Batman Vol. 2: I Am Suicide (Rebirth)

by Tom King

[Quirky Cat]

Just going to start with a spoiler warning: Don’t read this review if you don’t want spoilers!

Following the events that occur in I Am Batman, Bruce Wayne is determined to help Gotham Girl by capturing Psycho Pirate and forcing him to fix her. Apparently the best way to do this is to form his own Suicide Squad, complete with Catwoman, the Ventriloquist, Bronze Tiger, Jewelee, and Punchee (guess which one is the couple in that listing). Together they go after Bane, who is now the only obstacle between them and Psycho Pirate.
I’m going to be brutally blunt here, I didn’t love this volume. First, I didn’t exactly love the Suicide Squad rip off (is it still a rip off if it’s in the same franchise? Or is there another name for that?). Second, Batman’s motives…seemed kind of skewed and out of character. I’ve always felt that Batman was for justice…not revenge (which is one of the reasons why he doesn’t kill, or so I thought), but his focus on breaking Bane’s back is far too close to the revenge line for my liking.
Finally, while I give them an A for effort with the Catwoman plotline, it didn’t fit. I know, I know. It didn’t fit that Selena Kyle was the killer because she actually wasn’t, but that’s not what I mean. I knew right off the bat (no pun intended) that there was no way they’d change her character that much, at least I would hope not. So I didn’t really every get the feeling of suspense or dread. Is there a way they could have done this plotline and terrified me? Absolutely! Which is why I’m going to give them some credit for the attempt.
All in all I’d say this was a decent read: not the best I’ve seen of Batman, but certainly not the worst.

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