More than meets the eye is happening here with Batman #104 as @JamestheFourth continues to expose the humanity of the Dark Knight in new and exciting ways! From #DCComics with @guillemmarch @bengal_art @DannyMiki_ @ryanbnjmn @MyZombies @ClaytonCowles Read Full Review

All of the artists do a great job with the art in the issue. The contrast is styles works, but the story doesn't really call for a lot of action so the multiple artists are hampered by the story they're trying to tell. Read Full Review

Batman #104 gives us a history lesson on Ghost-Maker, who turns out to be an old acquaintance of Bruce's, like everyone else in his rogues gallery.  Read Full Review

With only one issue to go before a hiatus for Future State, this series is still one of DC's most consistently entertaining, but it needs to get its art situation sorted out before the next big arc. Read Full Review

Batman #104 is a solid issue that serves to both define Ghost-Maker as Batmans foil and obscure the path forward with multiple characters racing against the clock. Read Full Review

My personal opinions on the various Robin retcons aside, this was another solid Batman comic. Tynion is doing a fine job using and incorporating his new characters. Read Full Review

Batman #104 ends with the situation for Batman, Harley, and Clown Killer escalating to a place that none of them may be ready for. Ghost-Maker certainly has a unique approach to trying to win an argument. Itll be interesting to see how it all shakes out next issue. Read Full Review

Much like much of the Ghost-Maker arc so far, Batman #104 continues a story which has potential but never quite nails the interesting meat of it. The issues feel like a build-up to what will be a packed final issue that really lays things out. This seems to be Tynion's pattern with his multiple arcs so far. The initial issues lay out some interesting concepts, dances around them, and the final issue lays out the theme and "conclusion" of the arc. It creates for issues where things don't feel satisfying and as a reader we're left with potential with little payoff. Read Full Review

Batman #104 continues to be a mixed bag, in terms of quality. There are some really good scenes and ideas mixed in with pedantic, boring concepts. The art barely rises to the story, because of the wildly clashing visual styles. It's frustrating to see Tynion beginning to craft a more interesting character like Ghost-Maker, but stick him in a very mediocre plot. Read Full Review

Batman #104 is available now at your local shops so be sure to pick up a copy and let us know what you thought of the issue by leaving a comment down below! Read Full Review

The flashback to Batman and Robin interacting with Ghost-Maker is the best thing about this issue, which is likely going to make this a must-read for most. The art doesn't quite live up to the work though as it's spread across three artists who have jarringly different styles. Read Full Review

This was the weakest installment of the arc thanks to a lack of story advancement and the clashing art. Read Full Review

An interesting interlude has to overcome rushed art. Read Full Review

Batman #104 may be the most interesting installment of the "Ghostmaker" arc thus far, but that doesn't necessarily make it good. Read Full Review

The Batman book stumbles as all the momentum we had in the previous issue grinds to a halt and we slowly meander through a flashback scene for the majority of the issue that provides very little context that will be relevant to this story. Thankfully the book ramps the excitement back up near the end, but the issue as a whole is really boring. This score is more reflective of the ending scene because without it, this issue would have been a total flop. Read Full Review

Sadly, they cannot elevate the script and the whole thing feels more than just a little pointless. Read Full Review

Batman #104 is by far the worst issue of James Tynion's run. Given how great Tynion's run on Batman has been thus far it is disappointing that we get an issue that is essentially a recap of the previous two issues. There are some interesting plot developments with Nightwing and the Batgirls but they aren't enough to mask all the problems with how this story around Ghost-Maker has progressed thus far. Hopefully the next issue is able to recover and push this story forward in a way that it regains the momentum it started with. Read Full Review

I've said it before and I'll say it again" Tynion is not a good writer. He has a few tricks that work well for him, but mostly he just falls into patterns of gimmicks, overwriting, and relying way too heavily on exposition. He's also proving that he's not great at plotting a story. There are some core ideas here that are actually good. They're definitely not original, but, thematically, they're worth exploring" He just can't seem to execute those ideas in a meaningful way, and that's resulting in a lackluster product that DC is banking on. Read Full Review

BATMAN #104

Publisher: DC Comics @dccomics
Writer: James Tynion IV @jamesthefourth
Artist: Ryan Benjamin @ryanbnjmn
Danny Miki @koimando
Guillem March @guillem_march
Bengal @bengalgram
Colorist: David Baron @myzombies
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Francesco Mattina @francescomattinaart
Jorge Jimenez @jorge_jimenez_art
Tomeu Morey

Batman wakes up in an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum finding himself held captive along side Harley and Clown Hunter. Discovering he’s not restrained as the other two, Clown Hunter attempts to kill Harley once and for all for revenge for his parents death at the hands of the Joker.

Meanwhile Nightwing heads to Gotham after hearing that the Ghost Maker has arrived who he had only seen once years ago. Explaining to Oracle the complicated relationship that Bruce had with his one time friend on his way to becoming The Batman.
I can’t help but praise Tynions run on Batman and this issue is no exception.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
Reviewed by: @djflores00 of The Comic Book Club of Instagram
Follow: @the_comic_book_club on Instagram for more reviews! more

Not a bad read. Tynion's most major flaw is he can't seem to write a Batman story without bringing in the Bat family to back him up. He made it for almost 50 years with just Robin and Batgirl or another ally on occasion. I remember in the '80s and '90s he had a lot of success on missions solo, but these days he just can't battle anything without needing backup.
have to say, I hope after this story, not to see any, Ghost Maker, Clownhunter, or even Harley for a while. Let's get to some new adventures and not spend a year coping with the Joker war in every issue.
Altogether though the issue was pretty good and I hope the next will be decent enough too. So far this has been a mediocre story, but a decent enough one.

" Yes."
- BATMAN

Pretty solid issue. I liked the ghost maker back story and the flashback but not much gets done. I do like clown hunter.

The writing was ok, but nothing especial.

Batman and Ghost Maker got that shounen rivalry. Soon they'll be screaming:

Ghost Maker: BRUCEEEEEEEEEE!!

Batman: GHOST MAKERRRRRRR!!

I wanted to like this more than I did. However, the art is the main thing holding this back for me. In my eyes, the art is pretty inconsistent. We do not need multiple artists on one issue and this is a prime example of that. The stuff with Nightwing looks fan-made to me and not in a good way. It’s not the worst art I’ve ever seen or anything, but it’s not something I want to look at when reading a professional DC comic. The best art comes from my favorite section of the book, in which Dick talks about Bruce’s history with Ghost-Maker. Everything else felt solid-to-poor. I think the main takeaway from this is that you only need one artist on an issue at a time.

Filler. Stuffed with boring, uninteresting, expository dialogue. Even the older Batman and Robin flashback was ruined with exposition, and I wanted to enjoy that. I can't just like this book because it has the Bat-Family anymore, I'd rather just read Tynion's Detective.

So... Batman/Ghost-Maker am I right?

The writing was best out of these three issues. I did like how Grayson explained Ghost-Maker's backstory and that made him a more of his own character. Whereas Nobody was just a jealous, Ghost-Maker seemed to be Bruce's first friend who he lost after he told what had happened. So I liked that.

The art however was a letdown in this. And the cliffhanger. While my problems with this story arc has been mostly Ghost-Maker, for the first time it wasn't him that bugged me. It was the art, Harley, Clownmaker and overall this issue's structure (it was basically just Ghost-Maker's origins).

But I did like the role of batfamily.

Apparently this is what we see from Tynion stagnates, advances a little, stagnates, advances a little. Not as bad as Joker War but I feel like I'm losing interest in this story.

What's up with the art in this comic? Listen, I get it, putting out two comics per month isn't an easy task and sometimes compromises have to be made, but Batman is DC's hottest property, its flagship. You could very much get away with uneven quality of art in a Batgirl, Nightwing, Harley Quinn or Spoiler comic, but the moment Bats steps into the frame, you gotta try harder, because you can be sure your mistakes and imperfections will be noticed.

Story-wise, the comic tries to incorporate more characters into the plot, and I welcome that for once. It's good to feel like this fictional world is alive and populated. That's something Batman writers often completely forget about and focus solely on the titular hero. Sure, the plot itself is not particularly well written, engaging nor emotional, but it's... something, I guess. It comes from somewhere and leads elsewhere, that's more than what I can say about Tom King's 85 issue long run. Do I wish it was better? Yes, absolutely. Who wants to pay for mediocre comics, ones that won't stay with you longer than 5 minutes after you finish reading them? Oh, yeah... where was I? What was this comic about again? Already forgot. more

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Svarietyy - Feb 9, 2021

King's first 30 issues were undoubtedly more compact and better written then anything Tynion has produced on this title so far. If this is the trajectory of DC's flagship title over the next year or so, then it's quite worrying. This book desperately needs to go to a monthly schedule

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Well, this issue seemed like it suffered from all the problems a bi-weekly schedule can bring to a comic. First, hardly anything happens. We get more context as to who Ghost-Maker is, but it's nothing that really changes anything we don't already know about the character. It feels like pointless additions. Second, the art is just all over the place. There are four artists on this one issue, and none of them are particularly good. It's just so clear that Tynion had to stretch this arc out and I have no idea why that's even the case. This story is just that barebones. This is mediocrity in spades.

This issue is the very definition of story-telling that treads water. All we learn is what we know - Ghostmaker is a former "schoolmate" of Batman and they had a deal that Ghostmaker is now breaking. The deal? They keep out of each other's way. Oh, and Bruce apparently misses his old friend. Well, politics will do that.

Clownkiller still wants to kill Harley, and We now know that Oracle is called Batgirl Prime and Steph and Cassie are "The Batgirls."

We do see that Ghostmaker is scaring the crooks into giving themselves up and returned Mr. Pyg to Arkham. He was free for eight months. That really does make him better than Bruce at fighting crime. Pyg is a dangerous mass murderer (and frankly, a boring "gimmick" villain who shocks only because of his body count. I maintain that's not a good character.) Will Bruce say he knew where Pyg was, but needed him free to stop someone from stealing the election or selling nukes to some hostile power? Because letting a monster like that roam is just a bridge too far. If he didn't know where Pyg was, then Ghostie is better.

The whole issue ends with Clownkiller about to kill a tied up Harley. We get the sense that she helped kill people he cared about, and that's the problem with Harley. Her body count is problematic when trying to make her a hero for the kids.

We are pretty much right where we were last issue, but $4 poorer. That's not good story telling. Not a fan of this issue.

Or I could be wrong. more

What has happened to the art in this issue?! Last second COVID emergency replacement? Took me right out of an already stagnant storyline.

Feels like I flushed a toilet and am watching the water go around and around ....

Boring and trite story. The art though is the worst part of the issue. I don't get this whole idea about having multiple artist on one issue. If it was a special issue okay fine but this is just a regular issue so why????? And more importantly why such diverse artists? If you are going to have different artist work on a issue together why not get ones that work complements each others work rather then be so different from each other that it just leaves the book looking like a hot mess? This book was a mess. The art was terrible. The only thing I can honestly say about the issue that I liked was how Ghost Maker and Bruce's relationship played out. I have to say from the looks of it GM is the far better Batman. He gets things done. I think he would make for a great stand alone comic series. I would buy it. As for Clownhunter, he started out as a possibly interesting character but is quickly becoming annoying and too one sided of a character. He needs to either grow some depth as a character or just go period. more