TITLE: Batman #41
AUTHOR: Scott Snyder
PENCILLER: Greg Capullo
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: June 10, 2015

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

***WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Batman #41.***

Batman and giant robots don’t mix.

That’s always been a philosophy of mine. Stuffing Batman into a big mechanical monstrosity robs him of a lot of his appeal. Bruce Wayne trained for years to master his detective skills, combat techniques, and general crime-fighting capabilities. But for my money, giant robot suits ruin all that by making Batman into a weird Hulk/Iron Man hybrid who doesn’t use most of the skills that inherently make him Batman. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have used a giant Bat-robot twice during their run on this series. So when we found out we’d have a brand new robot-suit Batman beginning with issue #41, I cringed. Snyder and Capullo have big ideas. Sadly, not all of them are good (See Zero Year.).

Then we found out who this new Batman would be, and things got interesting.

Batman is (apparently) dead. But his presence is sorely missed, and the city needs its symbol of hope. So the Gotham City Police Department, with the assistance of Powers International, sets out to create their own Batman who works within the boundaries of the law. Their top choice? Jim Gordon. But to say the least, Gordon is a very different crimefighter than his predecessor.

What makes this issue work is that our main character, Gordon, seems just as baffled by all of this as we are. He never expected to take up the role of Batman, and we never expected to see it. Throughout the issue we see his reluctance, his fear, the mistakes he makes his first night out, and finally how he uses the the detective skills he’s possessed all along to solve his first case. This new costume doesn’t exactly scream “detective,” but that unexpected twist is part of the fun. What’s more, there’s a second Batsuit under this big robot suit, which is pretty slick. They also cover the logistics, ranging from Gordon’s age, to his smoking, to where his base is, etc.

The interesting thing about the robot suit is that Snyder and Capullo poke fun at it themselves, seemingly chiming in with our criticisms before we do. Gordon himself says: “I look at that thing, but I just don’t see Batman,” and then says it looks like a “robobat-bunny.” It’s actually pretty funny. I’m encouraged that Snyder and Capullo aren’t taking themselves so seriously here. This is so obviously not Batman, and we all know it’s temporary anyway. So it’s nice to see they’re having fun with this while it lasts. They even play around with the colors mid-issue.

My only complaint deals with, of all things, Gordon’s hair. We saw in Divergence that our Bat Cop has a mohawk under his mask (shown left). We see that here as well. This goess too far into silly territory for my tastes. If Gordon has to cut his hair for whatever reason, why not just give him a buzzcut? It’s simply a needless distraction.

Still, this issue was a pleasant surprise overall. One thing you can never fault Snyder and Capullo for is the magnitude of their ideas. And for now, they’ve sold me on the idea of Jim Gordon as Batman. Our friend the commissioner is about to step into a whole new world. And it’ll be most interesting to see how he handles what awaits him.

Image 1 from newsarama.com. Image 2 from dangermart.blogspot.com.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter @PrimaryIgnition, or at Facebook.com/PrimaryIgnition/