The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh Saga has had its fair share of ups and downs. Things appear to be on an upswing as we are all in on seeing the build to Absolute Power, which Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is headlining. There are still a lot of questions heading into the latest big DC Universe event about how the Batman Family will be positioned. With Damian Wayne’s Robin getting his own Zur-En-Arrh counterpart in the last issue. How will things go next? Let’s find out with Batman #148.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Jorge Jiménez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
BATMAN #148 SOLICITATION
“IT’S BATMAN VS. BATMAN IN THE “DARK PRISONS” FINALE! It all comes down to this: Batman versus Batman! With Damian’s life — and the future of Gotham — hanging in the balance, nothing can prepare either version of the Dark Knight for what’s about to happen!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
With how things have gone thus far and Absolute Power around the corner Batman #148 delivered some genuine surprises. It is a credit to Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez storytelling that they built a villain in Zur-En-Arrh that did feel unbeatable. That unbeatable aura made the Batman Family defeating Zur-En-Arrh be even more satisfying.
With how unbeatable Batman of Zur-En-Arrh has been built the entire first half of this issue did leave you wondering how things would get resolved. Zur-En-Arrh has such control over Gotham City that it did seem as though this is how things would be left for Absolute Power. Zdarsky utilized the knowledge of Zur-En-Arrh’s teased key role in Absolute Power to this story’s advantage. There was an air of around things would turn out with Bruce Wayne defeated again.
All of this made Bruce having Tim Drake make the call to assemble the Batman Family work even more. Bruce understood that because of their wins over him that Zur-En-Arrh and Vandal Savage would have their guard dropped just enough for him to take advantage. Right away, he used this as a chance to get back to the Batcave and use a part of it that even Vandal didn’t know about.
Bruce maximized the time he had to make sure he properly apologized to the Batman Family. While Tim and Damian forgave him the things Bruce has been doing recently can’t just be swept under the rug because of the bigger mission. Zdarsky wrote Bruce’s apology well to show he understood he was ultimately to blame for what he did to make his family lose trust in him. This honesty made the reunion more poignant and their team-up have greater wait.
Through this Batman Family scene Zdarsky was able to provide some great development when it comes to is the real Bruce Wayne. For as long as the character’s been around its been said that Bruce is the mask while Batman is his real self. Zdarsky and Jiménez played into that by Bruce coming to terms with why he even believed this as true. Which works well in the context of Batman of Zur-En-Arrh representing the pure form of this Bruce is the mask idea. For the first time we are seeing Bruce come to terms that Batman isn’t all he is but just one part. This evolution of the character creates intrigue in what it’ll mean for him moving forward.
All of this made the reunited Batman Family working together an even more exciting moment. Though it would’ve been even better if Duke Thomas, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown were in the reunion scene we at least saw that they were part of taking down Zur-En-Arrh. It did feel as though every member of the Batman Family had a key role to play in the story.
There was even a great payoff to Jason Todd’s mind alternation as Bruce showed great trust in his second Robin. While there is no undo button for what Bruce did to him, it showed a strength of character that Jason was confident he can overcome what happened to him. That leading to Jason being the one that gave the opening for Bruce to defeat Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was a great character moment.
The Batman Family reunion, being as satisfying as it was speaking to how big of a threat Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was built to be. They decimated the Batman Family from within with all the actions they forced Bruce to take. Even in during the fight against the reunited Batman Family there was still questions as to how Zur-En-Arrh could or would be defeated. And to the very end we saw Zur-En-Arrh stay true to themselves of being full of confidence until the very end.
The Robin of Zur-En-Arrh in turn was a mix bag. It did give Tim Drake an important role to save Damian. Though after its big introduction Robin of Zur-En-Arrh was nothing more than a distraction so that Damian and Tim couldn’t be available to join the others in the fight. It did make Robin of Zur-En-Arrh just a plot device character and nothing more. Though we at least, finally, got a new costume for Tim Drake that Jiménez designed in a way that it can grow on the reader the more he appears in it.
While the ball was dropped with Robin of Zur-En Arrh this issue had by far the best presentation of Daniel Captio. For as much time has been invested in Captio’s importance to Bruce Wayne’s path to become Batman all of his dialogue has felt one-note. Here his character presentation worked in compliment to the greater Zur-En-Arrh story. What’ll be particularly interesting from what Captio did is that it set up Batman’s Rogues Gallery to evolve and be presented in new ways post-Absolute Power.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez knocked it out of the park with how they concluded the “Dark Prisons” story arc. From beginning to end Batman #148 had everything to make all the build up to this final battle against Zur-En-Arrh worth the journey. From Bruce Wayne’s personal growth to the reunion of the Batman Family, this was a great ending that builds greater excitement for what Zdarsky has planned next.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9.5 Night Girls out of 10
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