With new characters like Clownhunter and Ghost Maker in the mix and new roles for Oracle and Harley, Batmans next chapter is shaping up to be a fascinating direction for the title. Read Full Review

This era of Bruce's past hasn't been explored too much"the last major plot thread to come from that was David Cain as his deranged former mentor"so there's a lot of promise here. And like much of Tynion's run, it's sure to make a chaotic Gotham even more challenging for a very different Batman. Read Full Review

Across the board, the post-"Joker War" era for Batman feels like it offers an incredibly fresh voice that pays respect to the past while keeping an eye to the future. I can't wait to see what comes next! Read Full Review

Carlo Pagulaya and Carlos D'Anda deliver some impressive imagery in this issue as well. Every page is beautifully detailed and I really enjoyed the visual energy of the flashback scenes. Read Full Review

Batman #102 pits Batman against Ghost-Maker, a new villain that Bruce has a shared past with.  Read Full Review

I hype to see who Ghostmaker is and what he brings to the table. He feels like someone I would have preferred mentor Jason but it's much too early to say for sure. Be sure to pick this issue up at your LCS. Read Full Review

Batman #102 is the first part of the "Ghost Stories" story arc and it captures the ideology of Ghost-Maker well while establishing the methodical nature of Batman. It also juggles other plot elements well. This is a Batman series that's generous with story and action. Read Full Review

Batman #102 is a fun, breezy read. It checks all the marks of a good comic: cool premise, interesting antagonist, a fun adventure. Read Full Review

When all is said and done the new story arc is off to a strong start. With all signs pointing to this new foe being in a league possibly equal to the Dark Knight, itll be interesting to see where Tynion takes the tale from here. Read Full Review

It all culminates in yet another resoundingly solid issue of Batman. Though a touch expository in parts, Batman #102 finds James Tynion IV still committing to his 'new' era of the main title, injecting new characters, new perspectives, and new street-level avenues of narrative that were absent in the more baroque and conceptual Tom King Era. Let's just hope Bruce Wayne and his allies survive long enough to enjoy it.Keep up to speed with the Dark Knight with our always-updated list of new Batman comic books, graphic novels, and collections. Read Full Review

Batman #102 is a rather thin issue that gets to the conflict between Ghost-Maker and Batman too quickly and doesn't build enough tension. In other words, it's just another person for Batman to fight not some difficult obstacle for him to overcome. Batman #102 rushes to its end fight without giving us much of a reason to care or much of a reason to think that this will be a tough battle. It needed to focus on setting up the issue itself not issues down the road. Read Full Review

The creative team faces one of Batman's greatest challenges- a retcon! Read Full Review

Overall, the writing for this issue is used to give readers a bit of backstory on how Batman and Ghost Maker know each other but feels a bit repetitive at times and ultimately falls flat in certain aspects. There also is really nothing climactic in this issue which I feel leads to the reason I feel it feel a bit flat compared to previous issues. The art is a fresh new take that looks great despite a weird transition in artists half way through and the colors really create a vivid and beautiful overall aesthetic that pleases the reader from a visual standpoint. Read Full Review

New characters are coming hard and fast into the new Batman, but they don't really give us a chance to explore this new Batman. Read Full Review

Batman gets a new storyline underway as we dive into a brand new villain for the series and it's being presented very well so far. I feel like the few pages we got with them gave me plenty of understanding as to the character's motivations. We even got a little bit of their backstory but we didn't dive too deep as things are just getting started. Perhaps this will end up falling flat in the future but as for right now, it's a very nice start to a new story. Read Full Review

Inventive ideas and gorgeous art lift the next chapter of Tynions Batman run into exciting territory. Read Full Review

Batman #102 was a good start to the first story arc in the post-Joker War Gotham City. James Tynion is able to show that Batman has a lot of work to do in order to be able to help Gotham City recover from what just took place. At the same time, Tynion is able to expand on Bruce Wayne's training with the addition of the new Ghost-Maker villain. How all this will play out has a lot of potential to add to what fans know about Batman's history. Read Full Review

The bottom line is that Batman #102 is one of Tynion's better runs, but the story feels sort of recycled which detracts from its overall quality. Perhaps instead of constantly trying to create "new" characters there should be some investment digging into Batman's lesser-explored qualities first. Read Full Review

Batman #102 throws the audience right back into the action, but perhaps a little too quickly. Read Full Review

Making less sense than when it started, Ghost-Maker is here to poke gigantic holes in the myth of the Bat's competence. Read Full Review

As a single issue, this one isn't awful. But it feels like an all-too-familiar start to an all-too-familiar disappointing ride. Ghost Maker is a less-compelling take on a concept we've seen handled better by more capable writers, and with the arc ahead devoted to his conflict with the Dark Knight, I'm not optimistic. Decent visual storytelling from Pagulayan, Anda, and crew help to soften the blow, but with little faith in the overall direction of the story, I find even that is bittersweet. Unless you're one of the Tynion faithful, I say pass. Read Full Review

Overall, I hope this comic book turns around. This is pretty rough. Read Full Review

Urgh, if this wasn't Batman, I probably would have dropped this by now. Tynion IV seems like an accomplished writer. People seem to like Department of Truth (it's not for me) and Something is Killing the Children is great. But Batman doesn't seem to be the right fit for him. It's laborious and tired. Maybe time to move onto someone else.

" Do i look like a bat to you ? I am the ghost-maker. I am better than Batman, and i am here to prove it. Now talk. "
- GHOST MAKER

Following the fallout of Joker War in the previous issue, we're now able to delve more into an actual new storyline. Clownhunter and Ghost-Maker are both interesting characters that show potential, but there isn't anything here to make me invested in them quite yet. Tynion IV writes an enjoyable story here, and the art from both D'Anda and Pagulayan is solid. All things considered, I like a good amount of the ideas presented here.

Not bad, but my real question is that other than the boost in Anti-vigilante attitude, how exactly has Gotham changed? Batman's life is what's changing. And a big part of it is that every other new enemy he makes seems to know who he is. Ghost Maker shows potential, but let's not make another overused foe in him like Bane and Hush.
Tynion seems more focused now on making his mark in Batman history above anything else. And while his Batman run is more interesting than his Detective run was, I think the Joker War was enough in the way of "big stuff" for a while. Slow down a little and give us that Dark Knight detective we know and love. Not try to find new ways to keep impacting his life with every issue.

Let me start by saying: Ghost Maker has one of the coolest designs for a villain that I’ve seen in a long time and his characterisation is pretty good.

However, did Tynion forgot about Nobody?

- He serves the same role as another childhood vigilante Bruce knew in his younger training.

Babs questioning whether she works better as Batgirl or Oracle doesn't work because Batgirl # 50 which was released earlier showed she can do both just fine. As a result this just feels empty backtracking.

I think that is one of the better issues from the current Batman. I like the concept of the new villain and i am excited to see more of his backstory. The problem here is the pacing and the overall the lack of build-up for Ghost-Maker.

Honestly, after everything this was a very nice, relaxing time. Chill lofi beats to murder the Batman to.

Pretty good issue. I think its a little cliche with the villain and his dialogue and motive but it was well done overall and looked great.

Nothing here is bad, per se. It's just not very engaging, unfortunately. It feels like Tynion is going through the motions rather than telling a story he truly wants to tell. But it can't be that, right? The narrative is focused on two characters Tynion himself created. I don't know, it just seems like there's another story Tynion would rather be telling.

Tynion is doing exactly the same thing as Lobdell, great elements but he doesn't do anything with them and unlike Lobdel he's only compiling other writers.

JT4 keeps his way telling the story ——by telling nothing.

It is not terrible. It is okay. But my biggest problem is with Ghost-Maker. This idea doesn't sound anything new to me. A part Arkham Knight, a part Nobody, you get the idea. He is currently just a rehash of old and done-to-death ideas and not done very well.

Not interest in Nobody 3.0

Who did Tynion rip off this time? First there is animated Batman with a fellow student of a mentor. There is himself, with more victims becoming villains themselves.

Unfortunately his ne2 villain makes compelling points. Bruce is letting a mass murderer loose. Gotham is incapable of locking up its criminals. Yet another villain who knows who Batman is.

Bruce yet again saying stay out of my city. When has that ever worked? I am not impressed. The art was nice.

Or I could be wrong.