An awesome book. This book is the tipping point between the Future or Fear state. Since Batman appeared he has been using criminals frea and superstition as a weapon. Now however the criminals have evolved and now the people of Gotham have lost faith on Batman and the Bat Family to protect them. What better time gor the master of fear the Scarecrow to reappear.Batman need to solve three mysteries at once if he has a hope of saving Gotham even with his now allies, but also on a budget. On a perso...

Fun, but absolutely stuffed to the gills with side characters and a bit difficult to follow.And this is just the Main Cast...

An interesting story that potentially will be the penultimate arc of Tynion’s run. I like the introduction of the Unsanity Collective, but it’s strange that as important as they are to the plot it still feels like we haven’t spent a lot of time with them. I think that may be part of the problem: we’re getting a glimpse at a cast of characters that Tynion could easily flesh out into their book independent of Batman, but there’s so much else going on that they don’t get that time. Jimenez instead

The art throughout is great and there are some flashes of inspiration (Miracle Molly and the Unsanity Collective). But on the whole, this is just another run-of-the-mill supervillain sets up giant conspiracy to take over Gotham. The Magistrate, a bunch of Robocop-inspired peacekeepers, is especially weak. And a mayor willing to do anything not to appear like he's failing in his promise to provide law and order, even to the extent of declaring Batman and company collateral damage. Hmmm...it just

I haven't really read much Batman over the years, but even I can see these story arcs seem very 'samey' and recycled repeatedly. Yes this story at it's core feels rinse and repeat, but I still enjoyed and engaged with Tynion's writing and character work. On top of that Jorge Jiminez is in another stratosphere with the art in this series. This is one of the best looking series I've ever seen and maybe the colour palette adds to it. There is a disinct difference from a DC book compaired to Marvel

First off, I love Jimenez' art coupled with Morey's colors. Each panel is packed with detail and color that gives this whole arc a unique look, pushing it towards a futuristic, yet still grungy, personality for Gotham.The primary focus of this volume is to get everything prepared for the Fear State crossover. It primarily details exactly what pushed the city to invoke the Magistrate program. You'll find out who manipulated all of the pieces and who Magistrate 01 is. It all builds, for the most p...

Another Batman adventure🦇 I cant seem to like this Tynion run and i dont see that changing soon, i think its just very standard and i dont like any of the new villains and flashy style of the rogues gallery if i have to pick a highlight its the artwork from Jorge Jiménez, which is really fantastic. And among the best i have seen in awhile on a big two book.

DC's really trying to force Future State on us and I'm not impressed. Tynion starts up all the nonsense with Gotham's mayor being easily manipulated by Simon Saint into authorizing the Magistrate. This title seems to be stuck in a rut with the same kind of story over and over again between City of Bane, Joker War, and now the upcoming Fear State along with this Magistrate stuff that I find completely uninteresting. Scarecrow's new costume is stupid looking. He looks like a cross between a ghilli...

Jimenez is just killing it with the art--there aren't many better looking books out there right now for my money. The story's a little...odd...at times, but on the whole I'm enjoying it. Onto Vol. 5.

AHHHHHHH I love Tynion so much. This probably makes me extremely biased, but at this point I don't care.I finally decided to pick up this trade even though I've read most of the single issues. I still need to read the issues that lead up to and are about the Joker War because it's referenced so much in these issues, but I'm absolutely loving where this story is going and let's be honest it doesn't hurt that Jimenez is doing such a damn good job on the artwork. How could you not appreciate the wo...

It's hard to review The Cowardly Lot without talking about Their Dark Designs, the first volume of James Tynion IV's Batman run, because they do very similar jobs. They're both stories that are building up to something larger (Joker War and Fear State, respectively), but whereas Their Dark Designs functions on its own as well, The Cowardly Lot is much more of a Fear State prelude than a story on its own.That's not necessarily a bad thing - we know going into this arc where it's going, because it...

Not where Tynion's current best writing efforts are, but it's still a solid middle-of-the-road superhero book nonetheless. The Ghost-Maker backups are also pretty fun.

This was decent but the weakest entry so far. This is about scarecrow fucking shit up. Making a fear state. Yep, fear toxin. Making whole state fear him. Clever title. But this is more a prelude to the event coming and it builds up how scarecrow gets control of the entire city while introducing a new character, miracle Molly, who is basically the woman of the people. It's not bad, the art is as always amazing, and there's some great fight scenes mixed with interesting character moments for Bruce...

Batman: The Cowardly Lot picks up where the previous volume left off and collecting the next six issues (Batman #106–111) of the 2016 on-going series and Infinite Frontier #0 and covers one main story "The Cowardly Lot", two back-up stories "Demon or Detective?" and "Ghost-Maker" with a story from Infinite Frontier #0."The Cowardly Lot" is a six-issue storyline (Batman #106–111) that has Bruce Wayne as Batman dealing with a new gang in Gotham City that may be connected to the resurgence of the S...

Yeah, this is more like it. This is the awesome Tynion stuff I love. Ghost-Maker is reigned in a bit and made much more palatable. He's still dumb, but small doses makes him better.Harley continues to evolve and Miracle Molly is a cool, genuine character in a story filled with monsters and titans. Her viewpoint on modern society is surprisingly succinct and in lockstep with a lot of my personal issues with the world today.We get just the right amount of Batman outsmarting and out-maneuvering his...

This volume was creepy; it felt a little less involved than the previous arcs. Scarecrow being able to control the city without using toxins is a great change and I definitely want to see where that goes.

I guess it was good?We basically are introduced to some new characters like Simon saint and his magistrate program after the A-Day incident and then we have him forming his peacekeeper and pushing for the privatization of police to hunt down Batma and the other vigilantes in Gotham and he is also secretly working with Scarecrow who has his own plans of domination! The other group, Unsanity Collective, is also introduced here along with a new character - Miracle Molly and we have Batman going und...

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.As the repercussions of the Joker War continue to take a toll on Bruce Wayne, the city of Gotham struggles to see any hope at the end of the tunnel. With new allies also comes new threats but the resources are not the same anymore. Having to start from scratch yet determined to rid the city of its criminality, Batman needs to reevaluate his ways, to shed himself of the past, and to push forward towards a future where change can be possible. Unfo...

Batman Vol. 4 The Cowardly Lot collects DC Comic's issues Batman 106-111 and Infinite Fronier 0 written by James Tynion IV with art by Jorge Jiménez. Simon Saint has developed a new cybernetic Polic force called Peacekeepers that he has planned to unleash upon Gotham City to cleanse the newly arrive Unsanity Network, all of Gotham's vigilantes, and possible resurgence of the Scarecrow. I thought we would get some smaller scale stories before we dived into Fear State, but that was wrong. This is

I haven't been thrilled with James Tynion IV's Batman run, but other than The Joker War, they've been relatively solid, if unremarkable. The Cowardly Lot is the best of the bunch, so far. It teases a promising (and dark) Scarecrow storyline while weaving its own intriguing narrative with the Unsanity Colective and the Magistrate program. It's a propulsive read that features a lot of the new-look Bat Crew, who I'm fortunately a fan of. Ghost Maker and Harley teaming up as the new Robin? I'm fine