Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Batman #45
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Tony S. Daniel
Colors by Tomeu Morey
First of all, I love the cover for this issue by Tony S. Daniel as well as the variant cover by Jim Lee. Secondly, this issue is just weird. It looks like people in Gotham are becoming Jokers and one of the victims is Hal Jordan with Booster Gold there to witness what Hal does next, which is bizarre and tragic. Booster decides to go find Batman and has Skeets with him. The next few panels confirm that we are on an alternate Earth in the multiverse. I like the fact that Tim Drake works for Wayne Engineering and that Ras rules most of Europe and Asia.
Booster’s presence on this Earth and his mission are still unclear as he signals Batman and gets more than he bargained for when the hero arrives. The weirdness continues throughout this issue up to the end and I kept wondering why this story and why now. It’s a little weird to have this story focus on Booster Gold, but it is a fun story overall. The art in the issue is amazing and I love the back and forth between Booster and Batman. There’s some great world building in this issue that makes it interesting to read.
If there was something that didn’t work it was Booster Gold. The gift he gives to Bruce is asinine and childish. There’s no way that he could not know that this would be one of the possible outcomes of what he did. I could see if this was the product of an accident, but the fact that he consciously did what he did makes it even worse in the context of this story. Still, it was a good book and interesting enough to bring me back for the next issue.
