Batman #110: Into the Maw of Fear

When last we met, Batman confronted Simon Saint about his involvement with Scarecrow, whose presence in Gotham has been slowly driving the population into a panic. Before he could extract any information from Saint, however, they were interrupted by the arrival of Gotham’s hero of A-Day, Sean Mahoney. Now, with his connection to Oracle severed, Batman is left alone to confront this incredibly dangerous foe…

And that’s where we drop in today.

The bulk of Batman #110 follows the conflict between Batman and Peacemaker 001 – a battle that is as much about the disparate ideas about Gotham’s needs as it is anything else. Here Batman, like Bruce Wayne himself, represents a kind of old-school Gotham. That classic idea of the city of madmen, inhabited by a guardian who makes use of fear and violence as tools but never as a means of control. Sean Mahoney, on the other hand, is all about pushing those things to their most extreme: to him (as to Saint), fear and violence are not tools, they are weapons used to crush opposition and force Gotham into the shape they desire.

Now, Future State does indicate that there is a realistic path to power for them – obviously, in that possible future, the Magistrate has indeed taken control of the city in its entirety. But it’s probably worth remembering that in Future State, Simon Saint was nowhere to be found, and it was Sean Mahoney who ruled the city with an iron fist. So, while the plan, as relayed in issue 109, is to frame Crane for Saint’s misdeeds and use that to take control over the city… I’m not at all convinced that the outcome will be everything the Magistrate’s father envisioned for it, or himself.

My guess is those potential evil plot ruiners began the moment Saint brought Jonathan Crane into the loop, then became exponentially worse when he chose Mahoney as his first enforcer. Because as dangerous and manipulative as Simon Saint can be, he’s also a summoner with two demons on thin chains and the chances are extremely high that at least one of them will break free, turn around and devour him.

Of the two, Crane is of course the most experienced at navigating Gotham’s “quirks.” Despite that, Mahoney may well be the most dangerous of the three; in this issue, we really where we start to understand who Mahoney truly is beneath his heroic veneer, and the answer is concerning, to say the least. Even so, it’s hard to claim he isn’t landing any ideological hits when he says the citizens of Gotham don’t feel they can rely on a Batman who spends so much time running around with killers and thieves like Catwoman and Harley Quinn.

It’s interesting stuff. Scarecrow remains a wildcard as it’s not yet clear what he is trying to accomplish… but considering we’re one issue out from the upcoming Bat-title crossover Fear State, it’s a good bet that we’ll find out sooner than later.

Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey continue to knock it out of the park every month, but this time around I’d like to take a moment and sing the praises of the most underrated member of the team, Clayton Cowles. It’s said that at its best lettering melts into the artwork and that’s more or less why letterers often go unnoticed – their work is inconspicuous by design. But Cowles is a bit different – his use of balloon placement, font choice, and effects goes a step past melting into the artwork and into enhancing the artwork’s impact and that is a thing to behold. It’s truly a team whose talents come together to form something greater than the sum of its parts.

That applies equally to Ghost-Maker Part 4, this month’s backup. Here Tynion IV and Cowles are joined by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz and Romulo Fajardo Jr. The chapter follows the formula laid out by the previous installments – Ghost-Maker makes his way through Devil Skull Island, dispatching obstacles as he goes, while Madame Midas and her allies reveal their history with Ghost-Maker. Slowly, issue by issue, we come to know Ghost-Maker’s career in heroics – and the man himself – through the record of his deeds.

In this issue we have the alligator-headed Instigator on the time he committed 24 murders to draw Ghost-Maker’s attention and lure him into a battle that, in theory, he could not possibly win… but that’s enough on that.

Patterned after Shonen manga both visually and structurally, the Ghost-Maker backups are a sincere delight – every issue brings me great joy. I’m assuming that there are 2 – 3 more chapters to come – one each focusing on the yet unfeatured Razorline and Madame Midas, plus a final confrontation. Regardless, I’ll miss it when it’s done, and I’d love to see this team take on a longer series or one-shot.