I Am Batman #3 Review

Assault On Precinct 13!

Written By: John Ridley

Art By: Stephen Segovia, Christian Duce, Rex Lokus, Troy Peteri

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 9, 2021

Let's head on back to Gotham and check in on how Jace Fox's time as Batman is treating him. You know, since he kind of pulled a double-edge sword last issue where he revealed that he's not the Batman that doesn't kill.... but then also revealed that he's not the Batman that everyone needs to be afraid of for a different reason. Things are crazy in Gotham with The Seer creating militia groups calling themselves the Moral Authority and maybe with all the other Bat-Family members being busy with the Magistrate, Scarecrow, and all-around Fear State, it's on Jace's shoulders to take the Seer down all by himself..... even though it looks like The Seer is going to be The Batgirls' villain as well. Let's check it out.

For this issue of I Am Batman we have ourselves an Assault on Precinct 13 situation where the events of the previous issue have led The Seer to send her multiple groups of the Moral Authority to the juvenile detention center to supposedly break out Morris Caulfield, the teenager shooter who previously killed Anarky, but more so it seems to simply call out Jace Fox as Batman since his mother is currently at the detention center and from what we got in the previous issue, it doesn't seem like The Seer wants another mask getting into her business.  

This is an action-packed issue that continues to show you what kind of Batman Jace Fox is, whether he's a rookie or not and I like the way that this Seer problem is going in this book. I just wish that the overall timeline of events felt like it matched up to everything else going on currently in Gotham because The Seer feels like she has more of an iron grip on the city in this series and the Simon Saint we see in this feels like someone completely different than the one we see falling apart in Fear State.... not to mention forcing a human trafficking aspect to him with the Batman: Second Son villain Arkadine or whatever nefarious things that character was doing for Simon Saint. There's some cool stuff here but it almost feels like it's taking place in a world similar to the one we know and love and not actually going on at the same time...... which is a bit of a problem.

All in all, the art in this book is fantastic and I love the action scenes between not only the Moral Authority and the GCPD that are stuck without backup at the juvenile detention center but also the action scene of when Batman finally arrives on the scene. There are a lot of great-looking things going on in this book and the drama and characteristics of characters are being deepened with each issue and I really appreciate that angle to this book..... There's just the timeline aspect and the way that some of the other characters that are featured heavily in other books who appear here are handled that makes this not feel connected to the broader DC continuity. Yeah, maybe this book is a bit in the future and maybe things will right themselves as the issues go along but right now there are just some weird aspects to characters and the city that throw me off a bit in a series that I find myself liking a lot.

Bits and Pieces:

Jace Fox is still trying to find himself as Gotham's newest Batman and while he will make some mistakes along the way, it's these rookie aspects and the drama that will ensue from them that keeps me interested in this title..... Not to mention that it looks great. I just wish some timeline and character elements fit in better with the rest of the DCU because this book still feels like it's taking place in the future.

7.8/10