Despite an exceedingly dull finale, a disappointing motorcycle chase sequence, and numerous pointless teasers, this issue ends better than it begins. The first scene is Batman 2039 trying to convince one of his allies he’s not the problem, he’s the solution. There will be a similar sequence at the end for another character, who can’t decide if they should trust him, but there’s at least action going on somewhere else juxtaposed for that dilemma. Unfortunately, the opening one is just talking heads, and all of it’s boring.

It resolves with Batman finally meeting up with Jim Gordon via hologram, and they agree to work together. Gordon knows the federal cops are lying about Batman, so he trusts him. Gordon’s also just finished reading his grandpappy’s file on the original Batman and now knows all the secrets of the proverbial Batcave. Should Gordon’s knowledge of these secrets affect how Batman 2039 treats him? Yes. But creator Paul Pope saves that “reveal” for the last few pages when he finally gives some clues to the Bat-Man’s identity. Sort of.

If Pope did Batman: Year 100 because he was trapped in a contract with DC for a Batman comic and decided to just bullshit his way through it with references and reveals, it wouldn’t be any different than what he came up with. Instead, after three issues of teasing the Bat-cycle, Pope does the issue’s only notable action set piece around it, and it’s boring. Not just the story parts of it, not just the writing on the chase and the twists he gives away or the twists he forecasts, but the art. It’s a boring Paul Pope motorcycle chase scene. I never wanted to see that kind of thing. Icky bad.

The finish has Batman explaining the comic's plot to the bad guys, at least one of whom knows the comic’s plot, but Pope’s been keeping it from the reader. So Batman’s gonna explain it to everyone, including Gordon, who’s a wallflower because he’s got nothing to do. The idea of him having something to do was a red herring; Gordon’s even less important to the comic than Batman’s sidekick… who apparently has never heard of Robin before. Except, you know, the sidekick’s name is Robin.

Maybe he thought the kid in tights was named John Blake or something.

In addition to the boring action and tedious exposition, the character writing is bad. It’d be better read without any reflection, just the feeling of minor disappointment; examining all of Pope’s fails through the comic is depressing.

Pope doesn’t even come up with a good finale, visually speaking. It’s humdrum. They should’ve at least hired him a ghostwriter, though maybe writing it was part of the deal. He wanted to guarantee no one would ever think Batman: Year 100 could’ve been a good idea.

It’s a sixteen-year-old comic, and I still want my six bucks back.

Year 100 started with Jim Gordon (named after granddad) not knowing anything about “The Bat-Man of Gotham” and thinking it was an unlikely urban legend in the first issue to revealing he was the warden of Arkham Asylum. And it was filled with super-villains. And then he let the federal police kill them all, getting his job at Gotham PD as a reward.

Wouldn’t you want a good reward for allowing such a thing? Not, you know, being the last good cop in a corrupt dystopia?

Gordon does his confessing to the doctor lady, who was helping Batman 2039 with his federal morgue break-in but turned off comms to patch up Gordon. At multiple points during their scene, it seems like he’s going to say something meaningful or revelatory, but instead, he just says, “wow, Batman’s real, huh,” repeatedly. Or at least twice.

Considering he spends the second half of the issue at granddad Commissioner Gordon’s cabin upstate looking at pictures of the old Batman, this current Gordon didn’t know there was a real Batman because he had his head up his ass. Especially since he knows all the rogue’s gallery’s names.

So dumb.

It raises the question—did DC editorial not care about a better script because it’s Paul Pope or because they knew no one cared about a Batman comic being good, actually. Or even sensible. Also, the comic seems to be reversing course on the continuity to Frank Miller, instead implying Batman’s a series of guys, like James Bond actors or something.

While Gordon’s on his information quest, Batman 2039 is getting into major fights with the cops, who lock down the city after he escapes again. Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly great escape sequence. There’s a fight scene with a psychic cop, but it’s boring, and every time the story’s begging for some gorgeous Pope art… Pope instead cuts to Gordon discovering something or having a pat epiphany.

The issue’s also got a lengthy talking heads sequence where the angry doctor lady yells at Batman for being irresponsible, but Pope doesn’t want to give away any details about the characters, so the argument’s pointless. It’s noisy, it takes up pages, and there’s nothing else to it.

Obviously, there’s some good art in the comic, though the new “Batmobile” (the Batcycle, like, come on, it’s a motorcycle, it’s not a mobile) is disappointing. Pope put a lot of thought into the design but not into what the thing might do.

The comic feels incredibly slight—with only one issue to go—and I’m remembering why I almost immediately forgot Paul Pope ever did a big Batman project.

About a third of this issue is talking heads. First, it’s unnamed Batman 2039 and his team—including a new Robin, who starts the issue working on a bitchin’ motorcycle for Bats—talking through what led up to last issue’s issue-long chase sequence, and then it’s cop Gordon and his gang looking through the archives for information on “The Bat-Man.”

Both sequences are strange, though for different reasons. The Batman one because creator Paul Pope is trying to avoid doing any character introductions and instead focus on their conversation about the dead cop and Batman’s inability to remember enough details. It’s a briefing with occasional personality (usually from Robin 2039). It’s not interesting, but it’s also not grating like Gordon’s sequence.

So the Gordon sequence. They’re going through the archives—remember, last issue, no one had any idea there was a “Bat-Man” a hundred years ago, and even the modern incarnation was a surprise to Gordon. In Year 100 continuity… Detective Comics #27 is in continuity, something something something in the sixties in continuity, The Dark Knight Returns is in glowing continuity. Then maybe something from Dark Knight Strikes Back. I didn’t read Strikes Back so I don’t know if it’s what Pope’s talking about. The most attention goes to the DKR stuff, which means in Year 100 continuity, Batman in Dark Knight was at least seventy, not fifty-five or whatever. Also, Zorro would be out.

It’d be better if Pope weren’t just overtly winking and nodding to Frank Miller. But, it still wouldn’t be good. No one knows about there being a Batman in Gotham City for eighty years because the records were destroyed. It also means no one in Gotham in 2039 remembers anything from twenty years before. Seems like mass amnesia would have more repercussions.

The other two-thirds of the comic are action procedural. Gordon goes to the crime scene to see what the federal cops are lying to him about; Batman breaks into the federal cop morgue to look at the guy he supposedly killed.

Exquisite art on all of it, though obviously better on the action. Pope doesn’t make the talking heads sequences interesting visually; he matches the monotony and tediousness of the dialogue. Appropriate, but also, why do the scenes if you’re not interested in doing the scenes. Especially since the first issue established Year 100 can run on pure adrenalin. Contriving reasons to be reticent during exposition dumps….

The second half of the comic does a lot to redeem the first, though it’s clear Pope doesn’t actually have a good story, which is foreboding given there are two issues to go.

This first issue of Batman: Year 100 is an all-action issue. It’s the future, so people can get around pretty quickly, including federal cops flying around in, I don’t know, hovercraft. Helicopter cabins without rotors or skids. But the future’s also got its low-tech; the first sequence has a pack of police dogs chasing “The Bat-Man of Gotham” across the rooftops. They’ve got retina cameras to make them futuristic, but initially, it’s just a dog pack chasing the vigilante scene.

Actually, it’s too bad creator Paul Pope doesn’t show how the dogs operate on the rooftops. I’m sure it’d be awesome.

Because even though there’s minimal story, barely any characters, and the most writing comes in the opening and closing “news” briefs (courtesy future Reuters) on the front and back inside covers, Batman: Year 100 is divine. It’s forty-eight pages of detailed, thoughtful, exuberant Pope art. Who cares what it’s about.

The issue sets up Bat-Man a little; he’s been in Gotham long enough to make an ally with the police coroner, but copper Jim Gordon doesn’t know anything about him. The comic’s set in 2039 (a hundred years after Detective Comics #27), and the previous century’s Bat-Man has become an urban legend. No one even believes the new one exists until he gets caught on the various cameras; a federal police officer has been killed, and Bat-Man is the prime suspect.

The comic does get to the investigation. It starts with the dog chase, then a people chase as the federal cops descend on a Gotham building, and cuts to the federal cops in Washington having a slightly comedic bicker session, freaking out about the situation. Lots of great expressions from Pope in that scene. It ends with a special cop being called in, Tibble. That special cop doesn’t hunt Bat-Man yet; he just gives Gordon shit because jurisdiction tropes.

So Pope is, you know, building a narrative. It just doesn’t matter as much as the action. The comic’s about the rush of reading it, of experiencing the movement in Pope’s panels as the Bat-Man and the story hurl forward. Like the opening chase sequences, the issue’s a race, with Pope trying to maintain momentum until the last panel.

I read Year 100 when it came out and remember it being a disappointment overall, but damn if this issue isn’t a thrill.

Oh, and the José Villarrubia colors are gorgeous. The whole thing’s gorgeous.