This is Batman: One Bad Day: Ra’s Al Ghul. It is Written by Tom Taylor and Illustrated by Ivan Reis. The Inking is done by Danny Miki and the Coloring is done by Brad Anderson. The Lettering is done by Wes Abbott. The variant cover used above is Illustrated by Jim Lee, Inked by Scott Williams, and Colored by Alex Sinclair. The title for this story is named Batman Won’t Save You. Trigger Warning: This book contains elements that one might find distrubing such as extreme violence. Readers discretion is advised. This book follows Ra’s Al Ghul, who has decided to try and fix the problem of climate change the only way he knows how. Him and his League of Assassins target and kill individuals who have caused immense amount of damage to the Earth and replace them with far more sympathetic characters. Batman figures out what Ra’s Al Ghul is doing and goes on a quest to stop him. Will Ra’s succeed and is he really wrong in the first place?
I really enjoyed this book. Tom Taylor remembers a very important aspect of Ra’s Al Ghul’s character that a lot of people miss, that he is a environmenal activist. He has been one since his very first appearance. In many ways, Ra’s Al Ghul was a environmental activist before Poison Ivy. I really appreciate this move, not only for its historical signifigance in comics, but also for it’s topical value. Climate change has become an increasing problem for the better part of a decade. So seeing it mentioned here was pretty nice. I also liked how this book takes blame mostly at rich oligarchs for climate change. Ra’s doesn’t want to kill everyone, he just wants to kill the rich people. And he is brutal with it.
Another great part of this book are the other characters used. The only major character in the focus are Batman and Robin (Damien Wayne). Their relationship in this book is probably the best I have seen in a while. Batman tells Damian things he wants him to do in this book. But when things start to get serious, it is clear that Batman cares for his son. It gets pretty interesting that Ra’s has big connections with both Batman and Damien. Ra’s has a profound respect for Batman. To Ra’s, Batman is not Bruce, he is The Detective. I don’t think there has been a single time in any other piece of media where Ra’s does not call him that. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Ra’s connection with Damien is pretty straightforward since he is his grandfather. My one crticism for this book is the role of Talia Al Ghul. She is in this but she doesn’t do much. Which is dissapointing because she also has an important connection with Ra’s, Batman, and Damien. I would have liked to have seen a little more from her.
Spoiler Alert: There really isn’t much to spoil with this book. There is a really sweet scene with Ra’s and his dog. It is a really nice scene that almost got to me because of how tragic it is. One thing I will talk about is what causes the trigger warning for this book. As mentioned above. Ra’s is brutal when he is killing people. One scene shows Ra’s slits a billionaire’s son’s throat right in front of him. Then afterwards, Ra’s takes the billionaire and drowns him in his own pool. There is another scene where Ra’s feeds a billionaire to tigers. It is crazy the lengths that Ra’s goes to kill rich people in this book.
Another Spoiler Warning: One thing that I really apreciate with this book is the differing perspective of both Ra’s and Batman. They have a philisophical discussion throughout the entire book. The debate is about if it is morally acceptable to kill someone if it would cause immense good to others. Batman believes that no one should have to die for change to be done, even to the most corrupt of individuals. Ra’s will happily kill anyone if he believes that the world would be better for it. I like that this book never tells you which belief is correct. It is up to you as the reader to judge on your own terms.
An amazing part of this book is the art. I absolutley adore Ivan Reis as an artist and this might just be his best work so far. The way he draws Batman is nothing short of a masterpiece. And the different ways he structures a scene are brilliant. The coloring is also really good if a little dark at times. Overall, the art is great and one of the best parts of the book.
Overall, this book is fantastic. It really understands Ra’s Al Ghul as a character while bringing an important message to the forefront. The art is exceptional and really adds to the book at large. If you are interested in Ra’s Al Ghul, I would really recommend this book.
The final thing is that this is the last of the One Bad Day one-shot issues. Overall, this series has been exceptionally well done. All of the books, some of which I have not reviewed yet, have all varied from alright to fantastic. In my opinion, these one-shot issues are a perfect introduction to these Batman villains. If you are interested in any of the villians, I would highly recommend them.