Batman #153: What Looms in the Darkness of a Brighter Gotham?

One of the most interesting dynamics to watch when following a creator across their career is the interplay of technique between work-for-hire and creator-owned works. Certain frameworks, flourishes, or even stories/genres may bleed into the output of a creator across the two categories and create a rich intertextuality. For example, Jonathan Hickman uses his strongest material in his creator-owned series, playing with scope and format to temper the ideas and then often returns to them in his Marvel work. G.O.D.S. felt like him overlapping some ideas from The Black Monday Murders with Decorum. 

Similarly, Ed Brubaker’s time on Captain America with Steve Epting feels like the basis for the work they would do together on Velvet. In both cases, the result can be a more interesting read of the works in both directions. That interplay is evident in the current crime-driven works of Chip Zdarsky, linking his last few independent series to the big IP work at DC. A straight line could be drawn from his work on Daredevil to his indie work and then the Caped Crusader.  

Batman #153 – written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Jorge Jiménez, colors by Tomeu Morey, and lettering by Clayton Cowles – kicks off a new arc as a part of the All In Initiative, seemingly focused on the growth of Gotham. After the battles with Failsafe, Zur-En-Arrh, and Amanda Waller, the city is ready to turn a new page that includes a reformed Riddler, now the CEO of Nygmatech. The tech company, which specializes in security codes and a cryptocurrency, and Nygma’s freedom are thanks to the illegal experiments conducted in Blackgate. Using some of the other Batman rogues’ technology, the company is following Wayne Enterprises as a close second for most profitable in Gotham. 

In the meantime, Bruce’s attention has been set on expanding social programs and rebuilding Gotham. Housing, clinics, and other non-profit projects all are the result of Wayne’s new focus, even at the cost of Bruce’s public image. Called a “commie” during the day hardly leaves a stain on the billionaire as he rejects the calls for innovations in the tech sector (or a merger/acquisition of an up-and-coming company). While Bruce tries to balance his company, Batman can rest a bit easier until Police Commissioner Vandal Savage anoints Commander Star, a new and deadly vigilante, as the one allowed in Gotham during a heist getaway. 

Tucked into the issue as well is the further developments of tensions between Mayor Nakano and Leonid Kull, who was introduced in the Vandal Savage back-up of Batman #140. Leonid is a rich socialite with ties to at the time unnamed organization (likely the Court of Owls) and appears to have blackmail material on the Mayor. A tense standoff leads to strife in Nakano’s family with his wife ready to leave him. The three plotlines converge in the last page cliffhanger, teeing up the threads for “The Dying City”. 

Zdarsky’s scripting in this issue is a tight, well-crafted blending of tones and modes that allow for an excellent recalibration. After the more bombastic, science-fiction-driven stories of multiverses and killer robots, this issue feels like the start of a more grounded detective story. There’s Gotham politics, corporate machinations, and budding murder mystery all interwoven around the Riddler. It makes for a compelling core that worked for Matt Reeves’s The Batman and is just as dynamic here. A bit more of the fantastical seeps its way into the issue, especially in the bright costume of Commander Star, who feels like he could be Zdarsky setting up Batman’s answer to Daredevil’s Nuke. 

The changes that Zdarsky introduces in the issue feel incremental yet surprising, thanks in large part to the seeding done in previous arcs and back-ups. That sense of a long game where the second stories feel relevant and important is the major achievement of the run thus far. It delivers on the idea that everything matters and even when the main run stories don’t entirely land, there’s still an interesting level of craft to them. On a technical level, it’s also a great use of the additional page counts, which then bolsters the main book in issues like #153, which benefits from the extra runway for the arc’s set-up. 

A – pardon the pun – cipher to this issue, and the larger run, seems to be Zdarsky’s creator-owned series Newburn. The primarily done-in-one story of a Columbo for the mob, illustrated and colored by Jacob Phillips, tracked a seedier underbelly to some of Zdarsky’s more marquee-driven superhero comics. As a result, a lot of the neo-noir, dense plot-weaving sensibilities seen in Batman #153 came as a result of that series. The influence is most apparent in the final pages of the issue, which utilizes some dynamic intercutting across the three plotlines to generate tension and build intrigue. 

Executing that dense layering of three distinct sequences in the concise nine-panel grid would be difficult for many artists, yet Jiménez achieves it masterfully. The rhythm of the three storylines is constructed thanks to the very specific placement and echoing blocking seen in the three sequences. When read in synchronization or separated by character, there is clarity achieved thanks to the approach by Jiménez and Morey. Movement is implied across the panels, letting one character fill in the action of another, linked through a shared element, like a door opening or hanging tie. When the pattern of blocking is broken at the end of the two-page sequence, the final page hits like a sledgehammer. It’s a literal bang with the need for an onomatopoeia at the specific moment. 

Morey’s coloring plays a vital role in reinforcing that sense of cohesive crosscutting, creating three tones in a wider palette that feel related. Nygma’s signature green gives a sickly glow in his server room, while the muted gold-orange glow radiating from Gotham backdrops Bruce’s walk home. Pale pinkish whites of an empty house haunt Nakano. In each scene, Morey interjects a standout panel with a solid background, either white or black, to create a unified sense of focus on the three figures. The result is a richness that begs for repeat readings to see the full weave of the tonal tapestry.