I forgot that this was a time when Robin had his own book, lived in a boarding school, and was Tim Drake. I also forgot that there was once a time when Gotham was a real city and not the backdrop to whatever giant event Batman is stuck in this time. Or that Batman had been operating for a real number of years and not “5 and change forever?” I sure didn’t.
Cover by Scott McDanielWritten by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Scott McDaniel
Inked by Karl Story
Colored by Roberta Tewes
Separated by Wildstorm FX
Lettered by John CostanzaFearless’ part 1! Jeremy Samuels lost his entire world in a freak accident that took his wife and child. With nothing left to lose, he turns his attention to becoming a career criminal, ruining the lives of everyone in his wake.
Before we get going, I want to thank Nick for finding me the actual Larry Hama interview from last time. Primary sources! Always happy to have them.
We begin Ed Brubaker’s tenure as writer on “Batman” with a two-parter that introduces us to a new villain, Zeiss, as well as the major secondary antagonist for his run: The Penguin. No, I haven’t read it but at the very least The Penguin seems like he’s going to be a consistent presence in these early issues, what with him plotting and planning something. However, those two are not the focus of #582-583. Instead it’s a parable about Jeremy Samuels, a former guard for Wayne Enterprises and thus friend of Bruce.
Side note: Isn’t it wild that there was once a time I could say “friend of Bruce,” not mean someone with superpowers, and not have DC comics readers bat an eye?
Anyway, Jeremy’s plight is pretty typical for these kinds of tragic falls from grace but what makes it compelling is Brubaker’s willingness to let Jeremy have agency in his downfall. He’s not trapped in the underworld because of his mistakes. He’s not suddenly evil like some interpretations of The Joker. He’s just a dude who thinks this is how he finds meaning in a meaningless life.
The uncomfortable question, though, is whether or not the perspective “Batman” #582-83 takes on Jeremy’s grief and how it manifests as a turn to crime and a lack of self-value is the right one to take. It feels…cheap is the wrong word but it’s all I can come up with. Moralistic, perhaps? Uncritical for sure. It puts the onus of his eventual death on his choice to do crime, to do crime even after getting back out of jail, but doesn’t offer much in the way of explaining “why crime” and not, say, nihilistic painting. It paints crime as the purview of the lost and the damned rather than something more nuanced and interesting.
It also asks questions of why would someone throw away what they had for crime but never tries to answer the question or wonder if that’s a premise worth having. Nor does anyone consider that, maybe, he needed help with his grief. Yes Bruce never gives up on Jeremy but in a way that fails to support him in the ways he needs support.
I think my problem is in attempting to have ‘Limitless’ be a tragedy of a good man broken by the world, it could only do surface level character work and it wasn’t successful enough for me to buy into the premise and the arc.I was more engaged by Zeiss’ ludicrous costume and gimmick of having Clockwork Orange eyes to memorize fighting styles.
Once again, McDaniel’s art is pretty good at action but I’m starting to get tired of his exaggerated facial expressions. I don’t know what it is that’s getting to me. Maybe it’s the pointiness of the mouths when they’re open? Whatever it is, it’s not bad and it’s not unclear but it does end up undercutting what is supposed to be a tragic story, making it sillier than it otherwise would be.
There were also a few moments where the lettering was off-center in the bubbles, words broke across lines oddly, and it felt like Costanza was struggling, perhaps with deadlines. It happened enough for me to note but not enough for me to wonder what the hell was going on.
Continued belowI enjoyed #584 too, perhaps more than ‘Limitless,’ simply because it made the city of Gotham come alive and gave us a temperature not only for people within it but also made a statement about the core of Batman. Why does he stay hidden? How is he able to stay an urban legend? What does he value and how does he act on those values? All good questions that are shown through the framing of two students trying to make a pretty bad documentary.
It’s fun, it provides a nice break while still letting some narratives simmering in the background heat up, just a tiny bit, and I love the cover of the issue. I wonder if this is going to be the pattern for much of the run because if so, I’m down for it.
These three issues certainly feel like Brubaker feeling out the genre and his talents as a writer. He doesn’t seem to have coalesced around what he wants to say about Batman yet or how to do it and is concerned with making standard superhero stories for the time with a bit more of a crime angle. It’s rough but there’s a spark beneath it all and even if I don’t end up liking what comes next, I’ll always have Zeiss’ silly, silly glasses.
