission but before they do they find that the assassins that they had captured have escaped once again. The Designer suddenly reveals himself on the computers screens throughout Riddler’s lair and he sends his green mist zombies after the two. Back at the Batwing, Batman and Deathstroke have been fighting out on the wing of the plane. Batman tries to reach out to Deathstroke and confides in him. He tells him that he wants to make the city better and that when he changed the game by becoming Batman, criminals followed suit, so he wanted to try something different this time. However, when Deathstroke refuses to back down, Batman grabs him and the two begin falling down toward the street below.

We cut back to Catwoman as she is trying to set something up in Riddler’s computer while Harley keeps Designer’s goons off of her. Catwoman is able to reconnect the traps in Riddler’s lair and once she does she and Harley jump out the nearest window before the place explodes. They survive the leap and gather themselves before Catwoman reveals her plan. She is going to steal Bruce’s money before Designer can. Back on the street, Batman uses a grappling hook to break their fall enough that they both survive. Slade starts to resume his attack but they are interrupted by a live feed from The Designer who tells Slade that his services are no longer needed and he has terminated the contract. The two are then attacked by more of Designer’s green mist zombies as Designer taunts Batman. However, it is revealed that Riddler has now joined Designer’s side and has his own set of traps for Batman. This is where the issue leaves us.

Check out our Batman #91 Video Review

At this point in the story, we are finally beginning to ramp up toward the climax. Joker gives us a little more context about the meeting with The Designer but afterwards we are plunged into an action packed issue. Honestly this issue is a ton of fun to read. There is a lot happening and the book only occasionally slows down to give the reader a small breather before jumping back into the action. In addition, the book has some really incredible art. We are ramping up to our conclusion and while some of the reveals in the previous issues have been a little lackluster, it doesn’t really bog the story down. This issue is exciting to read and a lot of fun and that’s really what I’m looking for in a comic book. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But if you are in for some old fashion Batman action, this issue brings it.

Bits and Pieces:

Tynion’s first story is ramping things up to it’s conclusion and there are plenty of hanging threads still around that an occasional reveal is a welcome sight. There is a ton of action in this book and the writing just has a lot of heart in it. The art team has quite a few artists in it this time around but you can tell that they all really put a ton of effort into this book as it has some of the best art in the comic book industry today. Can’t recommend this issue enough. Hopefully the rest of the story will continue to have things at such a high quality.

8.0/10