Written by John Ridley.
Art by Christian Duce; Ken Lashley; & Stephen Segovia; Rex Lokus; & Troy Peteri.
Collection Cover Art by Olivier Coipel & Alex Sinclair.
SUMMARY:
Released by DC Comics in 2024, this 144-page trade paperback compiles 2021-2022’s I Am Batman # 6-10. In the Next Batman’s alternate future timeline, Tim “Jace” Fox’s billionaire family has recently relocated to New York City from Gotham.
With his attorney mother (Tanya) busily establishing political connections to expedite new social programs for the needy, Jace’s younger sisters: Tam and Tiffany have their own struggles acclimating. Jace’s Batman, meanwhile, has drawn the attention of the city’s Mayor Villanueva, not to mention the less-than-thrilled and evidently ultra-bigoted Police Commissioner Pete Becket.
Prompted by Villanueva, Deputy Mayor Carmichael recruits ex-GCPD Detective Adriana Chubb to command the police’s new Bat-friendly special cases task force. Joined by her ex-partner, Whitaker, Chubb senses that Carmichael’s dubiously handpicked recruits are really the police department’s castoff trouble magnets. Now a deputized lawman, Fox’s Batman builds an alliance with a skeptical Chubb to corral a dangerous band of gunrunning thugs.
Far worse is the rise of an ultra-sadistic serial killer (later dubbed ‘Man Ray’), whose first grisly and surrealistic ‘art display’ is dismembered philanthropist Devlin Rubel. Between Batman and Chubb’s team, their search for ‘Man Ray’ has mixed results. Still, Jace’s closest friends: Russian computer hacker, Vol, and Jace’s would-be girlfriend, Hadiyah, have better luck connecting potential clues towards ‘Man Ray.’
Humiliated in combat by ‘Man Ray,’ Batman redoubles his efforts to hunt down his elusive adversary. Jace’s father, Lucius Fox, offers to enhance his son’s Bat-weapons, but it isn’t revealed if Jace accepts. The discovery of another eviscerated high-profile victim indicates that the enemy has no fear of the police. More so, others within the NYPD intend to seek fitting vigilante revenge against ‘Man Ray.’
After Batman and Chubb’s task force realize that Mayor Villanueva is the killer’s next target, a lethal showdown soon commences at City Hall. This storyline is entitled “Empire State of Mind, Parts 1-5,” with Issue # 10 serving as the current plot’s conclusion.
Note: This title is also available digitally, along with the 2023 hardcover edition.
REVIEW:
It’s a shame that relatively high-caliber visuals are squandered on this icky and genre-clichéd storyline. More specifically, Volume 2’s art team can’t hide writer John Ridley’s underwhelming excuse for a Bat-thriller.
While Ridley conveys sufficient depth in various scenes depicting Jace’s family and friends; the police; and the Mayor’s Office, his take on Jace Fox’s Batman is all too generic. Obvious elements of Jace’s Batman/Black Panther-like amalgam aside, there’s little, if anything, compelling, about this alternate Batman’s war on New York crime. Ridley essentially does too little developing the ‘Next Batman’ further as a pivotal lead character.
Having his friends and the cops conduct most of the actual sleuthing doesn’t help Jace’s characterization, either. Case in point: Jace asks his potential girlfriend to research a supposedly tantalizing hint referenced as ‘The Hotlist.’ Yet, Ridley doesn’t explain how or where Jace got this particular clue from. Instead, it’s Hadiyah who casually deciphers the more pivotal info related to the enigmatic ‘Man Ray.’
Describing Ridley’s sociopath as ‘artistically minded’ really means that ‘Man Ray’ conveys nothing more than horrific crime scenes and an intent to eviscerate corrupt individuals alive. Hence, displaying dismembered body parts in surrealistic ‘portraits’ is this new Bat-villain’s sickening trademark. If Ridley thought he would impress readers in a twisted Saw-like manner, his creative intuition falls far short.
Furthermore, implying the villain is inspired by and named after real life artist Man Ray (not to mention, mimics elements of the notorious Black Dahlia homicide) is an exercise in bad taste. Adding to the antagonist’s lack of depth, Ridley also doesn’t explain this villain’s inexplicably superhuman attributes (i.e. strength, invulnerability) in action scenes.
Having Jace later vanquish ‘Man Ray’ in a street fight and then have the killer await imminent arrest is an utter contradiction of their prior encounter. Hence, ‘Man Ray,’ makes zero sense, in terms of plausibility. Jace’s multi-ethnic supporting cast, by comparison, is at least admirably textbook excellent for any ongoing Bat-series.
Serving as a tone-deaf exclamation point, what spells out Volume 2’s mostly deplorable plotting is a grotesque effigy ending Issue # 6 accompanied by the self-congratulatory banner of ‘DC Comics Proudly Presents.’ The fact that there isn’t a DC Comics parental advisory anywhere in sight for Volume 2, unfortunately, speaks for itself.
Though this art team’s visual style is appealing, I Am Batman, Volume 2: Welcome To New York, otherwise, concocts a disappointingly repellant misfire.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Each full-page cover precedes its story. Primary cover artist teams are: Issue # 6 (Olivier Coipel & Alex Sinclair); Issue # 7 (Ken Lashley & Diego Rodriguez); Issue # 8 (Stephen Segovia & Rex Lokus); Issue # 9 (Segovia & Lokus); and Issue # 10 (Christian Duce & Lokus).
An excellent eleven-page variants gallery (all in a full-page format) consists of these artists:
- Issue # 6: (1. Francesco Mattina; 2. Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez; and 3. Alexis Franklin);
- Issue # 7: (1. Mattina; and 2. Dike Ruan);
- Issue # 8: (1. Coipel & Sinclair; and 2. Mateus Manhanini);
- Issue # 9: (1. Gerardo Zaffino & Rain Beredo; and 2. Manhanini);
- Issue # 10: (1. Taurin Clarke; and 2. Manhanini).
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 3½ Stars
