Review: Batman Incorporated #5

Overview: In Batman Incorporated #5, Ghost-Maker tells his version of the story for Phantom-One, and Batman Inc. now has an enemy.

Synopsis (spoilers ahead): Batman Incorporated #5 begins with the team on Lex’s ship, where they are all in a holding cell. Oryx wakes up the Knight and tells her that after they deal with Ghost-Maker, they will let the rest of them go. Then after Oryx walks away, Knight wakes up Gray Wolf. He breaks free from his chains and yells for everyone to wake up.

Then he breaks through the glass, and the others all run to the exit, but in their way stands the Phantom-One’s team. Batman Inc. tried to stop it from escalating, but then Oryx revealed to Batman Inc. what their motives were. This made Batman Inc. question how reliable Lex Luthor is and if they should trust them.

Ghost-Maker, still where he was at the end of the last issue on his knees. When Phantom-One tells Clownhunter to kill Ghost-Maker, they manipulate him even more. Ghost-Maker chimes in, saying that if Phantom-One is so adamant about killing him, he should do it himself. Phantom-One says that Ghost-Maker should die after what he did to him.

Ghost-Maker says that Phantom-One deviated from the plan and tried to chase down Palladium which then caused the building to be blown up. Then Ghost-Maker had to choose between Phantom-One and ten innocent people. So he went with the latter, and by the time he saved those people, no one could have survived. So he started for revenge and tracked down Palladium and killed him.

After hearing that, Clownhunter changes his mind and doesn’t want to kill him. Then Phantom-One takes his sword, ready to kill Ghost-Maker. But Ghost-Maker takes out a tiny blade and stabs Phantom-One as he swings. Then Phantom-One gets stabbed in the torso after going at Ghost-Maker.

On the ship, a fight starts, and Wingman makes his way to the control room, where he presses a button and makes the ship crash right next to where Phantom-One and Ghost-Maker are.

Phantom-One takes the chance while Ghost-Maker is distracted and punches him in the face, and when he is about to kill him, he starts to lift up Ghost-Maker’s face. Ghost-Maker kicks him off and puts the helmet back on after Phantom-One almost reveals it. And stands above him and says that he won’t kill Phantom-One because he made a promise to stop killing people.

Both teams gather around to see Ghost-Maker and Phantom-One, which gets brought onto the ship by his team.

All the way over in Shanghai, Bat-Man of China looks for Dr. Wu and can’t find him. Leading him to come into a room where people dressed as clowns are holding Dr. Wu at gunpoint.

Analysis: The story in Batman Incorporated #5 was interesting this time, with us being able to see the truth behind why Ghost-Maker left behind Phantom-One. We needed that piece of information for the story to move on from the doubt cast on Ghost-Maker in the last few issues. Ghost-Maker never seemed to be the one who would have left someone behind, and now we know why Phantom-One was doomed.

We saw how Clownhunter decided he didn’t want to kill Ghost-Maker. Will this conflict be resolved, or will there be issues with other team members?

Also, when he talks about how he got revenge on Phantom-One by killing Palladium, I felt the pain Ghost-Maker had; losing Phantom-One to save ten other people’s lives. If I were in the Ghost-Makers situation, I would have done the same thing because that is the right thing to do in that line of work. Phantom-One was an unfortunate sacrifice in the war on crime.

We also saw the clowns at the end, maybe referring to the Joker being one of the next villains of Batman Incorporated. A variant cover also showed Batman and Ghost-Maker side by side, meaning they could be in the next issue teaming up or hunting the same enemy.

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a 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 Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.