You Say Omega and I Say...
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Ryan Benjamin, Christian Duce, Riccardo Federici, Guillem March
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 30, 2021
Whatever you thought of Fear State, we have one last issue of James Tynion Batman to get through before he goes off to all that Substack money. Sure, the Fear State event is over, but this Omega issue sets up some stuff for Joshua Williamson and Mariko Tamaki while giving us some parting information on some of Tynion's characters that we may or may not see ever again. It may not feel necessary, but it's more than an afterthought. How much more? Let's find out...
The issue is framed around Batman eventually picking up and taking Jonathan Crane to the newly constructed Arkham Tower. I know that Gotham is a hellhole that can't get out of its way lately, but you have to give it to them when it comes to building giant towers in the middle of the city, right? I know that Hugo Strange's SAFE facility was just repurposed here, but even that seemed to go up over a hot weekend! Plus, Hugo burnt that shit down!
So what do we get in this big Omega issue besides construction feats of wonder? Well, we find out Miracle Molly is now in Blackgate and may have borrowed one of Mayor Nakano's eye patches. I wonder what Punchline is going to say about that. I mean Molly being there, not the eye patch. I think she'll love the eye patch. We also see that while Nightwing and the Batgirls succeeded in taking down Skybase-01, they have caused an environmental disaster, but that means more jobs getting that shit cleaned up! USA...USA...
As far as the major players in the Fear State story, Simon Saint is on house arrest, which means he had a hell of a good lawyer, but he also may have caught the eye of Amanda Waller. Poison Ivy has decided to be maybe a villain, a hero, or perhaps something in-between. Yep, Tynion just put her back in the toy box and is letting someone else fight that fight down the road. As for Peacekeeper-01... well, he up and ran off, possibly to be seen again in the Future...State...
It's hard to say if Fear State was able to avert Gotham's Future State issues. I mean, it can't all go down like that "possible future" since that would feel like a complete repeat of this. But, on the other hand, it's not like Gotham and Batman ever learn from their mistakes, right?!?
The issue ends with a Clownhunter & Ghostmaker sendoff and Batman dragging Scarecrow's ass into Arkham Tower. There is a cool deal here, though; seeing a Batman Forever nod that will be interesting to watch in the upcoming Detective Comics story.
This issue is okay. It gives you the Animal House "where are they now" ending, which sets up the upcoming Bat-Books. I usually don't love Riccardo Federici's art, but I liked it here, so you can stop yelling at me! The rest of the artists all do a good job with their sections as well. Overall, though, this might be more for Fear State completionists since most of the important stuff will undoubtedly get explained when and if the characters involved show up in another book.
Bits and Pieces:
While Fear State ended a couple of weeks ago, this Omega issue puts a nail in the coffin. James Tynion's time on Batman is over, and while this issue isn't a grand goodbye, it ties up things and sets up the Bat-books going forward. It may not be great or necessary, but it looks good and does what it sets out to do.
6.5/10
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