Phillip Kennedy Johnson and the stellar art team of Trevor Hairsine, Jonathan Glapion, Scott Hanna, Rain Beredo, and Ben Templesmith team up to create a one-of-a-kind adventure that makes an impression immediately thanks to some rather stunning initial pages. Superman and The Authority has been a delight, so what happens when you add Batman to the mix? Well, it actually somehow manages to get better. Rating: 1 out of 5 BATMAN/SUPERMAN: THE AUTHORITY SPECIAL #1 The brutality and lack of empathy on display throughout the issue-and Garth Ennis' lack of desire to actually reckon with it, much less write Batman in a way even remotely resembling the character fans want to follow-make it actually exhausting and appalling to read, to the point where not even the most extravagant art from Liam Sharp can salvage the experience. As Batman and Killer Croc attempt to placate the deadly beast rampaging through Gotham, readers are treated to more sociopathic arrogance and torture, more borderline-transphobic language, and multiple painfully-blunt idioms for sex by Batman. Reading an issue of Batman: Reptilian has almost become an endurance test in the worst possible way. Rating: 2.5 out of 5 BATMAN: REPTILIAN #5 At least Jimenez's art is good and Morey's colors fantastic. The fixation on a host of one-off 'original' characters has left 'Fear State' and this run and this penultimate issue lacking any nutritional value, as it were. While there is absolutely room for commentary about the failings of the Dark Knight, Tynion isn't making that commentary or even a competent stab at it. Much like City of Bane, this is another pointless event with a lot of nonsense in which Batman is largely powerless in a host of ways that aren't even interesting.

Even for that, the issue really isn't much of an improvement.

I've made no mystery of how little I've enjoyed both with Tynion's work frequently coming off as highly derivative and lacking any real creativity as compared to his much-better creator-owned work, but at least Batman #116 corrects one major problem of recent issues and finally puts Batman back into his own story. We are finally almost at the end of 'Fear State' and Tynion's run on Batman.

With everything else steeped in the noir detective-themed aesthetic in The Order of the World, the splashes of color and emotion accompanying each scene with the outcasts and the 'Ghost of Arkham City' make their presences even more imposing. Stone's on-the-nose comments indicate perhaps a bit too plainly that's how we're meant to feel. Their pitiful and pointed situations they've found themselves in will make you root for their success even if they're stealing jawbones and living outside of the reality of others, though Dr. If you weren't already on their side before Arkham City: The Order of the World #2 makes it difficult to side against the cast-out Arkham Asylum residents. DC #1 ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #2

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