Batman #86 Review

by Wes Greer on January 08, 2020

Writer – James Tynion IV
Art – Tony S Daniel
Ink – Danny Miki
Colors -  Tomeu Morey
Publisher – DC Comics

It’s a new day in Gotham (or night, given the way Batman works) and it’s a beautiful one! Coming in hot after Tom King’s 85 issues run, James Tynion IV wasted zero time upping the game and bringing in an all new art team, Batman feels like Batman again! Not to take anything away from King's run, which gave us a personal and intimate look at the character, but Tynion wasted no time giving us the Batman we have been missing. He brought back the dark brooding, bad ass who loves his toys and shows us the brute side of the character that really gets our juices going! I had faith when DC originally announced Tynion would be taking over Batman, but this issue blew even those expectations out of the water.

Batman #86 starts off right away getting us intrigued by showing a band of misfits we have not seen in a long time in a Batman title. I was more then excited by the opening few pages seeing these characters and their meeting as they discuss a future operation. We are then taken to a Gala thrown by Bruce Wayne himself for his plans of a future Gotham, but in true style, Bruce is nowhere to be found but Selina Kyle of course is there in his place and we discover that Bruce is out investigating a plan he had uncovered and the pages following this are full of non stop action and pure writing magic as Tynion really taps that dark, angry, bad ass side of Batman. Tynion has mentioned he was most excited to dig into the Bat-tool chest and come up with some amazing new tech for the character, and we get to see an amazing example of that in his first issue. Tynion also taps the personal side of the character,
 showing he is still suffering the loss of his trusty friend and Butler Alfred Pennyworth and there is a specific dialogue that really pulls at the heart strings. I really wish these issues had even more pages because the writing is just so creative, you don’t want it to stop!

Holy art Batman! We could not have asked for a better art team to come on board to bring all of Tynion’s writing to life visually! Tony S. Daniel has been one of the best artists DC has ever had and has done some legendary pieces and bringing him onboard was the best choice they could have made!  The last few generations of Batman have really just been mind blowing visually and it makes me so glad that DC decided to up the game even more to finish off what was already an amazing series visually. Daniel's work alone is just elite, but then when you add the talents of Danny Miki on inks and Tomeu Morey on colors, you get what we see here in this first issue, and it is perfection! I absolutely love every single character’s redesign and feel like the team did a great job keeping it flow with the previous work done in the series. They did not go over the too with redesign and kept it a smooth transition, but we’re sure to add their own stylings and techniques to everything and it just couldn’t be any better. I mean opening the book up with pieces of Batman in the night of Gotham with a rainstorm probably took so much extra work, but immediately we are stunned and want to see more!
Overall, this book really not I ky lived up to my expectations but surprised me even after already being hyped and expecting a big bang to start this run off. Tynion's writing style just works so well in a Batman title and he made sure not to waste anytime proving just how strong his writing abilities are and leaving us on the hook and excited to see what the coming issues can bring and Tony S. Daniel and the entire art team really stepped their game up for this issue and not only was the work beautiful, it was flawless. I went back and triple looked over every single panel and could not find one thing that was not done perfect and with full attention to detail. This is the Batman that we have all been waiting for! I’m not a ohsycic by any means, but I believe this may be the best Batman we have gotten since Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo hung their capes up a few years ago. Batman #86 is available right now so get off your phone or computer right now and RUN to your Local Comic Shop, because this is one you are going to want to read right away, trust me!

--Wes Greer
 

Our Score:

10/10

A Look Inside