I was already all in on this latest iteration of Batman, but this issue just knocked my socks off. It works on so many levels, properly introducing us to the Designer, filling in some gaps in the timeline, making The Joker look just as terrifying as ever, and setting up the story in the present day, all wrapped in some of the best artwork you'll see on the stands today. This comic is awesome and I cannot wait for more. Read Full Review

The Tynion run on Batman has already been superb, but with Jimenez on board its going to a new level of cant miss storytelling. Dont miss this book. Read Full Review

This entire run has been great, but this issue builds the tension up to an almost unbearable level at times. Read Full Review

Tynion is bringing the heat in these five issues. Between the growth, Wayne Ent is bringing to Gotham and this well-orchestrated plot that followed. The idea of Joke's favorite crime is an amazing disconnect from the cooky aspect he seems to take all the time when he's not front and center. Read Full Review

Jorge Jimenez brings some beautiful, stylish visuals to this issue. The characters and backgrounds are brilliantly detailed and there are some amazing panels throughout this issue including one with Joker that is truly disturbing. Read Full Review

Batman #90feels like a return to form for Batman. Tynion does a great job of establishing the Designer and just how powerful he truly is. Additionally, Jimenez's art coupled with Morey's once again excellent coloring makes every panel a delight to look at.I am finally excited about this Batman run as this issue picks up the pacing, finally moving the story forward in a concrete direction. Read Full Review

Batman #90(Tynion, Jimenez) takes a look into the origins of The Designer and their link to the current crimes occuring in Gotham. Read Full Review

Secrets are revealed and they are rather interesting and exciting! Read Full Review

Upon first glance, we get terrific art and a serviceable introduction to the Designer. Scratch deeper, and youll find theres a whole lot more going on in this issue. Read Full Review

It's an engaging story of the early days of Catwoman that fills in blanks on The Designer and does it all with aplomb and strong art. Well worth the read. Read Full Review

Whilst this clearly isnt best issue to jump in on, if you can source a few issues back from your friendly bricks and mortar comic store (or you know, digitally if you are technologically minded), then youll be in for a treat. Read Full Review

Batman has just been so much fun to read as well as review and I'm so excited to be a part of what might be the greatest Batman story in a long time. I can't speak to the future, but I know the path Tynion has payed out so far really points to something amazing in the works and the fact that issues are selling out before they even hit stands just proves what I've been saying from the beginning. Read Full Review

Batman #90 is a breath of fresh air for a run that feels like it's been dawdling to this point, formulaically biding its time while holding back on the meat of the story. And maybe that's by design (no pun intended) to ensure that we get multiple issues of Jimenez in a row. But you could just as well skip the issues leading to this point and have no problem jumping in Tynion still hasn't tapped into the heart that I think is the signature of his work but he's managed to remind us that he's no slouch when it comes to the design of a story. Read Full Review

Batman #90 is a notable jump in quality for "Their Dark Designs." Tying The Designer's origin story to the early years of Batman's career, particularly during the original Dynamic Duo era, made him a much more intriguing character. How Catwoman, Joker, Penguin and Riddler factored into The Designer's plot added to that intrigue as Tynion explored how everyone has evolved over the years. With all this set-up out of the way Tynion can hopefully tap further into the potential of this story about the future of Gotham City. Read Full Review

Graced with the art of Jorge Jimenez, this book executes despite average panel layouts. Moreso, it is interesting linework that he offers, yet still maintains an odd quirk signaling of the comic book industry (One that my previous reviews have exhaustively focused on). Truth be told, this was the issue that gave faith in Tynion's run. Not because of Bruce Wayne, but because of Selina Kyle. Read Full Review

While Tynion's storyline is coming together with a promising hook, the main “twist” of the issue was a little pedestrian. Still, combined with amazing art, Batman#90 is a step in a more interesting direction for the title. Read Full Review

This issue gives us what we've been waiting for from Tynion's Batman run. It's a solid read with nice art; not groundbreaking but still exciting. Read Full Review

The issue proceeds to reveal the origin of The Designer in an interesting, albeit dense read. Read Full Review

Batman #90 gives readers what they've been waiting for: the Designer's grand design, the big plan, the "what is the Designer up to" of it all by revealing Catwoman's big secret and, to be blunt, it's kind of a let down. Read Full Review

We finally get some answers to the questeions that we've been having but the answers are so simple that most of us have had them figured out for the past few issues. It's not the worst thing in the world but it was a very safe way to keep this story going. That being said there is a great twist near the end that gives us the most interesting plot point of the entire arc up to this point. So once again, Batman falls somewhere in the upper-middle, quality-wise. Read Full Review

I had high hopes for Tynion's Batman, but it's turning out to be a bust for me. And it's not that it's bad, it's just that the book is average in every sense of the word. The stakes feel forced. The emotions feel forced. Tynion is trying way too hard to build this up as something bigger than it actually is, and the Designer was, unfortunately, over-hyped and under-delivered. Read Full Review

Well, the art is nice. Jiminez is an excellent artist. The writing is all over the place, however. Tynion apparently is disregarding Tom King's run on Batman. He has no idea how to write the relationship between Selina and Bruce. This is another dull chapter of this new direction. Read Full Review

Prelude:
Well, I'm slightly late this week but let's check out Batman #90.

The Good:
I love Jimenez's art.

Love the Designer and his whole shtick.

Good background on the Designer.

The Bad:
Still don't like that design.

Conclusion:
It's the simple issue design of explaining Designer's background. It worked quite well for me actually.

" I remenber, as Riddler and penguin started the fires, watching Joker. He was just starting off across the water, at Gotham City. And at the signal hanging in the clouds above it. Something in him changed that night...His eyes...They were différent than they had ever been before. It was my first time seeing what kind of evil he was going to become. "
- CATWOMAN

There is a lot to like in this issue, especially seeing Catwoman in that classic costume. I'm not sold on the big villain yet, but am prepared to give it time. It was fun spotting all the nods to the past, and was that a direct reference to the recent Joker movie? Yes, there's quite a lot of exposition in the conversation between Bruce and Selina but at least they look fantastic! Overall, a little choppy but a lot of fun.

And yes, I also think it should be monthly with a regular artist.

No Puncline but Designers origin

I like the idea of it. I hope it follows through with a good set up. Best issue I have read of batman in a while.

Please schedule this title back to a monthly and have Jimenez as the regular artist.

Fuck! The hype over Punchline has gotten everybody batshit crazy. Wednesday and shops are sold out already. Thankfully I have this in my pull but Jesus people, you think you never read a Batman comic before...

And Tynion might be the world’s biggest asshole if the twist at the end is true. This will invalidate Selina and Bruce’s relationship which was a big keystone of King’s run.

It's a hell of a lot better than Tom King's trash run.

A little too convoluted at times, but I'm into this kind of mysteries.

This issue has finally picked up the story line for me. The past 5 issues could have been combined into one and this feels like the second issue in Tynion's run. Loved the retell from Selina, but I still don't care about the Designer villain. The main thing I loved about this book is the art, obviously, Jorge Jimenez is one of the few bright spots in DC's artists roster for me right now, and I loved seeing the detail in every character and background. Hopefully this is gonna be how this run goes on in the future.

"Don't shake the Joker's hand"

A good story with even better artwork.

In this issue, we jump into the past, when Batman's Rogues gallery dressed better, as Catwoman talks about her fateful meeting with the Designer. I'm not gonna lie, I like the Designer. From his... well, design to his whole calm demeanor of the smartest guy in the room. And I can't shake the feeling that the detective he was talking about was none other than Sherlock Holmes. It's also nice to know that Batman and Catwoman know each other's actual names. It's the little things.

The artwork is fantastic. There is so much dynamic in the panels. With Catwoman running on rooftops and Slade riding his motorcycle, you can almost feel the movement. more

The Designer is interesting, somewhat of an anti-batman which could be said about many of Batman's rogues' gallery.

I actually didn’t have a bad time reading this one. But the Designer’s look is so weird and dumb you guys.

I'm not gonna lie, the arc is growing on me so far. From a mediocre beginning, it evolves and grows, unraveling the bigger backstory underneath. While sure, this issue may have not pushed the main plot forward very much, it expands the concept of what it means to be a villain in Gotham City. I genuinely like how Tynion explains the evolution of the characters throughout the decades, how the idyllic Silver Age ended, replaced with something darker, more dangerous and realistic. And as far as you ask me, that's today's comic generation's general theme - connecting the legacy Ages, embracing them all together, creating a unified entirety out of different artistic periods, or movements. This comic, alongside many more out there on the shelves, encapulate that thought, and I appreciate it. more

So we finally got some answers to our questions and... it was pretty underwhelming. Very simple and safe way to keep the story going. I don't think this is bad, just not anything to be excited about. There's really not much to talk about here, I honestly expected more.

The twist at the end was pretty neat though.

This is a fine, very safe, very by-the-numbers issue. Sometimes that can work, if the characters are written very well, but here it doesn't really become anything better. I have almost nothing to say about this one. At least Tom King's run was rife with things to talk about. This comic, right here, exists and that's it. If you like Batman existing, you'll be pretty much okay with this.

Better than last issue, but Catwoman feels so forced into this story. The Designer is calling Gothams biggest Villains together& he rather thinks of Catwoman than of Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc or Black Mask? Doesnt make any sense.
Joker is also annoying in this. Why does it always have to be Joker? Wish there was no Joker war coming up. Im already bored.
What is funny, that Catwoman wanted to steal Bruce‘s Fortune, so almost marrying him worked out for her after all I guess. Still hope these 2 finally break up. It’s so annoying & lame.

The art is great though.

+ Like • Comments (3)

• Likes (5)

• SenpaifenixJäger
• wakizashireviews
• myconius
• Nihilist
• Quinn

Show all comments

myconius - Mar 5, 2020

why is it the writers from the 70's and 80's could write Batman and Catwoman so much better than these wet-behind-the-ear Hacks?! - this is so damned 'TRY-HARD' that it's not even funny.

Darkseid24 - Mar 5, 2020

I am asking this myself since quite a while. Majority of stories feel like fanfiction.

myconius - Mar 5, 2020

and sadly, i've actually read better fan fiction than this.

Sign in to comment

Great art. But I don't think the writer realized how his grand plot really makes Batman's traditional enemies look like chumps.

Apparently the DESIGNER is some super criminal who fought a previous "World's Greatest Detective" and realized that he had to change. (Think Prof. Moriarity vs. Sherlock kind of vibe) and evolved the way he fought his enemy and offered early Joker, Riddler, Catwoman and Penguin plans that would allow them to pull off their ultimate heists.

Joker apparently killed the guy and thus started his dark descent into total depravity. Catwoman's plan was to steal the ultimate forture, which DUN, DUN, DUN, turns out to be the Wayne Fortune(tm).

Also, the corpse in the grave was the Designer's? I guess.

My problems are that coming up with yet another ultimate villain we've never heard of is, one, a cliche. Two it makes all of Batman's regular villains look second rate. They're not scared of Batman, but they're scared of THE DESIGNER. That means he must be a heavy weight. Total Worf effect. (See TV Tropes).

I always have a problem when a writer introduces backstory that we've never heard of to long-standing characters. It usually doesn't work, gums up a simple and elegant back story. (The Waynes were killed by a mugger. No that mugger was hired by a gangster who got amnesia and forgot he hired Joe Chill to kill the Waynes, so Bruce gets to solve his parents' murder again. See what I mean?)

Also, King spent time showing Bruce's weaknesses and had him reveal his greatest sin, but now Tynion has Catwoman have to reveal a secret you'd think she would have already revealed, if only to safeguard the fortune she's marrying into.

So now the issue ends with Batman rushing to thwart the Designer's plan, which I guess is being carried out by the Joker? He has to save the Wayne fortune. Which shouldn't be hard because a diverse portfolio is created just so a wealthy person doesn't put all his eggs in one basket. Bruce anticipates everything, so I have to believe he has a rainy day fund with hundreds of millions init for just such an occasion. So I am not buying the premise of the story. It doesn't work for me.

Or I could be wrong. more

Contrived.