Batman #92
DC Comics
Words by: James Tynion IV
Art By: Guillem March
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Pencil By: Tomeu Morey
With everything falling into place, the Designer plans to take down Batman. The real interest in this issue isn’t how Batman will solve the challenge but who would win between Harley Quinn and Punchline.
The issue finally starts to drift from the Knightfall storyline. It was starting to become similar with a new villain introduced who “breaks” Batman. Moving away from retelling that story, we are getting an overpowered Batman who can solve anything. Riddler takes his turn center stage with Batman but the hype is all about the Joker’s current and former partners.
Tynion IV was getting too close to having his first Batman run be a copy of Knightfall. The story finally started moving away and allowed Batman to give his full attention to the Designer. This was a needed boost in the story arch as it felt stagnant on the development and character progression. Losing the blot of characters that Tynion IV started with helps his story and it is evident in this issue that he needed to trim the fat.
The art is a mixed bag of everything. The biggest complaint is that the issue has great character profiles and action but it gets thrown in with blank background characters and reused expressions. This inconsistent art doesn’t help the story either as it crowds everything and creates amazing panels followed by substandard ones.
Batman #92 isn’t the best in “Their Dark Designs” . It might be due to the hype involving Joker’s newest partner. Punchline has been the reason copies of Batman #89, Year of the Villain Hell Arisen #3, Joker 80th anniversary and this issue has sold out and is hard to come by. So does the hyped encounter in this issue live up to the speculations?