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Since 2006, DC\u2019s Batman<\/em> series has been a place for the company\u2019s biggest writers to take their biggest swings \u2014 to write The Batman Story<\/em>, not just a Batman story. And so from Grant Morrison to Scott Snyder to Tom King to James Tynion IV, the cowl has now passed to writer-artist Chip Zdarsky, who kicks off the new era in partnership with artist Jorge Jim\u00e9nez. <\/p>\n

The co-creator of Sex Criminals<\/em> and writer of comics like Daredevil<\/em>, Howard the Duck<\/em>, and Jughead<\/em>, Zdarsky has said that his first six issues of Batman<\/em>, an arc entitled \u201cFailsafe,\u201d are only the beginning. And this May, Polygon chatted with Zdarsky via email about all that beginning entails \u2014 namely, a mysterious new villain who hails from the abandoned seat of Batman\u2019s power, the Batcave itself. <\/p>\n

[Ed. note:<\/strong> This article contains spoilers for Batman <\/em>#125.]<\/p>\n

Failsafe doesn\u2019t appear in this first issue until a classic final-page reveal. But we get some hints as to their origin in the opening scene set sometime in the past, in which a silent Alfred notices a strange beeping and a red light in the depths of the Batcave. In the final pages we return to the present and the dusty and shuttered Batcave, where that dang beep is happening again. <\/p>\n

A black-and-red obelisk rises from the ground and opens to reveal a robotic humanoid form with a menacingly reflective faceplate, as a computerized voice ominously declares, \u201cFailsafe online.\u201d <\/p>\n

In initial announcements of his run, Zdarsky described Failsafe as \u201cBatman\u2019s Doomsday,\u201d referring to the alien monster editorially engineered to kill Superman in The Death of Superman<\/em>. That\u2019s… pretty vague, which is reasonable for an announcement. But now that we\u2019ve gotten our first look at Failsafe, it begs the question: What does \u201cBatman\u2019s Doomsday\u201d even mean? <\/p>\n

\u201cHats off to Bane, Batman\u2019s original \u2018Doomsday,\u2019 who I love,\u201d Zdarsky answered, referring to a character editorially engineered to maim Bruce Wayne in such a way he could no longer be Batman in The Death of Superman<\/em>\u2019s contemporary series, Knightfall<\/em>. \u201cBut what Jorge and I are going for with Failsafe is a cold, unstoppable villain. Something fast and intense and otherworldly. They have connections to Batman\u2019s past and are very single-minded in their mission: to kill Batman.\u201d <\/p>\n

The writer said his previous contribution to Batman\u2019s canon of villains, Cheer \u2014 a villain who killed and incapacitated with drugs that put victims in a state of addictive euphoria \u2014 \u201cfelt like a classic style of Batman villain. Failsafe isn\u2019t that.\u201d <\/p>\n

As to why Failsafe is emerging in an empty and unguarded Batcave, that has its roots in events before Zdarsky\u2019s tenure. During James Tynion IV\u2019s Joker War<\/em> arc, the Joker stole all of Bruce Wayne\u2019s money \u2014 and then Catwoman stole it back but, for pretty legitimate reasons, couldn\u2019t give it back. Since then, Batman\u2019s still rich, just not megarich<\/em>. He\u2019s had to tighten his bat-belt, moving out of Wayne Manor and into a Gotham brownstone and replacing the Batcave with a series of mini caves in Gotham\u2019s utilities tunnels that he dug himself. <\/p>\n

And if Failsafe is on one side of Batman<\/em> #125\u2019s villain coin, money is on the other. A dying Penguin, angry that his own hefty pile of lucre was never able to buy him acceptance by Gotham\u2019s upper crust, promised to to kill every Gothamite who has inherited more than five million dollars, unless they gave the money to charity immediately. And then, to pin his nemesis to the wall as well, the Penguin constructed his own death in such a way to implicate Batman as his murderer. <\/p>\n

According to Zdarsky, it\u2019s not an accident that Batman\u2019s cash flow is central to the issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to give too much away, but it\u2019s definitely one of the themes [of the arc]! It\u2019s part of a bigger idea about how Batman can be the best Batman and what that looks like. Is it rebuilding his wealth? Building his army? Focusing on Gotham? […] I like that the past few years of Batman books have left the character a bit reduced in his bat-bucks and also older. When you\u2019re a billionaire you can cheat aging more than you or I can. So how essential is money to Batman?\u201d <\/p>\n

But what is the connection between Penguin and Failsafe? We\u2019ll have to see. But Batman is a guy who famously assembled a \u201cfailsafe\u201d for every member of the Justice League in case they went rogue. It\u2019s not a stretch to imagine he\u2019d do it for himself \u2014 or that it would be set to trigger after widespread media reports of Batman committing murder. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Since 2006, DC\u2019s Batman series has been a place for the company\u2019s biggest writers to take their biggest swings \u2014 to write The Batman Story, not just a Batman story. And so from Grant Morrison to Scott Snyder to Tom King to James Tynion IV, the cowl has now passed to writer-artist Chip Zdarsky, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/C8yGfNfY6xCJwp62nQNyRxEYb8Q=\/0x0:1920x1005\/fit-in\/1200x630\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23664318\/8GRiosjcZR62gNcBgkFTE41.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news"],"yoast_head":"\n