Batman #36-37 (and #38 too)

Batman and Superman switch costumes to enter a superhero costume theme night at the fair!

Tom King is the it-boy scribe of DC and with good reason. His Mister Miracle is hands down the best superhero comic of 2017 not titled Black Hammer and his upcoming Swamp Thing Winter Special is my most anticipated book of the month (especially after how well he wrote Swamp Thing in Batman #23 “The Brave and the Mold”). His work on Batman (which just recently dropped the Rebirth logo) has been solid. Yet at times it is profoundly ok. King has written some incredible arcs (the Bane story for one), but there is also a lot of stuff that illicit a shrug of the shoulders (the over-long and over-hyped “War of Jokes and Riddles” for one was a beautiful dud overstuffed with well-drawn and well-written villains). But the book is recently hitting its stride. The Batman-Catwoman courtship arc “The Rules of Engagement” that just wrapped in #35 is some of the best work on the title to date, and really pops under lead artist Joёlle Jones’ work (I wish she did the entire book, but alas).

This is all to say that if you’re looking to jump on board Batman without catching up on nearly 40 back-issues than this is the place to start. #36 and 37 form a brilliant two-parter called “Superfriends”, which is entirely a double-date story arc with Superman and Lois Lane. It becomes the clearest expression of King’s interest in Batman as a traumatic figure surrounded by people who love him. It’s also genuinely funny and artist Clay Mann is a perfect fit with King’s penchant for nine-panel storytelling. Mann also provides clear and concise visualization of King’s use of asynchronous dialogue—a style device he uses more on Mister Miracle—that provides a number of smart visual gags with Batman and Superman and Catwoman and Lois.

The follow up (#38) is an incredible stand-alone whodunnit that promises to reverberate for issues to come. It is one of King’s supreme talents that even when the arcs are not the best (“Night of the Monster Men” for one) he’s delicately establishing characters and setting up profound transformations, as with Gotham Girl, a character that went from a forgettable plot device to a deeply tragic and interesting parallel story of recovery. "The Origin of Bruce Wayne" continues the theme of copycats throughout King's run as well as the emotional and psychological consequences of Batman's inspiration.

references:

1. Batman #36 w.Tom King a.Clay Mann Pub. Dec. 6, 2017 Read 1/5/18
2. Batman #37 w.Tom King a.Clay Mann Pub. Dec. 20, 2017 Read 1/5/18
3. Batman #38 w.Tom King a.Travis Moore Pub. Jan. 3, 2018 Read 1/5/18
4. image no.1 credit Batman #37
5. image no.2 credit Batman #38 variant cover by Tim Sale.