I thought there were fantastic ideas that Tyrion had that were never capitalized on or fully realized. In my opinion Simon Saint was the most interesting part of the story and he was barely mentioned.
The highlights in my opinion were that I really like the exploration of the modern media landscape, fear based programming and the risks of corporate fascism. That being said, I felt like it trudged on narratively and ended in a really unsatisfying way. The Nightwing 3 parter started incredibly (#84) and got me extremely hyped, particularly with its portrayal of Batman, but it was followed with a book mostly featuring Babs that kind of stopped the “let’s go get him” narrative dead. The three parter was mostly super boring IMO. Also for a story where Scarecrow was prominently featured, he was mostly super lame and just sitting around in his weird hat monologuing.
4/10 IMO. Not the worst event I have read and it had moments of greatness, overall I was pretty disappointed and it seemed void of a singular vision
I actually liked it, and enjoyed it even more than Joker War (the fact that I just don’t like the Joker helps, though). Miracle Molly was a great addition to the world of Batman with thematic connections to the ideas of Batman’s trauma and memory, and her one shot was fantastic. Peacekeeper 01, though a bit less strong, was so well woven into the story with Batman, Joker, and his own one shot, that he won me over…though I cannot say I’m super pumped to see more of him just yet. The final scenes where Batman makes his case to the world really moved me in a way that it didn’t quite land in Joker War for me - it felt more earned, and more worthwhile.
I haven’t been enjoying Nightwing much, but I did enjoy #85 and 86, as I think that’s a very good transition story to the Batgirls run, and has Babs acknowledging her history with Steph and Cass for the first time in a really like time. The art was a bit rough, though - Redondo is much cleaner, and going to Rodriguez’s style was a pretty big step down for me. But it still worked okay in those two issues. I also loved the Jamal Campbell variant for #86 - but I like Campbell variants for most everything.
As Michael Shannon’s General Zod once said, “Heresy!”
Nah, I kid.
I adore Nightwing right now. Since the current volume began in 2016, its been all over in terms of quality, but when Taylor took over for Infinite Frontier, it became consistently great for me which, as a big Nightwing fan (and then some), I greatly appreciate.
I’m just really not a fan of Tom Taylor’s writing 99% of the time. I understand why people like it, but it’s not for me. I do like Redondo’s art a lot, and I’m really happy about DickBabs shipping.
I don’t know if there’s a whole lot more that I can think of for him to do in Gotham (or even outside of Gotham, given the ending of Fear State: Omega), but I just love how Tynion used the structure of There Is No Hope in Crime Alley to tell a story of redemption that doesn’t shy away from the fact that one needs to have done something actually wrong to need redemption. And Stokoe’s art was really impressive and emotional, despite not being terribly appealing to me.
I can’t guarantee when I’ll get around to reading it @millernumber1, so if you don’t hear my comments on it until months from now, don’t be surprised.
Underwhelmed, I like some of the supporting characters and subplots but the overall arch felt like a retread of Gotham descends into anarchy that we’ve had multiple times in the last 20 years. Too bad, I’ve generally enjoyed Tynion on Batman.
I’m not passing judgment on Fear State, but when I read the initial solicits, one of my initial thoughts was “Gotham’s going to hell, again? Didn’t that just happen in Joker War?”.
The feeling of “Been there, done that.” definitely crossed my mind as more solicits for Fear State came along.
Again, I won’t judge Fear State until I’ve read it in full. However, the central plotline of “Gotham is going to pieces and will be forever changed!” has been done many times over in the last several years, with Gotham literally having gone to pieces and changing during No Man’s Land (my fav “The **** hits the fan for Gotham in a major way.” story).
@millernumber1 I will do my best to remember to tag you with my thoughts after I read that book.
You are NOT wrong that Fear State has been done before. I just think this was better done than Joker War. I like City of Bane, but the editorial interference makes it painful to read. And it’s not like Snyder and Morrison didn’t wreck Gotham a ton. I guess I’m just used to it at this point.
I guess after Bane and Joker had their way with Gotham, editorial thought “Okay, who hasn’t recently ridden Gotham like a kid on a hobby horse who’s had way too much sugar? Oh, Scarecrow? Well, then batter up Mr. Crane, because you’re up!”.
That said, I’ll still give FS a fair shot. I mean, as a Superman fan, there are stories with him that have been done again and again, and as Batman is my #2 fav, I owe it to him to give his events a fair-minded chance. I do really like the covers for all of the Fear Stare books though, especially the coloring on the Catwoman covers.
I wish DC would do a solid order for Fear State, though. What I was able to come up with I think works, but I’d love it if someone else confirmed my placements
Secret Files: Gardener
Secret Files: Miracle Molly
Batman: The Cowardly Lot (technically its own arc, but really, it’s the first half of the event)
Fear State Alpha
Batman 112
Secret Files: Peacekeeper 01
Batman 113
Detective Comics 1043-1045 (only revealed at the end of the arc, after the event was over, that this happened here…lol)
Batman 114
Batman 115
Batman 116
Catwoman 35-37
Harley Quinn 7-9
Nightwing 84-86 (Batgirls backups 1-2 from Batman 115 and 116 between issues)
Batman 117
Batgirls backup 3 (in 117)
Fear State Omega
Things that don’t really matter that much:
Batwoman Urban Legends story (before Batgirls, but not essential)
Outsiders story (Urban Legends) and Clownhunter backups (Batman 112-114) (too much time travel and dream sequence to really matter)
I Am Batman (takes place at the same time, but doesn’t affect any of the events)
Kinda glad it’s over. Went on too long and didn’t really feel like a Batman story. I’m also kind of over stories where Gotham is treated as if it’s a sovereign nation that can just pass its own laws and do whatever the heck crazy crap it wants. Don’t you think if say… Boston suddenly turned its police force over to private stormtroopers and declaring martial law, someone outside of Boston would have a problem with it?
Well, Tynion was very upfront with his idea that Gotham is not a real city - it’s a nightmare of a real city. There’s a very symbolic quality to Gotham that doesn’t allow it to be as realistic as some writers like to use it.
As Michael Shannon’s General Zod once said, “Heresy!”
