I Am Batman #13 Review

The Question Is, Is That A Girl Wonder?

Written By: John Ridley

Art By: Christian Duce, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Rex Lokus, Troy Peteri

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 13, 2022

I Am Batman #13 has the reader heading back to NYC to check in on Jace Fox and his role as New York's Batman. Previously we saw Renee Montoya show up as the Question looking to get Batman's help in finding out who killed Anarky back towards the beginning of this series and for some damn reason, all the clues point to the main nogoodnik detective that's been giving Detective Chubb and Batman a hard time throughout our Big Apple adventure. Let's see if things play out better than they seem where shoehorning a cop from New York to a murder in Gotham is our main story. Let's jump into this issue and check it out.

I Am Batman #13 has Batman and The Question continue their investigation into figuring out if Detective Keenan is the man responsible for killing Anarky.... even though there was a big Seer element to that story that no one is talking about anymore, the actual bits that concern this are the least interesting parts of this book because in the background we have Tiff Fox continuing her one girl crusade in trying to find herself but also trying to do in a way that helps others around her...... since she's still dealing with the guilt of her sister Tam becoming a victim of the Ratcatcher.  

Now while Tiff trying to do the right thing and make sure that a new acquaintance she made in the previous issue doesn't go back to gang life comes off kind of cringy at times and it takes a bunch of people to tell Tiff to mind her own business and it's kind of concerning that she doesn't, this aspect does lead to something that I've wanted from this book since its inception and that's Tiff becoming a costumed hero herself and while I can't say that she's now a Robin, she's well on her way to being the sidekick to New York's Batman that I've wanted all along. Now if that's not enough story for you, you also get the backstory of Jace's friend and possible love interest, Hadiyeh and we get a twist into who really killed Anarky and why.  

All in all, the art continues to be great in this series but with that, there isn't much action to be found in this issue since every time we get a scene change or a character change, it's essentially just people standing around and talking to each other but with that..... they look good while doing it. As for the story, I have to say that this Anarky investigation while feeling forced is now coming off feeling boring on top of it and I can only hope that with the small twist that we get here about it that it will lead to something more interesting because while I like these characters and this setting, everyone just seems to want to stand around and give you some moral question about what should be done and how and this series is playing off more like a PSA at the end of a cartoon than anything else, but because it's a part of a story, the situations just feel like they come out of nowhere and you wonder why anyone would actually talk like that.  

Bits and Pieces:

While I do love the art in I Am Batman #13 and the progression of Tiff Fox's character, I have to say the majority of this story came off as a snooze fest and that's really disappointing for a book that I was originally loving, especially when it came to New York City. Hopefully, with the two developments we got in this issue the next issue will start raising the stakes and make this title one that is a must-read going forward... Hopefully.

6/10