In Batman #146, Batman learns how to escape from his “dark prison,” while Zur-En-Arrh tightens his grasp around Gotham.
Title: Batman #146 — “Dark Prisons: Part Two”
Prologue Story: The Joker: Revelations
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artists: Jorge Jimenez & Michele Bandini
Colors: Tomeu Morey & Alex Sinclair
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Jorge Jimenez & Tomeu Morey
Variant Covers: Gabriele Dell’Otto, Yasmine Putri, Jim Lee & Alex Sinclair
Release Date: April 2, 2024
Please Note: This comic book review may contain spoilers
Batman #146 opens as Batman #145 ended, with Bruce Wayne once again meeting Daniel Captio, the newly installed warden in Zur-En-Arrh’s prison. Captio dumps pages and pages of exposition on Bruce, talking about all of the gears and inner workings that have been in place since the very beginning. Captio goes through Joker’s assault on Batman, how Joker eventually learned, from poisoning Alfred Pennyworth, about Failsafe. This set in motion a plot to convince The Penguin to fake his death, which set in motion Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run from the very beginning. Whereas Joker thought he was simply freeing Zur-En-Arrh, he was serving Captio, who will now set the final piece in motion — to rehabilitate Bruce Wayne.
Captio’s goal? He wants to make a better Batman. Of course, Bruce balks at this, calling Captio a narcissist obsessed with pitting Batman against Joker. Captio walks over to his warden’s desk and pulls out a cowl, which he places over Bruce Wayne’s face.
The art in this 11-page opening expository essay is beautiful, but one would expect nothing less from the creative team behind this run. It’s colorful, fun, and embraces different styles and eras of Batman’s history with the Joker, featuring the Clown Prince of Crime in his many outfits over the years, including the grisly Joe’s Garage look from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.
Elsewhere, Zur-En-Arrh, in the Failsafe Batsuit, beats up Killer Croc with Robin (Damian Wayne). Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) intercepts, trying to convince Damian to stop teaming up with Zur. Damian claims that the Bat-Family held Batman back.
Flashback panel in the comic’s opening. (Image Courtesy of DC Comics
At the Clocktower, Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Oracle (Barbara Gordon) debrief the Justice League on Zur’s actions.
At Blackgate Penitentiary, Bruce is back in his shared cell with Joker. While Joker tries to tell a joke, Bruce realizes that if Zur has his memories, he also has Zur’s memories. With Zur inhabiting a new body, Bruce thinks hard and recalls the time when Zur created Failsafe. Within moments, Bruce has what he needs to take down those mini Failsafe guards that lord over Blackgate. He busts out of his cell just as they bring in Punchline.
Punchline and Joker reunite, promising some fun to be had. While Bruce deals some damage with those robot guards, across Gotham, Zur and Robin break into Harley Quinn’s apartment. The action rises as this three-way parallel storytelling reaches a crescendo. Jorge Jimenez dishes out a few fun panels before Punchline flips the switch, literally. The cells to the non-powered criminals Zur-En-Arrh has locked up open, and now Batman finds himself caught in a melee between criminals and Failsafe guards. It allows him to escape.
The rest of the issue is a mad dash to set up some big revelations, quite literally. Robin peeks into Zur-En-Arrh’s Batbunker to find an Amazo bot, which Zur is using to build an army of Bat-bots. Meanwhile, Vandal Savage escapes Blackgate in the riot, claiming refuge and somehow being made commissioner of GCPD by unseen hands. In all of this, Zur meets with Superman, and Zur pleads his case with the Big Blue, trying to convince Superman that Zur is, indeed, the Batman he knows.
The last shot of this issue shows Bruce Wayne donning a disguise, hopping into a truck, and getting out of Gotham City.
It’s okay, dear readers, you can take a breath now. That was a lot, and there really isn’t much to say because much of this issue serves to set up story threads that have yet come to pass. Joker is back together with Punchline. Harley has been captured. Zur is now meeting with Superman. Robin has found Zur’s army, and Bruce books it out of town. All the while, Daniel Captio has completed his decades-long goal, apparently, of becoming warden of Zur’s prison, so he can be Bruce Wayne’s therapist?
Well okay then. The art’s beautiful, as usual, but the story is one big spaghetti mess.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
