Batman By John Ridley: The Deluxe Edition (a redundant label as there aren’t any other editions available!) collects the few Batman comics John Ridley’s written for DC so far (though these are rapidly growing).
DC’s following Marvel’s lead, who hired a successful black writer from other literary mediums, Ta-Nehisi Coates, to write their Black Panther line, by hiring the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave to write a version of their highest-profile character. And, like Coates’ Black Panther, Ridley’s Batman is also awful!
The bulk of the book is made up of the four-issue Future State: The Next Batman miniseries. Apparently this is the result of Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo’s Death Metal rubbish - alternate timeline, something happened to Bruce Wayne so now there’s a new Batman in town.
Here’s the first stumbling block in Ridley’s Batman: who is this Batman? I thought it was Luke Fox, Lucius’ son, but Ridley introduces another character, Tim Fox, who looks exactly like Luke, except for a bit of scruff on his chin, who seems to be the new Batman. So Luke Fox was Batwing but isn’t anymore and doesn’t seem to be Batman, and Tim Fox is Luke’s brother and seems to be the new Batman. Why have Tim here at all - why not just have Luke be the new Batman?! It’s so unnecessarily complicated and confusing. Oh yeah and Tim is also sometimes called “Jace” for no reason. Brilliant.
Bruce Wayne’s dead, just ‘cos, Tim Fox is now Batman, just ‘cos, Gotham’s a police state, just ‘cos, and is ruled over by a corrupt private police army, just ‘cos. Masks are outlawed, just ‘cos, and Batman’s swooping around battling crimz and cops alike, as he normally does. Nothing says “masterful storytelling” than having piles of contrivance everywhere. This is John Ridley’s great “vision” for the character - just having him do what he normally does, but swap out the dude wearing the outfit?!
When Batman’s not drearily battling nobodies on the streets, we’re treated to even duller discussions on whether any of these bonkers laws Gotham’s arbitrarily enacted are legal or not. It’s such an awful storyline. Boring, pointless, with a garbage cast of characters - no athankyew.
Also included is Ridley’s story from the most recent Batman: Black and White series where Tim/Jace/whatever and Robin (his little sister…? Ridley’s such a bad writer - things are never clear in any of his stories) fight white supremacists. If watching Batman punch a thug is all you’re after in a short comic, this one’s sure to satisfy.
The forgettable short from the Joker War Zone issue where Lucius remains traumatised from his experience with Punchline is also reprinted here. Luke/Tim/Jace puts on a shiny Batman suit, which doesn’t look like the Future State Batman suit, so probably isn’t connected - or is it? Is Luke/Tim/Jace also Batman in this timeline? Ah who cares, I’m done trying to figure out Ridley’s nonsense - it’s all a hot mess!
There’s also an unreleased short by Ridley and Dustin Nguyen called 3 Minutes where Lucius has to push a button or something bad will happen to Batman for reasons. I can see why it was unreleased, and think it should have remained so!
John Ridley may be an award-winning screenwriter but that doesn’t translate into great comics. His Batman comics are a poorly written and uninspired bunch that never once even remotely entertained.
No comments:
Post a Comment