Batman #141: ‘Ladies. Gentlemen. You have eaten well.’

It’s often said that a comic with the greatest script in the world cannot succeed if the art is not good but vice versa, a bland script can be elevated by perfect art. While a very simplified maxim, it remains true, especially in Big Two comics, which often find themselves in alignment with being just okay due to house styles for the scripting and illustration. A book like Batman has proven that maxim, and it has never been more evident than in this month’s issue. 

Batman #141 features a script by Chip Zdarsky with art from Jorge Jiménez, colors by Tomeu Morey, and lettering from Clayton Cowles. Continuing the Mind Bomb arc, Zur-En-Arrh has revealed that he’s downloaded himself into the body of Failsafe, the robot from Zdarsky’s opening act of the run. Zur offers Bruce the opportunity to retire now that the idea of Batman is functionally immortal. A short beat is immediately cut through as Bruce attacks and flees the shack in the woods, trying to formulate a plan to defeat the psychotic persona in the indestructible robot body. 

Back in Gotham, Nightwing and Oracle get more information about the situation from Lucie Chesson, aka The Gray Shadow, who was previously trapped by the Joker to lure Batman out. The quick scene establishes that Dick had received similar training from her, echoing the repeated steps of his journey from Bruce’s. The rest of the issue after this short interaction is Zur’s chasing of Bruce across the outskirts of Gotham, which digs into the psychology of both characters. 

This issue has the feeling of transition, getting the plot from one moment to another, settling in between the more bombastic beats in the larger arc. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that choice does result in a quick but forgettable read compared to the other issues in this series. The action sequence that Zdarsky crafts doesn’t have the pure spectacle or showcase Batman’s skill in the same way as the original Failsafe arc. Instead, this issue feels like a whimpering echo of a better story, chasing that high to poor results. 

If the action sequence had that feeling of inadequacy but there was something else making this issue compelling, then it would be such a noticeable problem. However, the character work in regards to Bruce, Zur, and Dick all fall flat, just repeating the same traits or dynamics that have been displayed previously. Nightwing is the only one of the three who gets a real moment of insight, in his interaction with Gray Shadow, but even then, the brief moment can’t live up to the work Zdarsky invested in the vigilante’s training with the oath sequence from issue #138. 

The lull of energy is clearly in the scripting for this issue, as Jiménez and Morey are firing on all cylinders. While the action beats are not interesting in concept, Jiménez’s linework still does its best to elevate them into kinetic spectacle. Even as the action feels quick and exaggerated, a person being tossed through a window or a speed car never loses their sense of weight in the world. It’s a marriage of realism and embellishment that Jiménez thrives in depicting, making even a weary chase feel vibrant on the page. 

His linework elevates the character expressions and emotional beats in much the same way, overcoming the rushed development to sell the human quality of this issue. Jiménez knows exactly when to employ a tall close-up or wide cinematic panel to maximize the emotion of the scene, illustrating how characters like Nightwing and Gray Shadow, or Oracle, exist in each other’s orbit. Jiménez’s linework is hyper-aware of these quiet moments and smaller beats, ensuring that the emotion is never lost in the dynamic action of the issue. 

Much like Jiménez’s artwork, the palettes and hues employed by Morey continue to be a hallmark of this run. Echoing the first arc of the run, the book returns to the white and blues of a winter landscape that creates an immediate contrast to Batman and Failsafe. That palette of harsh, cold snow evokes the extremes of the climate but feels more populated in this instance due to the purples and browns of the world around it. There are subtle differences from before, and when put alongside the slight variation of the Failsafe coloring (the black of Batman’s cape and the purple influence of Zur’s costuming/speech). 

What really stands out from Morey’s coloring in this issue is the stunning deployment of solid coloring to create silhouette panels. During the fight towards the end of the issue, two separate panels of this occur, the first with a pinkish-red background and the characters depicted with a restrained white. A couple of panels later, Morey makes a radical shift in tones, illustrating the action beat with a stark black background and a blood-red hue for the silhouette. These moments are arresting in the flow of the fight, and elevate the emotion and pain of the fight. They work in tandem with Jiménez’s pencils to create that specific alchemic combination of fantasy and fact.