Review: Batman: The Merciless

Quick Summary

Pros: The concept is interesting and fits well into the narrative established by this event. This new Batman is incredibly powerful but also sympathetic. The story’s conclusion is phenomenal. The artwork is also terrific.

Cons: Nothing significant.

Overall: This is a fantastic comic book on its own and potentially the best of all the “dark Batmen” one-shots, so far. It is emotional, filled with heartbreak and despair, but also dark and raw in the best way possible. Plus the ending is so good that it will stick with readers long after putting this book down. Anyone and everyone should pick this comic up.

Story

Batman: The Merciless, by Peter Tomasi, is exactly what the title would imply. It takes reader’s emotions and subjects them to an array of highs an lows that would make anyone want for mercy. However, it is exactly this that makes this such a great issue to read. The villain is great and presents a unique twist on Batman that will make readers hate him while simultaneously feeling bad for him. Then, the book’s conclusion will hit readers like a sack of bricks and leave them questioning everything about the issue. Fans of the Metal event, or just fans of Batman, should read this comic as it is well worth it.

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The bulk of this story is set in the past on a dark Earth-12. The world has been brutally attacked by the God of War and was only able to be saved after Wonder Woman sacrificed her life to stop him. This pushed Batman to the edge and forced him to take up War’s helmet and claim the god’s power for himself. Initially intending to do good with the helm, he is eventually corrupted by it and wages war against all those he considers contrary to his ideals.

This is interesting because, like the issues before this, it is another example of Batman being driven to darkness by dramatic loss. Readers can assume this Batman and this Wonder Woman were more than friends before her death, so they can almost understand why he is acting the way he is. He is crushed by her death and actually believes, in his own twisted way, that he is doing some good on his dark crusade. Much like the Batman in The Red Death (Review), he even appears to be haunted by the ghost of the one he lost. Overall this all shows how evil he is but also paints him as a tragic and somewhat sympathetic character as well.

The story goes on to show this Batman’s effect on the world and his indoctrination by the Batman who Laughs. He turns his enemies into worshipers and cultivates war in his wake, because he believes war to be a dark form of mercy. In this way he is easily able to defeat the US government’s best efforts to stop him. It sets him up as a powerful entity and one who could pose a huge threat as this event proceeds, especially since he has the entirety of the US government’s forces at his control.

However, the conclusion of the story is the real pies de resistance of the entire issue. After seeing the Merciless agonize over Wonder Woman’s death for the entire issue, and even sympathizing and connecting with him on some level, the dark truth is revealed: he was the one who killed Wonder Woman. She barely survived Ares’s attack and tried to take the helmet from Batman, so he killed her in retaliation. It is a real sucker punch of a twist that left me reeling after reading it. It was so well executed that I didn’t see it coming until it had already happened, and it left a lasting impact. This twist was excellent and is one that makes you read and reread the entire issue in an entirely different light.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Francis Manapul is almost always able to deliver beautiful and powerful artwork in any comic that he works on, and this issue is no different. He brings a beauty to the world that contrasts sharply with the darkness of the setting. It almost feels like someone took the work he does throughout the Trinity series and twisted it in a dark way, which is exactly what a comic like this needs. This is a great looking comic and one that will not disappoint in the visual department.

Continuity

Batman: The Merciless is part of a series of seven one-shots designed as tie-ins to Dark Nights: Metal. Most of the events in this issue flow out of Metal #2 (Review) and happen right before Metal #3 (Review).

For more information on the timeline of the Metal event see our “Metal Timeline” right here and our other “Metal Reviews” right here.

This issue also references the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• Multiversity designates Earth-12 as the universe where the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series take place. In these series, Batman and Wonder Woman were depicted as having somewhat of a relationship. This could be why they are shown as being so close in the dark version of Earth-12.
• Near the end of the issue, a number of ancient wall drawings are shown depicting different events from Batman’s life.
  • The first panel shows him during the “Zero Year”, an adventure chronicled in Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year: Secret City (Review) and Batman: Vol. 5: Zero Year: Dark City (Review).
  • The second shows him fighting the Court of Owls, something shown in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review)
  • The third shows the Bat-family leaving him, something that happens at the end of Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).
  • The fourth shows his “death” beside the Joker, something that happens at the end of Batman Vol. 7: Endgame.
  • The fifth shows his “rebirth” in Batman Vol. 9: Bloom.
  • The final panel shows him at the beginning of the Metal event in Dark Days: The Casting (Review).