Comic Review: Batman #13 (DC Comics)

“You and I, why do we leave comfort to seek out monsters?”

King and Janin pick up the pace in the 5th chapter (and conclusion) to their I AM SUICIDE arc.

Despite Catwoman’s apparent betrayal, and Batman’s monolog and journey through Bane’s maze prior to it all, all of the chess pieces are now in place. In this conclusion to a well received and most exceptional arc that King has written, how will Batman defeat Bane, and retrieve Psycho Pirate into custody? What will happen to the bat assembled team ? And what will the fallout of Bane’s siege mean for Batman in the near future?

Tom King has managed to improve on each issue that he has written since the beginning of the I AM SUICIDE arc. Admittedly, the Gotham arc was a bit weak, but seeing how everything has been building up to the current arc, in addition, building up to the upcoming Justice League vs Suicide Squad mini event, it’s been an impressive development thus far.

It’s interesting to see Amanda Waller lurking around the Batcave while Batman is occupied with his own squad in Bane’s island. What Waller is planning actually sets up the seeds that will be seen in the Justice League vs Suicide Squad mini event? There is a hilariously cool moment with Wesker and Psycho Pirate that people have to see for themselves. Tom King really manages to cobble together a really interesting Bat lead team that shouldn’t have worked, but managed to leave an impression to see more of this Batman selected team down the line. But I must say I’d prefer to see this team sparingly every now and then. If you got a good thing, never overuse it, and I hope King plans to go that route.

Mike Janin’s art just gets better and better throughout this arc. Personally, I hope to see him stay with King on this book going forward. He really delivers an awesome panel layout with each page he draws aside from all of the different figures that grace the pages. The first page is magnificently drawn out, with the title cards cleverly placed to execute that cinematic effect that the art and story bring. Reading the I AM SUICIDE arc thus far, I feel that Tom King as a writer is finally finding his footing with his Batman run and really hitting the ground running. The rest of the team do a great job providing consistent coloring, thanks to June Chung, and the strong lettering by Clayton Cowles. I’d give this issue an 8 out of 10. A satisfying conclusion to an overall good arc.