chezkevin: Batman Volumes 8 & 9: Superheavy & Bloom

By Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and more

Collects Batman # 41-45 and DC Sneak Peek: Batman #1, and collects Batman #'s 46-50, and a story from Detective Comics #27

The Batman is dead. Long live the Batman! After the presumed death of the Batman in a cave collapse (and a totally unrelated disappearance of Gotham City philanthropist Bruce Wayne), we have a new Batman program supported by the "Powers" Corporation, in cooperation with the Gotham City Police Department.

Enter: the Batman, a semi-autonomous mech piloted by former Gotham City Police Commissioner. and funded by the Powers corp. This decision was pretty controversial for Batfans at the time, and the comic goes through some hoops to explain the jump (3 months, lasik, former marine training),but honestly there are more farfetched things that we believe and read in comics. Dick had a turn. Azrael had a turn. Why not Gordon?

Snyder has never shied away from Gotham City as a character and that shines here. Jim Gordon has spent his life and his work on the streets, and Volume 8 leverages that, highlighting a variety of street-level crime, focusing on the unique neighborhoods of Gotham City and the crime unique to each neighborhood. But now, the mobs have been enhanced by a radioactive sunflower seed granting superpowers. Every Batman has brought something unique to the table and that's what Gordon does here: he's the one that locked these criminals away and now they're becoming supercriminals.

It wouldn't be a Snyder story if Batman didn't get to the bottom of these seeds, and here's what's at the bottom: Mr. Bloom, an socio-econo-eco-terrorist who's "seeding" Gotham citizens for a social uprising. In the midst of all this, there's a Bruce Wayne subplot: discovered naked in the night by Alfred, he's born anew (perhaps due to the Lazarus pits found in the cave system from Endgame), with a fresh body free of scars and without any memories of his crimefighting alter-ego. This is the Bruce that was never haunted by the Batman.

It's an interesting take for the storyarc, but it doesn't last as long as it could have in order to really tell a whole story. There's also a new Robin that all comes to a head in the climax of the story. However, there's only so many times you can tell the same story but with a few tweaks, and that's the same story here: supervillain threatens the whole city in a catastrophic event, and then Batman steps up to save the day. Add a dash of Gotham City pride and you've got a Scott Snyder special. The Riddler had Zero Year. The Joker had Death of the Family and Endgame. The Owls had a Court and then a City. Mr. Bloom has these two volumes, with a subtheme of police brutality and social justice.

BONUS:

Some sweet Batmobiles for the Batmech of Gotham City:

The batlocomotive? Batloco?

For the man who thought of everything...a memory transplanter: a way for Bruce Wayne to learn who he is, every time there is a new Bruce Wayne. Side effects may include: BRAINDEATHBRAINDEATHBRAINDEATH.