I Am Batman vol. 1

Jace Fox got his hands on a high-tech Batsuit at the end of the previous volume and we get to see him use it here to take out some bad actors who have infiltrated a demonstration against the police.  It doesn’t go as well as he expects, but he escapes and gets to design his own Batsuit for his proper debut as the character.  This involves putting himself in the middle of the “Fear State” event as he has to stop an online rabble-rouser named Seer from organizing an anti-government mob under his Hidden Agenda banner.  Then he’s up against government creep Victor Noonan who wants to work with Foxtech, and Jace’s dad Lucius, as part of the T.A.L.O.S. Program.  This will put cops in armored battle suits on the streets of Gotham to maintain order by any means necessary.  This is obviously no good for anyone in the city, but even if Jace is Batman, can he stand up to this newly augmented police force?

I don’t think I need to tell anyone the answer to that question and that’s the biggest problem with this volume.  For all of the proclaiming this volume does about Jace being the new Batman, he’s dealing with things here in a way that feels just like how the old one would do it.  I’m also confused about what timeline this story is operating now as Jace remarks at one point that Batman hasn’t been seen in six years, but part of this story takes place during the “Fear State” event that ran through all of the Bat-titles at the time.

Continuity issues aside, the story flows reasonably well as Jace gets to beat up some bad guys, address social issues, and try to smooth things out with his family.  Writer John Ridley delivers all this in competent fashion, while also failing to deliver any real surprises in the storytelling along the way.  The same goes for the art, which is provided by a host of talented people, primarily Travel Foreman, Oliver Coipel, and Steven Segovia, who don’t elevate the material with their efforts.  I know that Jace’s tenure as Batman was hyped when he was introduced as part of the “Future State” event and I was willing to see where Ridley was going to go with this.  Two volumes later and it feels like the answer is, “More of the same,” and that’s not something I’m interested in following (especially at hardcover prices).