Superstar writer Chip Zdarsky joins legendary artist Jorge Jimenez to define a new era in Batman! Bruce Wayne is at a turning point, haunted by dreams of a dark future, while Gotham City billionaires are being gruesomely murdered.

With the discovery of an archenemy’s involvement and a tragedy unfolding, the Dark Knight’s nightmares are just beginning. And in the backup, there’s chaos in Gotham as the underworld fights over one of its crown jewels… and Selina Kyle is caught in the middle. Can she stop the bloodshed and maybe even make a little money in the process?

Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiminez nailed this issue like a carpenter? The pacing of the story is superb. The story is wild and engaging from start to finish. Jiminez’ art is spectacular and captivating. I can easily say Jiminez is one of my favorite artists working for DC. I’m very open about judging a book by its accessibility to new readers and this issue is perfect in that regard. If you tapped out of the Bat Books like I had around the Dark Metal event and the Bat and Cat wedding that never happened this issue is a perfect spot to hop on. Sure there are a few things you’re going to be curious about, like how Bruce lost his fortune or who Selina was with in her bedroom, but other than that you’re standing on solid ground. The Penguin is superbly grotesque and monstrously evil in this issue.

Zdarsky kept the issue rolling beautifully delivering twists and turns all while setting up angles that I’m excited to see play out on this run. I’m hoping Zdarksy and Jiminez are allowed to let Batman inhabit his own world for a while independent of crossover and major event storylines. Batman #125 ends with two interesting bits of information concerning the Penguin and the introduction of a new character named Failsafe. The backup story involving Catwoman is well done and faithfully connects to both Selina’s series and the main story.