I AM BATMAN Series

ds090ddsl · August 17, 2021, 3:19pm

In the throes of Future State, the streets of Gotham City cry for justice and Jace Fox answers the call! With a new and improved Bat-Suit, Jace hits the streets to inspire and protect…as he follows the trail of the voice of misinformation and violence—the anarchistic Anti-Oracle! Can the new Dark Knight counterbalance their plan to inspire armed rebellion in the citizens of Gotham?! Can one man inspire a city?

From the September 2021 solicitations in DC CONNECT #14:

I AM BATMAN #1

Story by JOHN RIDLEY

Art by OLIVIER COIPEL

Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL

$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC

Variants by GREG CAPULLO and FRANCESCO MATTINA

1:25 Variant by KAEL NGU

Team card stock variant by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO

$4.99 US

ON SALE 9/14/21

In the throes of Future State, the streets of Gotham City cry for justice and Jace Fox answers the call! With a new and improved Bat-Suit, Jace hits the streets to inspire and protect…as he follows the trail of the voice of misinformation and violence—the anarchistic Anti-Oracle! Can the new Dark Knight counterbalance their plan to inspire armed rebellion in the citizens of Gotham?! Can one man inspire a city?

I have to say, his costume rivals Sister Night’s, from HBO’s Watchman, as my favorite super-hero costume.

Watchmen: Dave Gibbons Illustration (Promo) | HBO

“In the TV series, the one who really speaks to me is Sister Night. She’s a wonderful character and a great costume. It’s got such nice flowing lines and nice areas of solid black. The telling little details like the sheriff’s badge and the crucifix. She was the character that I felt most drawn to draw.”
-Dave Gibbons

As ever, Trevante Rhodes would be my choice to play Tim “Jace” Fox if HBO Max were to ever do an I AM BATMAN-type of series…

He starred in the Academy Award for Best Picture winner Moonlight.

Anyway, the #0 issue to kick things off…

I AM BATMAN #0

I Am Batman #0 – The age of a new Dark Knight begins! On August 10, picking up immediately from the events of The Next Batman: Second Son, Jace Fox begins the march toward his destiny when he fights to protect Alleytown against the oppressive forces of the Magistrate, using Batman armor and tech he’s found in Bruce Wayne’s old base of operations, the Hibernaculum!

Written by John Ridley

Art and Main Cover by Travel Foreman

Card Stock Variant cover by Dave Wilkins

Card Stock Variant cover by Derrick Chew

Card Stock 1:25 Variant cover by Riccardo Federici

40 Pages; $4.99 ($5.99 card stock variant cover)

On Sale Tuesday, August 10, 2021

This does literally pick up right after the last issue of THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON.

See also: THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON Digital Series

I believe it was the weekly grind of THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON that kind of burnt me out on all things Bat. Because I see after a bit of break I do want to see what happens next in the life of Jace Fox. The other Bat-people I can take or leave, but Jace is interesting to me.

Speaking of which, it was kind of funny to see that the November 2021 DC solicitations were basically DC saying that, “Yeah, we’re the Batman comic book company.”

I believe almost 60% of the books were Batman books. So they’re not going to even pretend anymore; and are probably not going to even bother wasting money on much of anything else anymore. It’s Batman, and then there’s everything else.

I feel that they could probably cut the number of Bat-books in half, if not more, but I’m sure they’ve looked at the numbers and the Bat is pretty much all the sells at DC. And it’s worked for almost the last 40 years, since THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, so the Bat it is. It’s what the people want. (BATMAN: THE IMPOSTER even got my attention.)

Batman feels like a really good fit for Warner Bros. to me, as well. It fits the brand. Yes, it’s really their only successful movie super-hero property (added because I think that the Joker is the greatest comic book movie ever made, and that The Batman will be their next hit movie), so I’m sure that factors into the overall perception that I have on the matter, but it is what it is…

Briefly on the art for this issue, Travel Foreman was fine for a weekly digital series, but I don’t really care for his style for a monthly series; and I also believe it was the art that attributed to my Bat burnout. It was just a bit too “basic.” Thankfully, Olivier Coipel is on for at least the first issue of I AM BATMAN, and I see that Stephen Segovia will be doing the art for issues two and three, and I presume he may be the regular artist going forward.

We’ll of course see how it all shakes out, but so far so good.

As for the #0 issue, more of the nice, slow burn that we got in THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON.

I would hazard to guess that some may not care for that storytelling style. Because I know reading SECOND SON it felt almost like a Vertigo series (and I mean that in a good way), and this is just more of the same.

A couple of things that stood out for me was seeing the purpose the suit of “Bat-armor”, and seeing Jace with the Jace-cycle again…

This is a fairly grounded take on the Batman idea, which of course is already pretty grounded to begin with. And Jace’s raison d’être is a bit different, but I’m onboard.

Also, the ending with the “beginning”…

Thankfully the “Bat-armor” was just used for a few panels, because, oh boy, any more of that and I would have been gone in an instant. So John Ridley’s sensibilities and mine are simpatico, it would seem. And I would be fine without the cape and cowl altogether, but it’s naturally understandable for it. And the aforementioned Olivier Coipel designs from above for this Batman I like well enough, so no complaints.

Ironically, the costume is really the deal closer on this for me. Because if I didn’t like it, then there’s no way I would be able to read the comic.

With that said… it “begins.”

ds090ddsl · August 19, 2021, 6:03pm

I AM BATMAN #1 preview from CBR:

Pretty cool.

And Jace’s Batman suit I think is very cool.

The whole covering up the face aspect is what sells it for me.

It’s a small thing, but it makes all the difference in the world to me. It takes me from not liking “Batman’s” costume, to liking it a lot; and making it actually look cool to me for the first time ever.

ds090ddsl · August 28, 2021, 7:30pm

Just to add, a bit of “Gotham Gossip” if you will…

So rumor has it, the reason for the full mask:

Jace Fox’s Batman has no batarangs or grappling guns, he’s not that kind of Batman. He does wear a full face mask against Joker toxins. Much like the rest of Alleytown.

That is in fitting with the scene from I AM BATMAN #0…

So in Gotham City, some of the citizens wear masks because of A-Day.

I suppose that’s also a somewhat clever way to bring in current events without actually bringing in COVID-19.

Moreover, again, this Batman that John Ridley has written thus far has really been grounded in this aspect. There’s been a little “Luke Fox Batwing” action, but that’s been about it. Everything else involving Jace has been fairly realistic; no colorful, “clown-ish” criminals so far.

Granted, some may find that a bit boring, but I love it.

Eventually, I guess the “clowns” will have to be brought in, but I’ll be interesting to see how this Batman will be done in the meantime…

And how John Ridley will handle Tiffany Fox: The Kid Sister Wonder™.

Also, if the preview for I AM BATMAN #1 is anything to go by, I’m assuming the Hibernaculum will serve as Jace’s “Batcave”…

At some point I’m assuming Lucius is going to find out about all of this…

moro · August 28, 2021, 8:06pm

Must say, I enjoyed Second Son and the first issue of this series more than the Future State stuff. Nice to see where Tim/Jace got his skills and what his motives are. The writing is deliberate, but fleshes out the characters pretty well. Curious to see how they’re going to handle having two Batmen (Batmans?) operating at the same time in the same city. Will they meet? What will Bruce’s reaction be like?

D4RK5TARZ · August 29, 2021, 3:34pm

Future State was okay but nothing great or groundbreaking in my opinion. Second Son is where Jace’s world got a chance to breathe. I Am Batman 0 was excellent and I am all in on the character. With all of that said, I have enjoyed the organic world-building and characterization of Jace and the supporting characters that started in Future State. When all of it is read in one sitting it feels like 1 comic and not 3 different series.

Hmm, this is a great question and I think they will meet in Fear State, maybe even giving room for Bruce to leave Gotham as Joshua Williamson has teased.

ds090ddsl · August 29, 2021, 4:18pm

@D4RK5TARZ

Future State was okay but nothing great or groundbreaking in my opinion. Second Son is where Jace’s world got a chance to breathe. I Am Batman 0 was excellent and I am all in on the character. With all of that said, I have enjoyed the organic world-building and characterization of Jace and the supporting characters that started in Future State. When all of it is read in one sitting it feels like 1 comic and not 3 different series.

Yeah, Future State had a really odd feel about to me.

In an interview back in February, John Ridley talked about how this all came about in general…

Den of Geek: As soon as I saw that Tim Fox was the Next Batman, I was really excited to talk to you about that choice. You’ve spoken before about other lesser known Black heroes that meant something to you, who you’ve then later explored in your DC stories. Was Tim another one of those characters or was he someone who came up as you were researching and planning the series?

It’s been a really interesting journey getting to The Next Batman. I was working on The Other History and the second series of The American Way and I just felt very fortunate to be doing any of that. And at first I got these emails that Dan DiDio wanted to talk to me but I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. But there was some weird thing where they were having trouble emailing it and this was prior to the pandemic, so finally they got all frustrated and were like, “Dan wants to have lunch with you.” We sat down and he said, “Oh we want you to write Batman.” That would have been tremendously cool in itself, but they said, “We want to approach Batman in a different way. We want Batman to be a character of color. But he’s going to be Batman. It’s not going to be an Elseworlds story, it’s not going to be, you know, the Dark Knight having his back broken. It’s not going to be temporary.”

Everything about it was trying to find the right way to express Batman. Who is Batman who’s a person of color? Not replacement Batman, not fantasy Batman, it’s going to be Batman. Going back a little bit, everybody in DC was very excited about The Other History. And initially the approach was, “Well, we’d love for you to create the next great DC comic book character.” That was the initial conversation before it became about Batman as a person of color. Initially, when Dan and Jim Lee approached me with that idea I was like, “Wow, I don’t know if I want to do that.” I know it sounds like a great opportunity, but I sincerely felt like, “Well, I’m too old to be writing a character that hopefully the next generation of comic book readers are going to want to be involved with.” Honestly, I think trying to create the next great character is a great way to fail. Anytime anybody in any space says, “I’m gonna do the next great whatever,” it’s just an opportunity to embarrass yourself.

So when they first approached me, I said, “I don’t know if I’m gonna be the right person.” And ironically both Jim and Dan said to me, “John, because you have that attitude, that’s all the more reason we feel like you’re the right person.”

That was that. And then, you know, months later Dan sits down and says, “Hey, we want you to do Batman. But we want you to do the next Batman.” We didn’t even have that title at that point but that was the phraseology he used. Then there were all of these things that happened with what people thought or what was meant to be 5G, and then Dan leaving the company and all of these changes. But what never changed was the desire to have a next generation of heroes. And one of them was going to be Batman and he was going to be a person of color.

Then we really got into who this person was going to be. Ben Abernathy is the group editor and I have a long history with him. Frankly, I wouldn’t be writing comic books if it weren’t for Ben, so I was very excited when he was going to be the group editor. He really was instrumental in saying, “I think that the right character should be Tim Fox.” The idea that one of the Fox sons should be Batman was a no-brainer. The conversations were out there and they were unmissable. But for me and Ben, Tim was the correct way to go.

He was always the second son. He was always this kid who just did not get along with his father. Who had divergent views about the family and the family status, and concepts of money and wealth and society. But also he disappeared for a long period of time. One of the things that was really fun for me on The Other History was leaning into things that happened in the DC Universe that may have happened because a character’s book got cancelled or that storyline just dropped away. And instead of ignoring it, how do you embrace things that happen in real life but really turn them into narrative arcs? And with Tim disappearing from the DC Universe for decades, why was he gone? Why did he go away? So using all of that negative space and saying, “Okay, we’re going to fill that void.”

But yep, THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON and I AM BATMAN are seamless from a story telling standpoint.

Good stuff.

And I guess I’m onboard for however long it lasts… 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, however long, until the end.

D4RK5TARZ · August 29, 2021, 4:29pm

I really cannot stress, up to this point in time, the best thing they are doing with this series is taking it slow. Show the mistakes, warts and all, and create a hero’s journey. Too often, we get a new character and that character just is, they do heroic stuff but it often seems like we are in the middle of the story. Superman actually had that strike against him and someone realized we needed an origin story which fleshed him out.

ds090ddsl · August 29, 2021, 5:25pm

The Digital First Series as a vehicle for telling an origin story is something that they might want to consider and use again in the future, because it worked wonders for Jace.

We essentially got his “Year One” story… or “Zero Year,” I guess. And now I AM BATMAN will be his “Year One.”

ds090ddsl · September 10, 2021, 7:20pm

Interesting.

ds090ddsl · September 14, 2021, 12:07pm

Since they had the preview for issue #1, here’s their review:

So, with that said, issue #1, “The Beginning.”

Jumping right in, and…

A bit of a flashback to Jace’s younger self.

And the end of the issue is hopefully the tone we’ll get for this entire series.

(Cool shot of Jace.)

On the whole, just a solid and really grounded Batman story.

I am pleased. It was what I was hoping for, and sort of expected, and it’s what I got.

This feels almost like a Black Label series, it has certain aspects about it on that front, but it’s fully integrated into the current continuity. So it’s the best of both worlds I guess in that sense. Although, a full-on Black Label series would have been fine by me, but I’ll take it as is…

Next issue Stephen Segovia will be taking over the art. I wasn’t familiar with his work so I did a little digging and he should be fine. The overall tone of the book art-wise shouldn’t shift too much I don’t think. And Olivier Coipel may come back at some point too, because going back to when this Batman was part of the 5G plans, Olivier Coipel was the artist attached to it.

Anyway, yep, nothing too crazy and out there in this issue. Just simple, grounded, goodness.

Good.

EDIT:

Quickly, going back to what was said in the review:

The first issue is out this week and I am here to answer the age-old question: Is it good?

The answer is a strong yes, especially if you’re looking for a different kind of Batman book.

And this is precisely what I’m looking for, a different kind of Batman book.

EDIT (Batman Day Edit):

Just to add… I have to say, as straight-forward as it was, this was the best Batman comic that I’ve ever read. And of course I would say that.

brian345150 · October 3, 2021, 5:35pm

Enjoyed the first issue. Seems based on the comments here i need to go back and check out second son.

brian345150 · October 13, 2021, 9:38pm

Issue 2 was solid also. Really getting into Jace as a character. Love his Batsuit!

Nobody.bladesmith · October 14, 2021, 4:41pm

well, I am having a bit of trouble getting into I am batman after how Lucis ended up treating bruce at the end of the joker war. but I will say Tim is an improvement over his younger brother as a contender as the next batman. however, I just hope DC lets bruce be happy and married to Catwoman if they fully replace him as batman. It would be fun to have Commissioner Wayne brought from Earth-Two to the mainstream.

Got nothing against Renee Montoya she should be a great commissioner.

ds090ddsl · November 15, 2021, 9:00pm

Speaking of Sex and the City…

And just like that…

No one, including Batman and his allies, have escaped the last year without some battle scars, and Jace Fox and his family are no exception. The fallout the Fear State attack on Gotham City forces Jace and his family to leave Gotham and Lucius & Luke Fox for a new home base. Beginning with issue #6 of Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years A Slave, The Other History of the DC Universe, The American Way)’s I Am Batman, the series shifts permanently to New York.

I Am Batman #6 marks the first time an ongoing Batman title will be based in New York City since issue #47 of Detective Comics in January 1941. Gotham City makes its official debut in the DC Universe later that same year, in Batman #4 and Detective Comics #48.

I had checked-out on this series because I wasn’t really that crazy about the art, but now, with Ken Lashley taking over the art presumably, I guess I’m back onboard.

And Jace moving to New York City is fine too. I can live with that.

EDIT:

See also…

ds090ddsl · May 21, 2022, 2:27am

And back once again… about six or seven months later.

I believe I’ve dropped this series at least twice, maybe three times… but I’m back again. I just can’t let it go.

I’m mostly over my issues that I had with it: the art, Jace in a Batman costume as opposed to just dressing like he did in SECOND SON, and… that was really my only real issues that I had.

With that, I’ll skip issues #2 thru #5, those were just so-so to me. I didn’t find much of anything wrong with them, they served their purpose of moving the story along, and so that was fine.

Anyway, Jace and the family, save for Papa Fox, moving to New York City is where I’ll pick back up again; issue #6.

(And of course it’s a few months after it came out, but hey… it’s like that sometimes. What can you do… ?).

Jumping a few pages in, and this…

A fun thing about this to me is that I was trying to figure out where John Ridley was basing where the Fox’s were going to be living in Manhattan.

Billionaires’ Row are those super-tall luxury apartment buildings that they’ve built over the last few years along 57th St in midtown Manhattan.

Just to put it into perspective, if you have 10s of millions of dollars you can barely afford to live in any of those buildings. If you have 100s of millions of dollars you can afford to live there. And if you’re a billionaire you can of course afford to live in any of them – hence, Billionaires’ Row.

With Jace saying that they’re on the 84th floor, I’m guessing that John Ridley was maybe saying that they’re living at Central Park Tower. And I say that because the duplexes in Central Park Tower I believe are somewhere around the floors in the 80s.

Of course, being a comic this is a fictional New York City. This is New York City in the DC Comics world. But just as a real world point of reference I thought it was kind of fun to try and find it. I’ve lived in New York for years, so that’s why I like to try and spot things when they do put them in the comics.

One other thing that I liked about that page was Jace being clean shaven. I like him better like that than with the goatee.

That structure in the background is a real world location as well in New York. It’s the Vessel at Hudson Yards.

Also, those were nice character moments, I thought. And we got to see Vol for the first time.

More nice character moments.

And yes, Little Island is a real place in New York too.

I remember when they were building all of these places, Little Island really stands out thought because it was like, “What in the hell is that going to be?”

Anyway, good to be back with I AM BATMAN. Again, I’ve dropped it a few times already, but I’m back until the bitter end this time.

I’ll be surprised if it goes… say, 24 issues. But however long it lasts, I’ll be there. I always enjoyed John Ridley’s writing, and the art in the issues after this one… I didn’t like what I saw in the previews of the issues, and I guess that’s because those were mainly action scenes and I didn’t care for how they were drawn. But the “talking head” scenes were perfectly fine to really good to me.

So I’m good to go again. I still wished that they didn’t dress Jace as Batman, but it is what it is. And on a positive side, I do like his “all black everything” Batsuit much better than Bruce’s one with the yellow utility belt.

EDIT:

I’ve never liked that yellow utility belt, it’s always looked silly to me.

ds090ddsl · May 21, 2022, 6:51pm

Issue #7…

A couple of things: I think if they had Jace dressed in a costume like Kato from the Green Hornet or something, then all would be good with me, because the cape is a bit too much for me, and the cowl. It doesn’t really feel “New York” to me.

Lucius Fox told him to stop wearing the faceplate back in issue #5. I wished they hadn’t done that because that was the coolest part about the costume to me.

I suppose they could have used the move to New York to do a complete overall. Again, to make him look more “New York,” but alas, no.

Anyway, the other thing… the team: I like Mike Tanaka and Michon Mueller.

I’m a big Law & Order fan, I’ve been watching all of the shows for almost long as they’ve been on, for about 20 years. So this team of Chubb and Whitaker, and the other two, given me a bit of a Law & Order vide.

I like Mama Fox, and…

…Jace and Vol setting up shop is going to be fun.

I’m really looking forward to what they come up with and where they put it: Brooklyn or Manhattan; or maybe even Queens – Harlem would be cool too.

More good character moments. And I feel like John Ridley is channeling something with the Commissioner.

And the bad guy…

When I first read that Jace’s “Joker” would be called Man Ray I immediately thought, “Oh, I guess he’s going to have something to do with art.” And sure enough he does; which will be explored in the next couple of issues.

Man Ray the artist actually appeared in the Vertigo mini-series BEWARE THE CREEPER…

I believe that the big bad in the first MOTHER PANIC series was also an artist. (…really cool series, I thought.)

Bat-people with artists as the bad guy is kind of a cool thing, I think.

But yep, everything about this issue I liked… except for Jace in the costume. But I am over it though… pretty much, at least.

Samsonkillingtime · May 21, 2022, 8:08pm

In principle I would have preferred Luke Fox as Batman.
Sayantan Gayen of CBR wrote for his review of Batwing: Luke Fox, what made Luke stand out from others especially his tutor Batman is that he doesn’t need a tragic backstory to become a superhero, rather helping people is his second nature.

Being Batwing comes natural to him.

I don’t like all the shade John Ridley has been giving Luke lately in his second son and I am Batman series. Plus WTH did they do to his body

He’s huge and all muscles, that’s definitely not how he looks.

Also another tangent I need to bring up is Tim Fox Batman outfit being bulky now and the removal of the face mask making him less distinct from Bruce Wayne Batman. I know John Ridley is making a statement about a black Batman but come on this looked way cooler.

ds090ddsl · May 22, 2022, 2:52am

@Samsonkillingtime

Yeah, Tim (now Jace, of course) was more or less mandated by editorial as the one to be Batman.

John Ridley was 100% onboard with the choice though too…

Den of Geek: As soon as I saw that Tim Fox was the Next Batman, I was really excited to talk to you about that choice. You’ve spoken before about other lesser known Black heroes that meant something to you, who you’ve then later explored in your DC stories. Was Tim another one of those characters or was he someone who came up as you were researching and planning the series?

It’s been a really interesting journey getting to The Next Batman. I was working on The Other History and the second series of The American Way and I just felt very fortunate to be doing any of that. And at first I got these emails that Dan DiDio wanted to talk to me but I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. But there was some weird thing where they were having trouble emailing it and this was prior to the pandemic, so finally they got all frustrated and were like, “Dan wants to have lunch with you.” We sat down and he said, “Oh we want you to write Batman.” That would have been tremendously cool in itself, but they said, “We want to approach Batman in a different way. We want Batman to be a character of color. But he’s going to be Batman. It’s not going to be an Elseworlds story, it’s not going to be, you know, the Dark Knight having his back broken. It’s not going to be temporary.”

Everything about it was trying to find the right way to express Batman. Who is Batman who’s a person of color? Not replacement Batman, not fantasy Batman, it’s going to be Batman. Going back a little bit, everybody in DC was very excited about The Other History. And initially the approach was, “Well, we’d love for you to create the next great DC comic book character.” That was the initial conversation before it became about Batman as a person of color. Initially, when Dan and Jim Lee approached me with that idea I was like, “Wow, I don’t know if I want to do that.” I know it sounds like a great opportunity, but I sincerely felt like, “Well, I’m too old to be writing a character that hopefully the next generation of comic book readers are going to want to be involved with.” Honestly, I think trying to create the next great character is a great way to fail. Anytime anybody in any space says, “I’m gonna do the next great whatever,” it’s just an opportunity to embarrass yourself.

So when they first approached me, I said, “I don’t know if I’m gonna be the right person.” And ironically both Jim and Dan said to me, “John, because you have that attitude, that’s all the more reason we feel like you’re the right person.”

That was that. And then, you know, months later Dan sits down and says, “Hey, we want you to do Batman. But we want you to do the next Batman.” We didn’t even have that title at that point but that was the phraseology he used. Then there were all of these things that happened with what people thought or what was meant to be 5G, and then Dan leaving the company and all of these changes. But what never changed was the desire to have a next generation of heroes. And one of them was going to be Batman and he was going to be a person of color.

This part…

Then we really got into who this person was going to be. Ben Abernathy is the group editor and I have a long history with him. Frankly, I wouldn’t be writing comic books if it weren’t for Ben, so I was very excited when he was going to be the group editor. He really was instrumental in saying, “I think that the right character should be Tim Fox.” The idea that one of the Fox sons should be Batman was a no-brainer. The conversations were out there and they were unmissable. But for me and Ben, Tim was the correct way to go.

He was always the second son. He was always this kid who just did not get along with his father. Who had divergent views about the family and the family status, and concepts of money and wealth and society. But also he disappeared for a long period of time. One of the things that was really fun for me on The Other History was leaning into things that happened in the DC Universe that may have happened because a character’s book got cancelled or that storyline just dropped away. And instead of ignoring it, how do you embrace things that happen in real life but really turn them into narrative arcs? And with Tim disappearing from the DC Universe for decades, why was he gone? Why did he go away? So using all of that negative space and saying, “Okay, we’re going to fill that void.”

I’m of the opinion too that Tim (Jace) was really the only choice, and the right choice.

And yeah, the whole Luke and Tim (Jace) thing; the supposed “shade” thrown on Luke… there’s of course a story reason for that…

According to Ridley, one of the reasons Tim was chosen to headline The Next Batman was that much of his story was yet to be explored, providing an excellent blank slate for a new take on Batman.

“To a degree, Batman has had folks out there that he’s personally trained. Folks out there that wanted that. The mantle, the cowl. Folks who needed to step in on occasion. And the thing that’s always a differentiator is why? What is that narrative? What did they want? What drove them to it?

“There are a lot of folks out there, a lot of the characters out there that could have been Batman, but for me I think their motivations were not hyper clear. And I didn’t want to force change to either the detriment of stories that came before, or having to overly modify what was going to come. And Tim just allowed for a really particular narrative which we believe is going to allow for a very particular incarnation of his Batman.”

And…

But when it comes to a new character taking on the role of Batman, one of the big questions creators have to ask themselves is what separates the new incumbent from Bruce Wayne? After all, you don’t just want to repeat the same exact story but with a different character.

“For me the biggest difference really is family. I mean, everything about Bruce was driven by the loss of his family. And on the page, never really being able to attach himself to people,” Ridley says. “Tim has his family. And that family is always there. And he, too, is driven by family, but in a very different way. And he’s going to have to reconcile much of that in real time.”

Indeed, Tim’s estrangement from his family heavily informs the book. His attempts to reconnect with them after his long absence from Gotham are met with hostility from Luke, who refers to Tim as the “the Fox family screw up.” And that disconnect extends to his mother Tanya too, who is a major proponent of the heavily-armored police working to keep the Gotham City streets “mask-free” after her daughter Tam lands in the hospital due to a mask-related incident (it’s unclear what exactly happened to her). It’s an interesting dynamic that not only sets Tim’s story apart from Bruce’s but also allows Ridley to flesh out each member of the Fox family beyond their connection to Lucius.

Luke looking at Jace as “the Fox family screw up,” and subsequently making Luke a bit of a jerk (which is what I assume you meant by the “shade” casting on Luke) towards Jace really worked for me.

Granted, I know the character Luke in name only because I never read any of the BATWING books, but his reactions towards Jace made perfect sense to me.

But I guess that’s precisely the way John Ridley wanted it when he wrote it, so there’s that.

But the responsible brother treating the screw-up brother like that did ring true to me. (Being an only child I guess I really wouldn’t know first hand, but narratively it felt right.)

I understand though on people on wanting Luke instead, especially if you have a history with the character and like the character.

Neither of those apply to me, so that’s why I feel the way that I do.

And last: yes, the removal of the faceplate I do not get at all.

Pretty much everything that John Ridley has done I’ve agreed with; and that in and of itself is surprising, but there it is… The ditching of the face mask/faceplate is just weird though to me.

I guess I’ll go and do some digging and see if he talked about the decision in an interview or something, because I am curious to know the reasoning – other than what was stated in issue #5.

Pretty much everything John Ridley has done thus far has narratively made sense to me, this one though just seemed like it came from out of left field. I kind of do wonder if this was done because of an editorial mandate. But of course it could be all John Ridley too.

Of course, as ever, just don’t put him in a Batman costume and problem solved. And he will truly be his own man.

And this just may be wishful thinking on my part, but at some point I think he’s got to come out of the Batman costume and get his own look and identity. Be it the by the 12th issue, or the 18th issue, or somewhere around there. I just can’t imagine Jace in a Batman costume for years on end. That’s just kind of stupid to me.

Anyway, I hear what you’re saying on Luke.

Samsonkillingtime · May 22, 2022, 5:59am

It’s funny because Luke Fox initially was a nobody to me, but after Ridley gotten writing Batman I started to invest in reading about the fox family, especially after reading this paragraph from John Ridley and this article.

I wanted to know more about the Fox Family as they now preoccupied a new position in future state more or less as the next Bat family in Gotham but in a obvious different way. They mattered and it was important to know more about them.

Luke Fox was somebody who was the second most recognizable after Lucius and since Lucius preoccupied a small position in the batman books I decided to know more about Luke Fox, the second Batwing.

It might sound shocking to hear but while I was reading the series, I was morbidly curious to see Batwoman show when I found out that Luke Fox in it. Call it research but while I won’t say I loved it because it’s a CW show, I think it’s because of Luke in Batwoman played by Camrus Johnson that I got to really get into the character and understood him better in the comics.

Both in the comics and Batwoman show, Luke Fox is genius kid with a cool bat suit, yeah, but what makes himself interesting is despite his own family legacy to Batman, he has no notions of a personal mission to fight crime and is simply committed to fight for justice just because it’s the right thing to do.

Compared to how Ridley written Jace, despite it being said in text that he’s not trying to prove anything, Jace as Batman is frequently written to be a guy who wants his Batman to be more like a activist, to send a message to police, people, and criminals that he isn’t interested in stopping just crimes but also breaking institutional problems around it.

I like both characterizations but I prefer to have a hero like Luke Fox.

Samsonkillingtime · May 22, 2022, 11:23am

While I do hate the concept of two Batmen, I highly doubt we will see Jace Fox stop being Batman because of the recent addition of the future state characters to see editorial and writer backstep on the character any time soon.

My best guess is after I am Batman series ends either in Issue 18 or 25 that Jace Fox will continue his time as Batman in a relaunch of the Batman and the outsider title. John Ridley has a pretty good perspective on what the outsiders were all about in other history of the dc universe, and Jace is under the tutelage of Katana to provide a interesting dynamic we hadn’t seen from either character.