Saturday, November 20, 2021

Scott's Take: The Next Batman: Second Son by John Ridley


The Next Batman: Second Son by John Ridley collects the twelve-issue digital first series into four physical issues bound together. This read will be confusing for readers that have not read the current Batman run by James Tynion as well as parts of Future State by John Ridley that dealt with the Bat family set five years into a possible future within in the DC universe. The Next Batman: Second Son after the events of Joker War and A-Day, Lucius Fox has become the head of Wayne Enterprises and is now the proud owner of most of Bruce Wayne’s money. Lucius Fox is suffering from the effects of being tortured by Joker’s new girlfriend, Punchline, and is not adjusting well to being the richest person in Gotham. Lucius wants his family together to deal with the changes in his life now and he forces his adult son, Tim Fox, who these days by “Jace” to come home to Gotham and face their past together. Jace Fox has no desire to be back in Gotham or part of the family again. He left everything and everyone behind for reasons that are explained in this read.


For those who do not know, Jace is supposed to become the next Batman in a possible future. This is his origin story on why he chose to become the Batman.

 

This book is part action, part thriller, and part family drama. The Fox family is a highly dysfunctional group of individuals where no one has dealt with their own personal past nor have they dealt with any of the issues between each other. Each one is very broken by his or her past. This is a story about power, privilege, and ignoring your responsibilities. Jace and the rest of the Fox family will need to grow up and come to terms with their own individual demons as well as relationship issues if they truly want to fix things and be a family again.  

 

The Next Batman: Second Son by John Ridley is good as long as you can deal with the fact that pretty much everyone involved in the book thinks they are the good guy and is totally wrong about that fact. This read is pretty hard to follow if you are not caught up with the DC Universe and the current status quo of Batman right now. This origin story is billed as a complete story and it is not. Actually, this just part one and ends with a cliffhanger. The second part is from the same author and currently is just available in yet another digital first series. That series is called I Am Batman and will be collected into a physical book at some point.

 

The Next Batman: Second Son by John Ridley is an interesting read despite those two caveats.


 

The Next Batman: Second Son

John Ridley

https://www.dccomics.com/talent/john-ridley

DC Comics

https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/the-next-batman-second-son

ISBN# 1779513607

September 2021

Hardback (also available in digital format)

128 Pages 

 

Material came by way of the Forest Green Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2021

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