Today, Scott and Drew are discussing Batman 19, originally released April 10th, 2013.

Scott: Who says Batman has to be complicated? Anyone who has read Scott Snyder’s series for the last year and a half has gotten used to arcs that take many months to unravel. First, it was Night of the Owls, then Death of the Family. Even the random peppering of Harper Row storylines feel like part of a grander scheme. Well, another multi-issue epic is on the way, in the form of Zero Year, but first Snyder has made room for a rather straightforward two-parter. The immediacy of the payoffs in Batman 19 comes almost as a shock, as Snyder reminds us how much fun it can be to watch Batman solve a mystery that feels only a couple steps –– as opposed to issues — ahead of the reader.

The issue opens with Bruce Wayne robbing a bank. When he tries to flee, his longtime friend and ally, Commissioner Jim Gordon, gets in the way, leading to this unfathomable scene:

How’s that for a hook? Bruce shooting down Jim Gordon seems like something that could only happen in a dream, but this is real. And that’s actually Bruce, at least with 99 point not-a-snowball’s-chance-in-hell-it’s-not-him percent certainty. If you’re like me, the emphasis on the DNA match probably stuck out to you, as if to say, yeah sure, genetically speaking this is Bruce Wayne, but maybe in some, you know, non-genetic way it’s not really Bruce Wayne at all. Or something. So what is going on?

Jump to six days earlier. Bruce is shocked to learn his friend, the architect Brian Wade, committed suicide. Police files show Wade was being investigated for the murder of two of Penguin’s henchmen. Bruce goes to do some investigating at Wade’s office when he’s attacked by none other than Brian Wade, or at least a DNA match for Brian Wade. Further analysis reveals that attacker has trace amounts of the quickly deteriorating DNA of Basil Karlo, AKA Clayface. Realizing Clayface has eveolved, Bruce sees Lucius Fox about a specialized Batsuit, but lo and behold, Lucius is actually Clayface. AHH!

This issue is a reminder that, while Batman is a great detective, the technology he has at his disposal is at least as good as his sleuthing. It takes some fun out of it when the identity of the criminal is discovered by a computer rather than any clues picked up by Batman himself. It’s funny, though, how Batman really has to press the computer to fully analyze the DNA. It’s not following his train of thought and really tries to save itself the trouble of estimating any traces of code, which of course wind up being the key to solving the mystery. The interaction comes off like Watson humoring one of Homes’ seemingly errant inquiries. Just replace Watson with Watson.

It’s nice to have Greg Capullo back at the helm this month. His pencils are great, as usual, and he really delivers at the big moments. I loved the flower truck flasback sequence, which becomes sentimental in a hurry. Snyder and Capullo manage to capture Damian’s essence in just a few panels. He’s the kind of kid who smells toxic flowers out of curiosity and smiles after hearing how deadly they are. Just when you couldn’t be happier to see him again, a simple faded-out panel reminds that, oh right, he’s gone. Damn.

This creative team is also great at toying with expectations. As soon as the name Clayface appears, the entire issue clicks into place. If Clayface was disguised as Bruce at the beginning of the issue, then we must see him become Bruce by the end of the issue, right? The expectations add a ton of suspense to the final pages. Where is Clayface lurking? Could the Bruce we’re seeing actually be Clayface? Then we get the answer, which is both obvious and shocking, and awesomely executed by Capullo.

I can’t write about this issue without mentioning the backup, which is also the first of a two-parter. It finds Batman and Superman teaming up to investigate a supernatural phenomenon occurring in an apartment building. Despite not understanding what was going on with the supernatural stuff, there was a lot that I really enjoyed.  Superman has come as a friend, just to see how Batman is doing, which is just kind of sweet. I love how surprised he is when Batman asks him to check out the building. And Superman is essentially no help at all. Batman has to explain to him that he’s experiencing nausea, which is hilarious, and then he spends the rest of the time complaining about how much everything is screwing with his head. The Batman/Superman pairing is always a good one, but I think I might like it even better when one of them just doesn’t feel good and won’t shut up about it. I would totally read a comic where Superman keeps whining to an annoyed Batman as they solve crimes. Maybe James Tynion IV is on to something.

Batman 19 shows us something we haven’t really seen from Snyder, and I found it to be refreshing. The mystery is pretty easy to figure out but the story moves quickly and is great to look at throughout. Of course, the mystery of why Clayface is doing this remains unsolved, and I’m sure the answer will be ridiculous, whatever it is. Clayface is one of my favorite Batman villains, but he’s also one of the most outrageous, and he’s probably best taken in small doses like this two-parter. What do you say Drew, are you more excited to see part 2, or to get it over with and move on to something bigger?

Drew: Oh I loved this issue. I have vague memories of owning action figures from Tim Burton’s Batman, but my first real experience with the caped crusader was Batman: The Animated Series. Those were formative moments, which means I’ll always have a soft spot for episodic Batman stories with a sense of humor. This two-parter nails that tone beautifully, riding the line between the inherent terror and goofiness of Clayface. Those elements are present in every Clayface story, but as he did with Joker in Death of the Family and Gotham crime in Night of the Owls, Snyder gets a surprising amount of mileage simply by exaggerating those qualities to the nth degree.

Take the simple trick of surprising the characters and the audience by revealing that one character is actually Clayface in disguise. It’s a great gag — and is more or less expected any time a shapeshifter appears in a narrative — but Snyder gives it to us THREE times here, effectively stretching the experience of the reveal. When it’s Bruce, we only have the feint — Clayface never reveals himself. With Wade, Snyder dramatizes the reveal, taking extra time to have Bruce walk us — and his computer — to the conclusion. By the time we get to Lucius, we know Clayface could be anyone AND that Bruce is eventually going to be copied, but I think that transparency is by design. Snyder seems to be riffing on the very notion that “it could be anyone,” taking us to the brink of surprise reveal fatigue.

Hell, Snyder actually pulls the same stunt narratively with that flashback — we know something is up when Damian shows up, but we don’t understand that this is a cowl archive until the colors start to wash out in the panel Scott included above. It effectively pushes us out of the action — reminding us that we are an audience — even as we briefly see the world through Bruce’s eyes.

Capullo literally draws our attention to Bruce’s eyes, giving us an intimate, unguarded look inside the cowl, only to shut us out in the very next panel. Bruce is pushing everyone away, and Snyder and Capullo are following suit, needling the audience every chance they get.

Actually, Capullo focuses on Bruce’s eyes throughout the issue. Under normal circumstances, this would make sense for a Clayface story — Bruce can’t trust what he sees — but here, it seems to act as a mirror, reminding us again that we’re watching these events. Capullo draws special attention to this when he shows us Bruce’s reflection — once in the cowl archive, and again in his conversation with Lucius.

The Lucius reflection has the distinction of also featuring Lucius’s eye, which is actually Clayface’s. It’s an image DRIPPING with voyeurism. This could really only be more explicit if Lucius then pulled out this very issue of Batman and started reading it out loud.

I was happy to see Alex Maleev return for the backup here. His murky inks have a great noir feel, even when his characters feel a little posed. Superman/Batman team-ups are always most effective when the writer can find a way to neuter Supes a bit, and while “magic” might feel like a copout under any other circumstances, Tynion has a solid “Supereman doesn’t like magic” precedent to work on here. The meat of the backup is really the banter between the two — there’s really not much to invest in otherwise — but Tynion pulls it off beautifully. It’s a decidedly different feel from the lead, even as both are clever creature-features.

It’s tricky — I feel like a lot of my excitement for this series has been to find out what happens next in epic story lines, but there’s really no reason that has to be the case. I’ve loved Batman as long as I can remember, and it’s helpful to have Snyder and Capullo step in to remind me why. That meritocracy is undercut a bit by my excitement to see the conclusion of both of these stories, but I hardly think I can be blamed for that.

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?