Following the collapse of the Magistrate program, Jace Fox is still doing damage control from the events of Fear State. There’s a dangerous new player in Gotham, however, and they’ve set their sights on bringing down the Dark Knight! I Am Batman #4 is an interesting issue in so many ways. It deals with the ramifications of Fear State in its own ways while continuing to shake up the characters we’ve known.

Written by John Ridley, I Am Batman #4 has Jace continuing to track down leads and unraveling a conspiracy that connects so much. Fear State, the Magistrate, the death of Tyler Arkadine, it’s all connected somehow and leading… somewhere. Part of what’s interesting is that when you take steps back, everything feels that it’s a bit too connected together and that Jace just so happens to be the one dealing with it all. But, it generally works delivering a story that feels very “Batman” but with a character who’s willing to dish out a bit more violence to achieve their objectives.

What Ridley does really well is infuse morality and socio-political themes into his stories. With mentions of MK-Ultra, the Tuskegee Experiments, and ContelPro, Ridley takes real world examples of conspiracies turned reality to infuse questions and mystery in the story. By using these real world examples, we immediately begin to question what we’re told because we know the real history. Each of these examples also elicit some sympathy as each are examples of the government doing horrible things to people hinting at what we, and Jace, are walking into.

The art by Stephen Segovia and Christian Duce is pretty solid. With color by Rex Lokus and lettering by Troy Peteri, the series continues to plant flags in how this Batman differs from Bruce Wayne visually. There’s a more grounded aspect to Jace’s Batman visually. Instead of theatrics, this Batman comes straight at you with a physical fighting style that doesn’t use as much tech or fancy tricks. This is a Batman who likes a fist fight and entering the situation on a motorcycle. There’s some emotion as well. The group really focuses in on characters who are having some real struggles with recent decisions and events they’ve experienced. It’s a nice mix to the more action oriented aspects of the issue and story.

I Am Batman #4 is another solid issue that has a surprising amount of follow up from Fear State. There’s some major ramifications for Simon Saint and the Magistrate program that feel like they’re major plot shifts. So much, it’s surprising they’re handled here instead of the main Batman series which has moved on from the storyline already. It’s another example of this series being much more key to the future of Batman than anyone is giving it credit for and making it a series to continue to watch and read.

Story: John Ridley Art: Stephen Segovia, Christian Duce
Color: Rex Lokus Letterer: Troy Peteri
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW