Batman’s New Video Game Team Up Didn’t Have to Be Like This

comic have a farsighted , tangled , and wildly inconsistent history withlicensed brand crossovers . As of late , DC in particular has gone through this , delivering stigmatize tie - ins that range fromworking on absurdity alone , really working as great comedian , or justbeing absolute scraps . But its late crossover might be worse than being comically sorry : it ’s just dull .

This workweek the publisher free Batman / Faze Clan # 1 — from Josh Trujillo , Scot Eaton , Norm Rapmund , Tony Aviña , and Josh Reed — a team up between the World ’s Greatest Detective and his myriad Batfamily allies and the titular FaZe Clan , the eSports organization fielding teams for video games ranging from the likes of shooters such as Call of Duty , Fortnite , and Counterstrike , to sporting games like FIFA and Rocket League . It ’s … well , that immediately might not scratch you as the most potential - laden of partnerships , but what follows is a consummate nightmare of a comic : the Riddler has developed his own sort of VR headset , the NygmaBox , that is n’t just being scalped by resellers ( pace aside , PS5 and Xbox Series X , Gothamites have spoken ! ) , but … brainwashing them and making them do crime . Much worse .

After Tim Drake makes the fatal mistake of telling Batman that the only way to beat a Gamer is to work with another Gamer , what follows is Batman move to the Hollywood HQ of FaZe Clan to recruit member Apex , Banks , Rain , and Temperrr to get themselves upload to the NygmaBox ’s practical connected domain ( do n’t concern about it ) , beat virtual incarnation of Batman ’s Rogues ’ Gallery to accumulate coin ( do n’t worry about it ) , and then use the digital avatars of the brainwash NygmaBox substance abuser to ascend up against a massive virtual Riddler ( do not worry about it ) .

Two heroes on the precipice of making a truly terrible decision: trusting gamers.

Two heroes on the precipice of making a truly terrible decision: trusting gamers.Image: Scot Eaton, Norm Rapmund, Tony Aviña, and Josh Reed/DC Comics

It ’s … well , it ’s not great . For some reason , Oracle is capable to whoop the NygmaBox organization to transmute Apex , Banks , Rain , and Temperrr into power - up digital avatars based on RPG classes — a Tank , a Ranger , a Healer , and a Mage — which experience absurd given that none of the games FaZe Clan are known for playing competitively are RPGs ( Batman does n’t even do virtual guns , perhaps ? ) . Each appendage is team up with a Batfamily penis ( the aforesaid Tim as Robin , plus Batwoman , Nightwing , and Batwing ) , who not only do n’t get hack power - up updates — rude , Barbara — but largely exist to place upright around being plot of ground - stupid to allow their FaZe compatriot to do An Attack and save the day four times in a row . Hell , for a Batman comic Batman himself is astonishingly useless , for the most part just attend around with Oracle in the Bat Cave monitor FaZe ’s progress until everything just ends . FaZe Clan run short back to being regular previous gamers , Riddler face seemingly zero repercussion for being the gaming industry ’s most highly specific disruptor , and Batman on the face of it becomes mildly addicted to video recording game .

But here ’s the thing : as strange as a team up between Batman and a lot of professional gamers might seem on the surface , it did n’t have to be this way of life . “ People are trapped in a viiiideeeeeo gaaaaaaame and it ’s up to gamers to aid the duped heroes ” is just such a irksome premise , and we ’ve seen examples where these sorts of stigmatise draw - indium can really puzzle out . DC’scrossover comics with KFChad no right to be as good as they were , because not only did they angle into the constitutional absurdity , but embraced it as a contrast to the absurdity of superhero comics in worldwide , transmute Colonel Sandersinto a multiversal flesh worth of any of the newspaper publisher ’s Crisis events . Hell , even in the gaming space last year we had thesurprisingly wild Batman / Fortniteseries , which carry the beloved battle - royale shooter ’s structural premise and used it to deprive down Batman as a character to his nucleus , research the very identity element of Batman as a symbol and as a person in some absorbing agency . Yes , really , in a Fortnite comic !

Maybe Batman could ’ve had to investigate something at a tourney FaZe Clan toy at , hell possibly it gets attacked by a cavalcade of Bat villains , and some of the Batfamily find to be in attendance because , well , a bunch of them are new nipper and immature kid are interested in watching streamers and eSports . Maybe something could ’ve tilt on FaZe Clan ’s musician being beneficial with computers and gone for a technical school angle . I do n’t fuck , DC Comics is n’t paying me to spell the damn thing . As for the creative team — who’ve all done grotesque comics work on before , a high spot being Trujillo ’s delightful sports comedy Dodge City — this might have been a circumstance where contractual obligations to whatever tidy sum was made between DC and FaZe Clan might have made trying to do something more involved beyond this basic premise infeasible . We do n’t know , all we ’re go out with as readers is a bland , not even interestingly absurd comic where the word “ Gamer ” appear every other sentence .

Image: Scot Eaton, Norm Rapmund, Tony Aviña, and Josh Reed/DC Comics

It did n’t have to be this boring . But hey , it could have been sorry : at least it ’s not as bad asteaming up with a weapon manufacturerand having to back out at the last moment .

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Image: Scot Eaton, Norm Rapmund, Tony Aviña, and Josh Reed/DC Comics