I've made no illusions about how I feel regarding this series' handling of Zur-En-Arrh as a concept. On a fundamental level, I think it misunderstands both what Grant Morrison was doing when they reintroduced the idea 15 years ago, and Batman's character as a whole. Despite that, I've tried to look past what is arguably a foundational flaw in the conflict's premise in order to evaluate each issue on its own merits. What was it trying to do? How well did it accomplish that? You know, reviewer stuff. Yet, as we reach the end of the whole saga (barring the upcoming Absolute Power event), those flaws are drawn to the forefront of the story and become impossible to ignore.
Much of the drama is centered around the notion that Zur-En-Arrh is a "backup" identity, designed by Bruce's old teacher Captio to be be a better Batman than Batman. It's from that seed that we get both the external threat when Zur goes rogue, as well as the internal conflict within Bruce about how he views his role as hero and his relationships with those around him. The problem is that this is unsupported by what we know of Bruce's character.
To begin with, Zdarsky's is a wildly different interpretation than what Morrison came up with. Instead of a manifestation of Batman's inner id laid bare as his outer ego is compromised by psychological attack, this version is just an evil Manchurian Batman constructed by the villain as part of their master plan. Obviously every writer is going to bring their own spin to the character and I don't want to suggest that doing something differently than Grant Morrison is an inherent flaw. The problem is that this approach is just so much less interesting. It abandons any introspective examination of Batman's character for what just boils down to a brainwashing/body-snatcher plot.
What character reflection does happen is based entirely on a version of Batman that's hardly recognizable. Zdarsky heaps sins upon Batman's past in order to set up a redemption, but they're mostly built on flimsy retcons. For example, Bruce says that he decided to "partition" his mind after struggling his first year as Batman. Supposedly this was to better protect people, but does that mean he was knowingly giving up control to his Zur persona to be better at fighting crime? It implies that he was always aware what was going on, but then so much of both this run's plot and everything it affects beforehand doesn't make sense.
Then of course there's the fact that this effectively retroactively puts the blame on an other, making the big apology scene fall entirely flat. If every bit of paranoid, antisocial behavior was because of Zur's influence, then he's not apologizing for anything that feels meaningful. The only culpability he has is the initial decision to split his mind decades ago, none of the actual character stuff we care about. Brainwashing Jason during Gotham War? Nah, that was actually Zur. Same goes for every other time he was a jerk to any of the Robins.
"Batman needs to trust his family" is a lesson writers keep having him learn over and over, but this is probably the weakest execution of the concept. It feels rushed, resolving the interpersonal conflict as quickly and arbitrarily as it began way back in Gotham War. Of course they immediately forgive him, there was never any legitimate reason for them to be fighting in the first place. The only person who should be angry is Jason, but his role has always just been to suffer for the plot. More on that later.
With the reconciliation out of the way, Batman can turn to the more punchy part of the story: defeating Zur-En-Arrh. The build up to this fight is genuinely tense, and at the time I felt the issue's strongest element. After all, how was Batman going to possibly beat Zur-En-Arrh in total control of the Failsafe body that had single-handedly defeated the Justice League? You always know that Batman will somehow win, but a good story makes the process of reaching that conclusion exciting and unknown. Going into the fight, it seemed that on that front, the story succeeded.
However, the reason I use terms like "at the time" and "seemed that" is because all that build-up is undercut by an incredibly disappointing answer. Batman's strategy is two-fold. The first is just a head-on assault, spurred by a sneak attack by Jason. Immediately, this causes problems as a reader. As stated before, Failsafe was able to handle the likes of Superman and the rest of the Justice League with apparent ease. It's a great way of establishing the threat at hand, but if you don't satisfyingly rise to that challenge, it only hurts the story. Batman's fancy new armor being able to get hot so as to repel Zur's tendrils doesn't meet that requirement; Superman has heat vision! I was left scratching my head as to why they were lasting as long as they did, even with the new suits the story had gone to such lengths to highlight.
Of course, this part of the plan is largely only a distraction. In fact, my concerns are partially lampshaded by Zur pointing out that he was able to quickly defeat the Justice League. The real plan comes in the form of a big twist (which may have been spoiled for some of you by leaks online):
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Jason is killed during the fight, causing Zur's underlying Failsafe programming (remember that his original purpose was to stop a Batman who had murdered) to turn on itself and shut down. It's the sort of resolution that feels a bit clever at first, but then sours as you think on it. Firstly, defeating the robot enemy by trapping it with a "this sentence is a lie" type paradox is a bit cliché, and comes across as finding a loophole more than outwitting the villain. It doesn't even really resonate on any thematic level, as Batman's "no killing" rule hasn't been a focus for the run at all since it was first brought up at the beginning to justify Failsafe's activation.
More than that, why did Zur kill Jason? We've already established that he's more than powerful enough to do so, but he's also able to control that power. In fact, that restraint is the only plausible justification for why Batman wasn't immediately killed upon fighting him. Yet, the second Jason jumps into the fray he gets one good hit to the jaw and he's out for good. Zur had made clear that he's against killing, so this sudden and anti-climactic death comes across as contrived for the plot to work.
Obviously Jason isn't dead for good. After all, coming back to life is his whole thing. In a flashback reveal that should surprise no one, we learn that Batman planned for this by making a suit laced with tiny micro-needles filled with Lazarus fluid that trigger immediately after death. The fact that this is what Jason's role in Batman stories is reduced to would almost work as a joke about his inability to escape being "the one who died" as a character, were it not played so straight. Yes, the absurd circumstances of his one-extra-life suit being used to defeat an all powerful robot programmed not to kill is meant to be taken very seriously and show how smart Batman is.
Meanwhile, during most of this fight Tim is busy rescuing Damian from Zur's Robin: a child clone of Bruce (which I initially thought was supposed to be Damian, but I guess that's just a problem with how most artists handle all the Robins). None of it feels particularly memorable or important, but rather just something for the most junior members of the Bat family to do. Certainly a far cry from the important role for Tim advertised at the run's outset. To add insult to injury, his new costume is just bad.
I don't know what Jiménez thinks he has cooking with those crotch bars, but it's certainly something because he put them on Bruce's, Tim's, and clone-Bruce's suits. To me, they just look like a danger when sitting down. I think Jiménez is one of the more talented artists working in the industry, but his original designs leave a lot to be desired. They're often over-designed to the point where various elements clash with one another and can appear gaudy. Batman's suit is especially guilty of this, almost looking like one of those 90s Kenner Batman action figures with detachable dart launcher.
Where Jiménez's talent as an artist shines most is in the exterior shots of night-time Gotham City. His use of stark lighting and colors create a moody atmosphere that draws you into the scene. This is especially true when given an opportunity for contrast such as when police sirens illuminate the bridge leading to the fight between Batman and Zur-En-Arrh. Unfortunately, the fight sequences this month are not up to his usual standards. They're not bad per se, but they lack his usual attention to detail and often substitute action lines behind static poses for any real sense of dynamic movement.
Recommended If
- You've been a huge fan of the Zur-En-Arrh/Failsafe plot and want to see it resolved
- Batman should, once again, learn to trust his family
- Jiménez's art and designs are enough to keep you engaged
Overall
The climax to the whole Failsafe/Zur-En-Arrh plot acts only to highlight all of the problems that have accumulated thus far. The nonsensical foundation for its entire premise cracks under the weight of even more retcons, contrivances, and tenuous leaps of logic. Finally, Jiménez's art is not sufficient to save an ultimate fight which relies on fake-outs that are both predictable and exasperating.
Score: 2.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
