Batman #45

‘Batman’ #45 cover by Greg Capullo, Danny Miki & Francisco Perez

• Written by Scott Snyder
• Pencils by Greg Capullo
• Inks by Danny Miki
• Colours by Francisco Perez
• Cover by Capullo, Miki & Perez

When Batman almost gets taken out by a new threat, Jim Gordon might have to reevaluate what it means to wear the cowl before it’s too late for Gotham City!

Pickup your copy of ‘Batman’ #45 at Comixology now!

Coming off the back of the hugely successful ‘Court of the Owls’, ‘Zero Year’ and ‘Endgame’ arcs Capullo and Snyder have taken the ‘Batman’ title to entirely new levels with their current arc.

For those who have been living under a rock for the past six months: after the climactic battle with The Joker at the end of ‘Endgame’ left us all believing that both Joker and Bruce Wayne were dead a new Batman has surfaced in Gotham… Jim Gordon. Officially sanctioned by the GCPD and protected by a small crew of Bat-helpers (including a disguised Julia Pennyworth) and his mecha-batsuit, Gordon now wages a war on crime which bares little resemblance to that the Dark Knight.

To the surprise of very few people Bruce Wayne has resurfaced, alive, but with no memory of his former life. Uninterested in taking up the Wayne mantle and unaware that he was ever Batman he is forging a life with former lover Julie Madison.

‘Batman’ #45 returns to the story after a reprieve in issue #44 which returned Bruce to the cowl for a flashback origin story for current villain: Mr. Bloom. An interesting invention Bloom is almost secondary to the now dual-leads of Gordon and Wayne. Leading up to this point the ‘Batman’ title has focussed on Gordon whilst slowly re-introducing Wayne in to the new continuity. The villains have come-and-gone slowly building towards the current heightened threat to the city.

Snyder has crafted another beautiful story with this arc. It might not reach the groundbreaking heights of ‘Court of the Owls’ or the history changing ‘Zero Year’ BUT it stands well on its own and brings a new level of originality rather than a stale retreading of the tried and tested formula.

Fans eager to understand the psychological impact on Gordon of becoming the Bat have had plenty of story thrown at them, we’ve seen him spend as much time in the costume as we have out of it and with this issue we get to see him spend almost its entirety in the black/yellow batsuit rather than the mecha-suit itself.

He makes some questionable decisions in ‘Batman’ #45, decisions that Bruce would have made but bosses at the GCPD are not happy with. The agenda behind this new Batman was fighting crime but fighting it by the book. Gordon has never been a by the book kinda guy and his confidence in the suit is beginning to allow him to do things they’re not happy with.

It feels a little early for boss Geri to call for his resignation as Batman but there’s clearly an agenda behind her that’s yet to become fully clear.

Bruce on the other hand is dealing with different demons. In the recent ‘Batman’ annual he wrestled with the decision to reclaim Wanye Manor for his own as Arkham Asylum relocates itself once more. His decision to clear out much of the stuff he used to hold as trophies and turn it in to a playground for the lost children of Gotham is just another step towards his now near-perfect ‘normal’ life with Julie.

Naysayers who blasted the happy ending for Bruce in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ will no doubt have issues in dealing with this story arc given his utter lack of motivation to return to the man he once was but lets face it… this is comic land. It won’t be too long before he dons the cowl once more.

Given the upcoming ‘Robin War’ is high on the DC Comics agenda there’s even a little room for Duke from ‘We Are Robin’ to make a brief appearance here. It adds little to the story but does remind us that there are other things going on in the Bat-world.

After taking a break from the series for issue #44 this month Greg Capullo is back behind the pencil on ‘Batman’ and it looks great. There’s yet to be an issue drawn by him that I haven’t loved so at this stage there’s very little I can say to criticise or praise his work. The mecha-suit continues to look very different but kinda cool, I (along with many others) prefer the black and yellow suit that Gordon wear outside of the mecha-suit so it’s cool to have an issue where it become very prominent. The cover for this issue fits the inside colour palette very well, the overall issue itself is quite dark with many dark hues of pinks and blues. The inky black of the batsuit on the cover perfectly defines the contemporary Gordon-Batman as does the cigarette lingering in his mouth.

The issue only takes on a lighter tone when Bruce Wayne takes the stage, his scenes has a lightness which we’ve now come to expect given his new lease on life so lets see how long it lasts!

Another great story from the dream team of Synder & Capullo.

4 stars