Batman #51 Review

And thus, the end of an era. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's journey began back in September of 2011 and reinvigorated Batman as we've known him for the last near-five years. From the landmark arrival of the Court of Owls to two of the Joker's most evil plays against Batman to showing Bruce Wayne's extended origins as Batman, and even through Jim Gordon becoming the Bat-Bunny, we've finally reached the end. This sort of feels like a standalone issue, but is filled with call backs to the earlier parts of the run and truly is a love letter to the fans that have read this series in full. It's a great ending to what has arguably been the best book of the "New 52" era. 

I should make note that this isn't the final book for Batman, as we still have Issue 52, but is the final issue for Snyder and Capullo working together...for now, at least. This book has seen constant critical success and DC would be remiss to never put them together again. Perhaps not on Batman, but, who knows. Snyder will continue on for the final issue, as he still has some story threads that linger on us, and several more that are introduced. In many ways, this book feels like a reset.

Issue 50 did leave us with some hints of that. For one: new outfit, with the gold line around the Bat-symbol. Another thing to note is that Bruce Wayne is back to his pique physical condition, better than he's ever been in body and mind, essentially, thanks to the Dionysium. Here we see that it's been a good while since that issue--if not then there are some pretty confusing bits--and that various factions are preparing to make big moves we'll undoubtedly see in time for Rebirth to come around. One of which may not even happen in the Batman title, but we'll touch on that soon. 

The cover isn't amazing, but it's still pretty cool. Having the dark blue/ grey background behind Batman is nothing to marvel at, but just seeing him tower over and cover up Gotham, as if to shield it, is a neat visual. It's almost as if one has to get through Batman to truly get to Gotham. It's just classic imagery is really all there is to it. 

Gotham is dark colors on a comic book page...

We open to someone writing a piece about Gotham as the captions while Alfred descends into the Batcave to give the rejuvenated Bruce his nighttime drink, which is comprised of, "protein, caffeine, creatine, Listerine standard." What.

The captions of "Gotham is" don't serve as narrative captions but to serve as interesting reflections of what's happening on the page. Sure the early ones are a bit on the nose, but something like "the first line of the last story you'll ever write" is just a sweet way of Snyder and Capullo saying they'll never have a run like this again. And dang it that's sad. Also, Alfred is sad, but that's because he's never liked Bruce going out as Batman, even if he were healed. 

This expression, combined with this panel: 

Make me wonder how much he regrets what he did in Issue 49, where Batman was thrust into that mind-thing to help him regain his memories, not too unlike how the City of Light folk do it in The 100. Yes, Bruce was a different person, but he wasn't Batman and if Mr. Bloom hadn't come along he was still making a difference. This once again highlights a theme in Snyder's story that Batman and Bruce Wayne occupy the same body but are two completely different people. Nothing good has happened for Bruce since becoming Batman in this run (Damian was already born, and that's the greatest good you can get). We even know that he loses the powers of the Metron Chair because this takes place after the Darkseid War (pretty sure it does, but continuity has stumped me before) so he couldn't even maintain being a god. And now that he is finally back in full form...he's Batman again. 

Though you can't blame Bruce. The years were wearing him down but now the years have had no effect on him. He's back to what he was in the Zero Year and now it's everyone else that's worn out from their fights with him. One of the ways that this feels like a reset button is that we see Bruce at an old age acting like his younger self, though with the intuition he's always had. He's getting back into the ring fully healed and with strategies galore. 

After suiting up, he takes the Batmobile out for a spin into the city to see what's up before all the power in the city goes out. This is the first of the painfully obvious callbacks as this one directly looks back at "Zero Year," and again reinforces the idea of "resetting" Batman. But hey, I can't blame them, and it isn't like they exactly copy "Zero Year" anyway. 

Gotham is Jim Gordon smoking a cigarette...

One of things that does confuse me is when this takes place. The last we saw of Jim Gordon he was bald and clean shaven. Here he has a full head of hair and his classic mustache back in full effect, yet there's no implication of a passage of time in the beginning. I guess maybe it's been a few months, but if that's the case how does Batman really have no scars on his body after a few months of fighting? Has Gotham really been that quiet, or is he really that good nowadays? Both are pretty unbelievable. What's confusing, though this is smaller, is how the Bat-signal is working. Does it have it's own power source? Does it run on Jim Gordon's presence? 

Actually you know what I like that idea. Moving on. 

Gordon remarks how this is just like "Zero Year" before the two are informed that, of course, things are going down at Arkham. Before cutting away we get a simultaneously funny yet touching scene of Gordon, one that really stood out to me when I read it and helped highlight his respect and ultimate friendship with the Batman. 

Gotham is silhouettes against the Bat signal...

I like this moment for multiple reasons, and each panel sort of highlights why. The first panel is funny and, yeah, it's pretty obvious that there's no reason for him to turn since Batman is always gone when he does that. The second panel is touching because he just wants to make sure that Batman's gone. I think it was in The Dark Knight when Jim is standing by the Signal and Ramirez asks if he hopes he shows up, and Jim responds that he doesn't, because that hopefully means he's busy. It's the same thing here. The final panel is just Jim having a little laugh about the whole thing like the reader. This comic does have a lot of good connections to the reader, too.

Batman checks out Arkham and all they have there is a new security protocol to show off (how it works without power in the City is another question but whatever, just a small oversight) before we cut over to the real heroes of the Snyder/ Capullo run: The Court of Owls. 

Gotham is the holographic projections of the Court of Owls...

It would have been a real shame if the Court never got a mentioning in this book, and their inclusion isn't without reason. I'm actually surprised Batman didn't go straight to them and then go to see Jim so that he could rule them out. Something like cutting the power to the city is something they would do, but it wasn't. Instead, the "mantling" is something else that's going to happen, but the Court doesn't seem to worried about the power outage here. I'm not as confused with these guys having holographic projections since, as we know, they sort of have their own city beneath Gotham. We even see a glimpse of one of their little architectural designs in the first column.

What does confuse me, though, is what happens right after this scene with the three Owl leaders. 

Gotham is Batman becoming an old woman in the Court of Owls..

Uh, is that also a hologram? Or did Batman just become like the monster from Jeepers Creepers? Is the Bat-suit under there? How did nobody recognize his voice? And why didn't he ask them more about "the mantling," which sounds like something that will cause problems in a few months *nudges Nightwing: Rebirth*?

Weird. 

But, we must move on to the other criminals of Gotham to appeal the fans. Batman snoops on Penguin and Black Mask, who are planning an attack, but also hold off on that (this will probably be for the main Batman book in June). Ah, but first we must give the fans something to try and grasp because nobody knows what's going on: 

Gotham is an innocent man sitting on a park bench, waiting for opportunity...

Yup, the Joker is still at that bench from Issues 47 and 48. This part is a double whammy for me. I have to question once again just how much time has passed between the last issue and this one. If it's been a few months, why is the Joker still hanging out around here? Sure, the implication is that he either has his memory back or at least has some semblance of it back, but wouldn't he be out doing something? A small voice in my head, that grows louder the more I write this, actually finds this a little endearing. I like to think that, for the last few months, the Joker has been coming back to this bench hoping to talk with Bruce Wayne again. Maybe he knows where Bruce Wayne is and is waiting to go speak with him, which is what he means by the "Not yet. Not this night." part. One of the reasons I don't think he has his memory back in full is because the lettering is different, and he's in that same setting.

Though this also plays into the idea of "resetting." If the Joker is getting his memories back, then he knows a lot of bad things about Batman, and he'll be just as dangerous as he was before he got all worn out from all their fighting. I'm glad he gets a small notice here, because I'm sure it'll be enough to send fans reeling until next month when we, hopefully, get more on this situation here. What's also interesting is that Batman doesn't go to see him, we just cut to the Joker to mirror the plans that the Penguin is making against the city. Is this just pairing two similar things, or juxtaposition? I don't know (that's why I read the comics). 

Batman continues his search, and in doing so, decides to do an obvious homage. 

Gotham is taking a chance to homage The Dark Knight Returns...minus a lighting bolt or two...

Alfred informs Bats that the epicenter of the outage is just below him, and here find that the one writing the paper is none other than...

Some guy from earlier on in the run. Yeah a little disappointing, but you know what, I'm actually okay with it after thinking about it. If it'd been some big villain it wouldn't make much sense for them to be writing as they are. The writings have all shown Gotham in a desperate situation, a struggle like the people of the city always find themselves in against the criminals that besiege it. 

Gotham is newspaper reporters working endless hours on opinion pieces...

It's great to see how much Batman has changed the city through one man's eyes, too, especially since he was a criminal at one point as a child. It brings everything about the run full circle. 

Thus, the fellowship on Batman of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo comes to a close as the sun rises on Gotham, and it's faithful protector just wants to spend a few more minutes with the city...just to make sure that's safe as the writer tells the audience that Gotham, at it's core, is in them. 

Gotham is tears running down your face because this series was so good. 

This final page is, for me, breathtaking in many respects. The artwork by Capullo is fantastic, but that's typical on this book. The colors of FCO Plascencia were fantastic throughout the book. It's not everyday you come across an artist who can make blues and grays look appealing throughout a 22-page comic book.

Batman #51 may not be as good as the fiftieth issue but is still a fantastic ending for this era of the character. It sheds light on what's going on with Batman and his rogues as well as helps lay the groundwork for the new teams to come on and do as they will, with respect, to the book. As promised, it was a great love letter to the fans, and all I can say is one simple thing: 

Thank you. 

Yet for us on this blog, this is not the final ending we are examining for now. No, for last year there was something that shook the groundwork of an entire company. Two universes ended when worlds collided and the man who thought himself above all others finally consumed absolute power. For the month of May we shall what happens when Doom becomes God, when families are ripped apart, and when the survivors of two Earths meet in Battleworld with Secret Wars! 

See you then. 

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