While Batman battles his inner demons, Vandal Savage is getting closer to seizing control of Gotham City

Dec. 5, 2023

The caveman who would be king is making some power moves

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One of the more fun threads that has been woven throughout the current run of Batman has been the return of Vandal Savage. While the Caped Crusader has had his hands full dealing with threats as varied asFailsafe, the Joker,Insomnia(remember him?) and Catwoman, Savage has been making big swings.

First hebought Wayne Manorout from under the increasingly cash-strapped Bruce, then he tried to bring immortality to the people of Gotham (well, some of them at least) in theGotham War. He was defeated at the last second, but like many a rich idiot before him, Savage has only fallen upwards.

In Batman #140 we find out what the DC universe’s foremost former caveman did next…

Spoilers for Batman #140

While most of Batman #140 concerns itself with Bruce fighting the Joker in the real world while simultaneously battling an army of different multiversal versions of hisZur-En-Arrhpersona in his mind, the backup story, ‘The Savage Garden of Gotham - Part Two’ is focused entirely on Vandal as he begins to rise through the ranks of Gotham’s ultra-wealthy elite.

In the first part of the story, we saw Vandal pledge to become the ruler of the city. He’s not quite there yet, but this second episode - written by core Batman writer Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Mike Hawthorne - sees him charm several of the city’s billionaires, first with words and then by breaking the neck of one of his former henchmen right in front of them.

It’s clear from their reactions that while the city’s ruling class are shocked by Vandal’s show of force, they’re also more than willing to go along with it. As he intuits a few pages earlier, these people are moral black holes. “Their hands are all soft, yet they’re killers… uncaring rulers with deadly whims.” And in the wake of Selina Kyle’s attempt toeat the richin Gotham War, they’re willing to throw themselves behind a powerful leader like Vandal Savage.

And so with that simpleKRAK!Vandal establishes himself as the new figurehead of all that is institutionally wrong with Gotham. And in the final page that pays off with an invitation: to become the city’s new Police Commissioner, a role that will surely make Batman’s already tenuous position in the city even more unstable.

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Batman #140 is out today from DC.

You can keep track of all the Batman comics coming up from DCright here.

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.

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