Batman vol. 9: The Tyrant Wing
As the latest volume in Tom King’s “Batman” run, there’s not a whole lot of the title character written by the writer in it. Three issues from the main series and a four-page short from the “Secret Files.” That’s it. In fact, this is the first volume where a writer other than King, Tom Taylor, has been credited on the cover. This probably sounds like I’m making a big fuss over nothing — especially when the previous “Batman” run had two volumes credited to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo where they contributed a minority of the actual content to them. The reason I’m bringing it up is because “The Tyrant Wing” represents a triumph by DC to pad out a collection with additional material rather than put its main story where it belongs.
That would be in the previous volume, in case you were wondering. “Cold Days” told two stories of Batman’s world spinning out of his control in the wake of his non-wedding with Catwoman. The title story from this volume feels very much of a piece with those two in that things get even worse for the title character here. DC didn’t specify any reason why this storyline was collected the way that it was. My guess is that once they saw that they could split it off into its own volume with stories from the latest “Secret Files” and “Annual” they could.
Does any of this affect the quality of the story itself? Kinda, sorta in my opinion. “The Tyrant Wing” brings some things to a head and leaves off on what would’ve been a helluva cliffhanger had it not been spoiled for me months ago. It feels like a fitting climax to what was started in “Cold Days” and “Beasts of Burden” while also laying out where the story is set to go from there. It reads just fine by itself, even though I can’t help but feel it would’ve read better had it been placed alongside the other parts of this triptych of trilogies.
There’s a bigger issue to contend with in the context of the story itself, however. The cover to this volume promises a team-up between Batman and the Penguin against Bane, and that’s true to a certain extent. Like the rest of Batman’s rogues gallery, Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot has been roped into Bane’s latest plan to break the Bat. What separates him from the others is that when Bane makes his displeasure with how Oswald has been handling his part of the operation known, the Penguin decides that it’s time to throw in his lot with Batman.
The problem here isn’t that Bane has Oswald’s wife, Penny, killed. It’s that we eventually find out that Penny was an actual penguin. Which you could probably just write off as either being “eccentric” or “in character” until you read the many in-depth lamentations that the villain gives regarding how he feels about his wife. It’s such that you can’t help but wonder if the Penguin actually crossed a line in regards to his love for Penny. I’m honestly not sure if this is what King meant for his readers to infer, but that’s the way it reads. So rather than feeling sympathy for Oswald’s situation, most readers may just feel like they need to take a shower after reading this.
Everything else, however, is quite solid. The thing is that even though the Penguin knows what’s really going on, his decision to spill the beans doesn’t actually make things better for the Caped Crusader. It sends him on a rampage through Arkham Asylum and through Gotham’s underworld trying to get the truth from Bane and anyone else who he thinks will talk. While Batman rumbling through Gotham’s lesser-known villains for information could just be described as “A quiet Tuesday night in the city,” the problem is that Bane has been reduced to a gibbering wreck in his Arkham cell. We know that’s an act, but it’s one that the villain pulls off to such perfection as to convince everyone around him… and Commissioner Gordon as well.
I’ll admit that it’s tough to see Batman’s life ruined just a little more in this storyline. It may yet be revealed that this was all part of his master plan, which wouldn’t surprise me. The thing is that King actually makes the character’s self-destructive actions feel credible. After everything that has happened to him in recent memory the ways in which Batman loses control here feel eminently believable. Then you’ve got that final page cliffhanger where Bane’s partner-in-crime stands revealed and it’s really not who you’d expect it to be. It’s a potentially fascinating setup for conflict between Batmen, but it’s also one that we’ll have to wait until the volume-after-next to see how it’ll play out.
The majority of the art for this storyline was provided by regular artist Mikel Janin. He does fantastic work, as you’d expect from him at this point. He nails the emotional content of Penguin’s creepy anguish, the shock to the system that is Batman’s close encounter with Gordon, and that memorable bit where Bane’s beaten face contorts into a smile over three panels. Janin always produces good work with King on this series and that’s no exception here. However, Jorge Fornes has to pitch in a bit on the final issue as he handles the parts where Batman roughs up the underworld villains. Fornes doesn’t have the same delicacy as Janin’s work, but his his gritty style is appropriate for the brutality of the scenes in question.
Now we get to the other stories in this collection, starting with the shorts from “Secret Files.” The majority of them are generally forgettable, even the three-page “True Strength” short from King and Janin that has Batman considering whether or not to use the superpower-infusing properties of platinum kryptonite. Ram V and Fornes’ “The Nature of Fear” is a decent bit about Batman helping a police officer through the effects of Scarecrow’s fear gas that’s handicapped by a needlessly pessimistic ending. Cheryl Lynn Eaton and Elena Casagrande spend eight pages letting us know drones are bad while Jordie Bellaire and Jill Thompson give us a Batman who lets the cold and solitude of a snowy retreat get to him in the same space.
It’s probably not a coincidence that the one good story in this bunch comes from Taylor, who also wrote the “Annual.” “The World’s Greatest Detective, and Batman” is a team-up between Batman and Detective Chimp as the latter requests the help of the former to track down the son of the man who freed him from the circus he was a part of. It’s more of a Detective Chimp story than a Batman one, but it’s got some nice art from Brad Walker and it shows the former’s dedication to his convictions when things go bad. The good-natured jabs at Batman are also fun too, especially the “The other gargoyles are smiling” bit.
Finally we come to “Father’s Day” from Taylor and artist Otto Schmidt. Working against this story is the fact that it’s another one of those that aim to highlight the special, almost paternal relationship between Batman and Alfred. It’s also the second story in this volume to revolve around drones, but it’s easily the better of the two.
The story also hits so many familiar beats along the way: From seeing Alfred fuss over Bruce’s gear while he’s away, to making excuses for the man’s absence from society, to preparing chicken soup for him to take on patrol while he’s sick with the flu. There’s even a flashback to when Alfred got the call about the Waynes’ death that’s part of a recurring motif that has the character worrying about his charge while in bed. Looking over all this, it’s hard not to feel that we’ve seen this story before.
What makes it work are the little details that Taylor invests in the story. The majority of it is told from Alfred’s perspective, so we spend most of the issue in his head in a way we don’t normally see. In witnessing all the little things he does for Bruce, it’s easy to understand why he’d lie in bed awake at 3AM and ready to take a call just in case the worst case scenario has occurred. Which it does at one point and we get to see the World’s Greatest Butler spring into action to save the person most important to him.
The story wraps up in a very sentimental way, but it’s one that I feel is earned over the course of its length. Taylor does a good job of getting us into Alfred’s head, and then into Bruce’s so we can see why he’d do what he does at the end. There’s also the fact that Schmidt’s art is pretty terrific. He’s got a slightly sketchy style that still boasts some impressive detail and he’s got a good eye for how to have his characters properly emote. Schmidt also has a good eye for composition, whether it’s laying out a fight scene or showing us how Alfred readies himself over descending panels on one page. “Father’s Day” may be a familiar kind of story, yet it’s the kind of familiarity that inspires appreciation rather than contempt.
Would I have foregone it to see “The Tyrant Wing” collected with the other two stories in the previous volume? Yeah. “Father’s Day” was nice and all but at the end of the day I wouldn’t consider it an essential read. If it gets Taylor more work on Bat-related titles that’d be great. I still think that the title story would’ve read better had it been collected alongside its other three-part brethren in “Cold Days.” Still, it’s a very solid work on its own that ably builds on what King has been doing in the series so far. So long as you’re able to get past that “Penguin really loved his wife, who was also a penguin” business…