Batman/The Flash: The Button follows on from the end of last year’s DC Universe Rebirth #1 when Batman picked up The Comedian’s smiley-face badge in the Batcave. Here, Batman and Flash continue to investigate what the button means though it’s obvious that it’s teasing the Watchmen’s imminent appearance in the DC Universe.
The thinking behind all this is that some of the Watchmen got up to shenanigans that haven’t been revealed yet and Flashpoint/The New 52 was the result. Rebirth is a separate universe more in line with classic DC continuity (but keeping some elements of The New 52) whose characters will explore this mystery as well as introduce the Watchmen into the DC Universe proper.
So The Button reminds us of that overarching storyline by touching on it all once again. Flash dusts off the Cosmic Treadmill and he and Batman revisit the Flashpoint Universe for a scene with Thomas Wayne, the Flashpoint Batman, Reverse Flash “sees God” and the Watchmen are teased - much more concretely now - again. That’s it? That’s it! One big nothing.
The predictable ending reveals who “God” is and it’s who you’d expect - there’s only one Watchman with this kind of power. What surprised me though was who else is involved - and it’s not one of the Watchmen!
The Button is a wafer-thin non-story that’s readable but completely pointless. The opening Tom King/Jason Fabok issue was decent with sharp writing and great art but it’s a bit shallow with just Batman and Reverse Flash fighting. The rest of this short four-issue book is poorly written by Joshua Williamson who can’t write as concisely or skilfully as King, with fugly art by Howard Porter. It doesn’t help that the focus is mostly on Flash, a boring, outdated character I’ve never liked much.
I’m interested to read the forthcoming DC/Watchmen event, Doomsday Clock, but you really don’t need to read this entirely superfluous prelude as basically nothing of note happens.
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