Batman (2024) # 151 (Absolute Power tie-in)

 By Mark Rodriguez

In the Absolute Power tie-in portion of last issue, Cyborg managed to tell Batman of an energy signal caused by a Mother Box, before he got captured by the Failsafe robots. Escaping capture, Batman decides to enlist the aid of Catwoman to steal this Mother Box from Amanda Waller.

"Into the Unknown" opens as Batman finds Catwoman in a hiding spot she calls 'The Drawer'. He tells her that he needs her help. Amanda Waller has a Mother Box, and it's currently north of her base of Gamorra. It's hidden in the island of Okinawa. Batman says it's a heist that could save everyone, which is why he needs Catwoman. Catwoman says Batman needs no one, but Bruce Wayne does need her. She agrees to help and asks Batman about the plan. Batman says they'll go undercover as employee  of a private military contractor called Sentryglobe. If they play it right, there will be no resistance, but if they mess up this could turn into a suicide mission. Later on, Bruce and Selina arrive in Okinawa under their aliases as we see that Bizzaro is surveying the area.

Bruce uses the alias of Mr. Blackwell and asks to see General Milnon immediately. As they talk, the general asks about Selina, going under the alias of Ms. Tessworth. The general says what they're discussing is highly classified and Selina is escorted outside. 

Mr. Blackwell tells General Milnon that the public turning against metahumans will empower rogue nations to take actions they never would have taken before. He expects a marked increase in the U.S hiring firms like Sentryglobe, so he needs a training ground. Blackwell says his soldiers have been training for desert wars, but they know the future wars won't be fought on sand and rock. He wants his soldiers to train in the jungles and plains.

Mr. Blackwell asks for a section of the island that will be kept off the books. They'll pay the government whatever they need, but there will be an extra four million for a point person. This person will help grease the wheels and tell their superiors how much they support the plan. General Milnon says he can be that person. 

Meanwhile Selina has knocked out a soldier and walks around the base in uniform. She figures if Waller has a Mother Box, she would have it in a U.S controlled area. She notices members of the Suicide Squad walking around and figures they've been sent to protect it. Selina says this is a simple mission so far.

The general leads Blackwell to the jungle, telling him that a lot of the local anger has been about a recent landfill at the bay. That keeps everyone's eyes there and off of the island. They don't do exercises this far out, so it will be perfect for Blackwell's soldiers. Blackwell asks if there are any facilities. The general says he built a bunker base a few years ago. He says there's no amount of money that will get him to use that. Blackwell starts unbuttoning his shirt, saying he'll have to try something else, as he reveals to the general that he's Batman.

Catwoman trails behind the Suicide Squad and sees Clock King, Deadeye and Black Alice step out of their jeep. Black Alice uses magic to find the exact location of what they're looking for, which confuses Catwoman, as she thought all magic users were cut off from using their abilities. 

Black Alice notices Catwoman and fires a blast at her. Catwoman whips her across the face in an attempt to take her out first. Clock King tells Deadeye that there's still 49 seconds before 'he' arrives. Deadeye says he doesn't need 'him' and fires at Catwoman. Catwoman asks if he's either Deadshot or Deathstroke. Just as Deadeye is about to shoot her, Batman leaps into action.

Batman fights with Deadeye as Catwoman heads towards the base. Clock King starts counting down and Catwoman knocks him over as she runs past him, telling him that counting is a stupid super power. She arrives at the base and starts to hack her way inside. 

Batman continues to fight against Deadeye as his inner monologue tells us that he's a new recruit for the Suicide Squad and Waller's nephew. Batman wins the fight and the Clock King counts down to two. Batman looks up as Bizzaro swoops down.  Bizzaro stomps the ground, sending both Batman and Black Alice flying back with the shockwave. Bizzaro also has a cybernetic arm built by Braniac.

Bizzaro freezes the area with his ice breath. Batman tosses fire bombs, but he knows he can't win in a one on one fight. Bizzaro grabs Batman by the throat. Batman figures he has to use Bizzaro's sporadic backwards logic against him.

Batman tells Bizzaro he needs to kill him so he can go to work. Bizzaro says he hates work and says he wants to work. Batman says Bizzaro is like a child and all children like to play. Batman tells Bizzaro that he put the 'last place prize' in the vehicle for him to hide. Bizzaro lets go of Batman and goes to 'hide' in the vehicle, which would mean, in Bizzaro's logic, that he's finding the prize in the jeep. 

Catwoman says she found something and it's not a box. She tells Batman to get to her now. Batman runs while Bizzaro has fun thrashing the jeep apart. Batman runs into the base, hoping Catwoman didn't get hurt in some sort of trap. Batman calls out for her and Catwoman tells him to keep his voice down and that he'd make a terrible cat burglar. 

Batman and Catwoman see a Boom Tube, and he tells her that it's a portal created by a Mother Box. Batman says that the energy Cyborg detected earlier is coming through the Boom Tube, and the Mother Box is somewhere else. Catwoman asks where and Batman says it could be from anywhere in the universe. 

Batman tells Catwoman to get off the island, he needs to go through the portal but she doesn't. Catwoman puts on a breathing mask and says they have been through this before, into the unknown. Batman also puts on a breathing mask and they both jump in. 

They arrive in another room, and Batman notes they are still on Earth and there is enough oxygen to take off the masks. They find the Mother Box sealed up in a special case that blocks the signal. Catwoman gets to work on cracking it. Batman sees that they're in Amanda Waller's family tomb, and recalls that she's from Chicago. Batman opens the steel doors of the room they're in and realize not in Chicago, or Earth for that matter. 

Batman steps outside and figures Waller used this as an escape hatch. He senses a force field protecting the area, preventing him from going forward. He sees a Czarnian Wolf, and tells Selina that they're on the planet Czarnia, where everyone was once murdered by Lobo. Catwoman tells him that something's wrong and she tripped something. The case started counting down. Batman asks if she can stop the countdown when suddenly he's shot in the chest. 

Batman's armor takes the shot, but he's knocked back to the ground. He sees that the shooter is Gunsmith, who is happy that the U.S government allows him to use lethal force. Just then an explosion from inside the tomb sends Catwoman flying out and towards Batman. Catwoman tells Batman she couldn't crack the casing. Batman and Catwoman now see Bizzaro, Deadeye, Black Alice and Gunsmith all walking towards them. Bizzaro is not happy that he was tricked.

"Absolute Power Plant" starts with Harley Quinn joining in on a city wide riot as the superheroes are out fighting against Waller. She says the Gotham City PD has citizens under lockdown and the villains with super powers are laying low so they don't get snatched up by one of Waller's robots. 

Harley heads for the sewers where she finds one of Batman's devices. It has the Riddler on it, issuing threats, but it seems to be a one-way video. The Riddler mentions a fallout, so Harley thinks he's threatening the Gotham County Nuclear Power Plant. Harley rushes out and thinks that usually Batman would drop everything to stop this, but in this case he can't. 

The Riddler gloats to the scientists he has tied up, saying the odds are on their side. He figures Superman will drop Batman off in time, or if he's off-planet, then Flash or Wonder Woman will stop him. Harley busts in with her huge mallet, and Riddler says she's not smart enough to stop him and she might as well call Superman. Harley slams the mallet into one of the computer screens. Riddler says if she plans to solve the riddles she's going to need the screens.

Harley tells Riddler that any hero he intended to come stop him is busy and she was the one that answered the call. Riddler asks how she got his message, and she explains she found one of Batman's bat-scanners in the sewer. Riddler is shocked as she realizes what she's saying it true, no one is coming to stop the nuclear meltdown. 

Harley tells Riddler not to panic and to enter the answers needed to stop the meltdown. Riddler tells her that they're not that hard and she can solve them. Harley grabs him by the neck and says she'll never heard the end of from Ivy if she lets the irradiated land create an ecological disaster. Harley accidentally chokes Riddler out and is left to solve the riddles by herself. She says they can't be too hard since they were meant for Batman and he gets hit in the head all the time.

Harley solves the riddles with the help of the scientists, just in time. The power plant starts cooling down and the scientists thanks Harley. Harley asks if they're going to tell everyone that she saved the city. The scientists explain they can't since anything tied to the power plant's security is very 'need-to-know' and the fact that both the Riddler and Harley snuck in is a big security breach.

Later on, Harley explains to her girlfriend, Ivy, that she had to sign a NDA for saving the city and she can't even tell Batman. Poison Ivy thanks her for saving the city and not joining in the riots like the rest of the idiots. Harley says 'about that...' and Ivy says she doesn't want to know.

My thoughts- 

So it looks like everything is on hold until the Absolute Power event ends. I guess it makes sense since Batman has his role to play. Unlike the last issue where we got a regular story and there was a short back-up story related to this, this time the Absolute Power plot takes center stage. 

I haven't been keeping up with the rest of the event, so I'm not sure if this is the part of the story where the Brainiac Queen and Failsafe are defeated and it's down just Waller hiding behind her Suicide Squad or what else is going on. I wonder how important the roles that Batman and Catwoman play into the overall event. 

I did enjoy seeing some of the other DC characters show up. It's kinda cool to see that while Catwoman does involve herself in Batman's adventures, she rarely goes above street level stuff. She's not evil enough to join any of the super villain team ups, so it's funny to see her confuse Deadeye for Deathstroke or Deadshot. It also looks like Catwoman never saw a Mother Box and a Boom Tube before, which is something the Justice League gets to see more often than they would like. 

As for Deadeye, even if he is Waller's nephew... I wouldn't put it past her to still insert the bomb in his head like she does with the rest of the Suicide Squad.

I do hope this particular part of the story continues onto the next issue without me having to buy any part of the tie-in. I'm curious to see how Batman and Catwoman get out of this mess.

One thing that bugged me was Batman being overly concerned about Catwoman. Like, why even bring her along on such a dangerous mission if you're worried she's going to stub her toe? I get they're in a relationship now, but while showing concern it's also implying Catwoman is incompetent and less capable. I mean, I know Catwoman hasn't been trained in a hundred martial arts like Batman, but she is a character that's been known to constantly get the drop on him regardless. She's plenty capable, even when outside of her element. Plus, Batman should fucking know better than to scream while being on a stealth mission. What have they done to my boy? 

Isn't Batman supposed to be a master of stealth? Even Catwoman called him out on this by joking that he'd be a terrible cat burglar due to being so noisy.

The Harley story was alright, I guess if you really needed to know what she up to during this storyline, here she is. Not a fan of the drab and boring art style. Harley looks like a random woman cosplaying as Harley and the Riddler literally looks like just some random dude. Like if Harley didn't mention his name and the guy didn't mention riddles, I really would think it was just some random guy.

Riddler is as cartoonish super villain as it gets in this one. I have no idea why he planned to put Gotham under nuclear meltdown, without actually wanting to do so since he was expecting one of the heroes to stop him. Was he suicidal or just that bored? Does he just like getting beat up by Batman and thrown in prison? Does he like seeing people struggle to solve his riddles, even if in this case anyone getting them wrong would result in Gotham being wiped from the map? Geez Nygma, get a hobby you loon.

Actually this reminds me of a comedic skit I saw once where the villain was planning to blow up the world and actually succeeded in killing James Bond, or a James Bond knockoff. Afterwards he was surprised the hero is actually really dead, and no one is there to stop him from blowing up the world. Even his henchmen were cheering him on to go ahead and do it. It shows that some villains are just so used to being stopped that they don't take the time to see the consequences of if their plans actually were to succeed. 

Either way, while I usually don't like tie-ins, I really do want to see how Batman and Catwoman get out of this one and hopefully we'll find out in Batman # 152, without having to buy Catwoman's comic or whatever.