Batman #145 continues to make bold moves in a story that is clearly a long game for Zdarsky's Batman run. It's a Batman run that's bold, visually stunning, and playing the long game. Read Full Review

Batman #145 is a strong return to form for Chip Zdarsky's run on this series. The latest developments by Batman of Zur-En-Arrh created ripple effects that make the entire franchise compelling. Artists Jorge Jimnez and Michelle Bandini enhance this story with excellent flow to how the story is frame from panel to panel, page to page. It all makes this a great start to the "Dark Prisons story arc. Read Full Review

Jimenez delivers beautifully detailed art throughout the issue. The thrilling action and character interactions are brought to life brilliantly on the page. Read Full Review

Failsafe stakes its claim as Gotham Citys protector with a strong outing. Zdarsky constructs this new era with excellent writing. Jimenez, Morey and Cowles engaging art gifts readers with a visual impression that hits its marks. The new stat quo of Batman has arrived, whether the DCU is ready or not. Read Full Review

Batman #145 felt more like a catch-up issue mixed with a quick interlude to get fans back on track. It was entertaining enough but it felt rushed, almost like cliff notes. We get no depth with the story itself hanging out on the surface, which is fine I suppose. However, this wild ride from Zdarsky, as creative as it is, feels like it just hops from one insanity to the next. At what point do readers start to feel connected to the story? Thats what I feel is missing from this run and Batman #145 is the prime example of that. Its entertaining, creative, informative, and even manages to sprinkle in some action. However, it lacks depth, and emotion, and rides on the surface for quick thrills. Hopefully, the character connection arrives soon because thats all this book is missing. Read Full Review

We return to our regularly scheduled storyline and it's just as fun and exciting as before. The stakes are laid our nicely in this issue. Read Full Review

Batman #145 is a hugely engaging issue that has really raised the stakes for this era. Family ties, the sins of the past, and a harsh line on crime all combine into a very effective melting pot. Before The Dark Knight rises again, he's going to have to work extremely hard. Read Full Review

Batman #145 is a huge opening instalment in Chip Zdarsky's latest arc for The Dark Knight. Not just in scale but also in scope and certainly in stakes. Everything is on the line and I have no idea where it's going to go. Blockbuster storytelling teamed with sumptuous visuals. Read Full Review

Batman #145 delivers great art, action, pacing, and cool plot developments for a present threat to Batman and a future threat to the world in the forthcoming Absolute Power event. That said, this issue almost immediately invalidates the Joker: Year One arc, which means DC Editorial is doing a very poor job by wasting everyone's time and money. Read Full Review

Zdarsky hasn't been able to weave much magic in Batman since the Batman/Catwoman War. This storyline feels like another act in the seemingly endless Failsafe novel. Hopefully the curtain is drawing to a close soon. Read Full Review

Batman #145 sets up quite a few pieces for its next showdown between Bruce Wayne, Joker, and the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. While the art is terrific, yet another takeover of Gotham City feels tired and old hat. Read Full Review

Batman #145 sets up the next arc where Failsafe is in control of Gotham, ruling it as an authoritarian Batman pretender. It jumps from one character's perspective to the next so that we can see how everyone responds to the crisis. Not much actually happens except laying the groundwork for this all too familiar status quo. The backup serves as an epilogue to Joker Year One, with all of the Joker-centric world building that entails. Read Full Review

With the confusing and derivative "Joker: Year One" arc over, we're finally back to dealing more directly with Batman and the issue of Failsafe and this issue largely does the work of setting things up and laying groundwork. There's a little action, a lot of talking, some bland inner monologuing, but it's readable. Read Full Review

Bland, boring storytelling is the basis for Batman #145, which refocuses on the present in a lackluster start for the new arc. Zdarsky undercuts all tension and pacing by speeding through reveals and complications while undercutting the work established across backup stories and seeded plotlines. That sloppy execution of craft extends to Jimnez, whose pencils lack the premium edge that has become an expectation. In their place is a serviceable yet sluggish facsimile of quality. Moreys coloring tries to elevate the material but ultimately fails, crushed under the pressure of previous stories. It is a shame that Batman was unable to recapture the lightning of its pre-flashback momentum, as the book was skewing into one of the best modern storylines for the title. Read Full Review

One of the best issues from Zdarsky.

Great issue finally bringing back some urgency and interest to the Zur story. The Joker Year One and Catwoman crossover really hurt the flow of this run and really hope we're past that and it stays on track.

It feels like things are getting back on track following the Joker: Year One storyline. I didn't dislike that story, but it also wasn't my favorite. The placement of it seemed really strange at the time, and it still is mostly, but I'm glad it's at least being addressed here. Either way, I was interested by Zur/Failsafe replacing Bruce and the way he went about it and I'm really interested by this storyline. Hopefully Zdarsky can bring this title back to the quality it was at when he first started on it twenty issues ago.

Dark Prisons is to Joker Year One what Mind Bomb was to Gotham War. I had a feeling of being back on track, but it’s not good that Zdarsky’s story keeps getting derailed. I didn’t hate Joker Year One, but this issue made that arc feel especially pointless by revealing it wasn’t even true! Zdarsky had left some ambiguity, but at no point were we led to believe that the narrative itself was supposed to be unreliable. Why would we think that, when there were events told from outside the Joker’s perspective? This issue was good but it weakened the previous three.

Chip zdarsky's batman run has honestly been a rollercoaster. We had a great Failsafe arc, a good Multiversal arc, then a bad Shadow War event, then a great Mindbomb arc, but then a boring Joker Year one arc.

Is this issue good? Yes. It's good, it's a return to form, we see Bruce Wayne grappling with the idea that he has gone too far in realizing he's taking Batman too seriously. But I am being very cautious, and I hope that Zdarsky's can at least be more consistent as time goes on.

What kills me most is that this comic isn't even bad. Everything's just complicated and tired. Even the art feels sluggish.

Part 1 of "Dark Prisons" picks up the story right where we paused for "Joker: Year One" a few issues ago. Batman finds himself imprisoned alongside the Joker in Blackgate, while the hybrid Zur-En-Arrh/Failsafe implements a series of harsh measures to eradicate crime, essentially turning Gotham into an authoritarian police state under the eyes of this new Batman. We also see the reactions of various Batfamily members grappling with the new reality and trying to figure out if this is really their Bruce. Damian seems the most willing to believe things, setting up a potential fracture amongst the family very similar to the Gotham War. Which is just another rehash along with this second Failsafe story.

Zur-En-Arrh/Failsafe running Gotham is another version of an overused trope in Batman where one of Batman's rouges rules the city with an iron fist. Dark Prisons adds a wrinkle given the fact the city believes this is all happening under their previous Dark Knight protector. Part of me actually wonders if this is the type of approach that needs to be taken in order to restore order to the city. We have yet (keyword: YET) to see Failsafe implement his methods on anyone who didn't deserve them nor have we seen him kill anyone. He even took Riddler in, so part of me does wonder how far he is pushing the boundary.

@jorge_jimenez_art makes every Batman book look amazing & there's nothing different here. Failsafe's new design looks freaking awesome and I loved how we visualized the image of Bruce Wayne's face on Failsafe's screen. Jimenez's attention to detail in the facial expressions for every character in the book really sells the mood.

Overall, the story feels redundant to a lot of Zdarsky's recent work but the art makes up for things. It's not bad writing, it's just a bit boring. Unless there's a major twist coming, you can kinda see how this is all going to play out. more

No comment.

I'm no fan of reboots, but DC seriously needs one! Especially for Batman!!

Zdarsky has no place writing Batman. His run has been one poorly recycled idea after another. I'd call it fan fiction, but at least fan fiction has some passion to it. Zdarsky is just phoning this crap in.

The art is okay, but I really dislike that Jorge Jimenez has simply become a poor imitation of Dan Mora. Only less dynamic, and much less fun to look at.

Batman comics need some serious help! They'd needed it for a very long time now!

Zdarsky's entire run has essentially been Batman creating menaces to save the world from a "Batman gone bad" who wind up as worse menaces than Batman could ever be. Failsafe throws Gotham into turmoil twice already in this run, and yet Bruce is not held accountable, or Batman arrested, when the dust clears. Where is J. Jonah Jameson when we need him, alerting the world to the danger that is Batman?

Not a fan of this run at all. Zdarsky's retcons/expansions of the Jokers past is making the character less compelling instead of more.

It's entertaining enough, but Zdarsky's making some bad changes to the characters (which he also did in Gotham War by making the Bat Family act extremely out of character).

I rate this “oh, who cares.” We get the killer bat robot. Joker is playing psychological games with Batman as if the Joker being trained by the same as Batman was just some giant mindf#ck., some great plot that Zdarsky thought of that puts all others to shame. It doesn’t.

We also have the one-eyed mayor. I honestly forgot he existed. But killer batbot is actually proving the mayor right. Batman is a menace. Once again the story is about how Batman is the problem, not the solution. Not a good look.

The art was nice.

But this whole run has been deconstructing Batman to the point that is really counts as destruction. All the characters are flat, merely pawns to plot.

Just terrible.

Or I could be wrong. more