Batman: Fear State Saga

Fear State (Reading Order)

by James Tynion IV, Ed Brisson, Jorge Jiménez (Artist)

The Fear State Event brilliantly collected!

Gotham City is on the brink of martial law as Batman fights a two-front battle! The Scarecrow is unleashing a devasting attack on the city while the Magistrate have made their move to invade! Gotham City is on the brink of a violent evolutionary path and the danger level to Batman and his allies reaching a fever pitch!

The Magistrate now have full support from the mayor to handle high-level law enforcement in Gotham and have branded the Dark Knight as Public Enemy #1. Batman must also contend with the return of the Scarecrow who pursues his own terrifying agenda as he takes this chaotic moment to launch his FEAR STATE.
 
And that's just the start of the Dark Knights twisted tale in Fear State Saga collecting Batman #112-117; Batman Secret The Gardener #1; Batman Secret Peacekeeper #1; Batman Secret Miracle Molly #1; Fear Alpha #1; Fear Omega #1!

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2022

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition of Fear State includes all of the extra one-shots that I will review separately here. Fear State Alpha and Omega are pretty integral to the story. It doesn't make sense to me that they weren't in the regular collection except to induce people to buy this bigger, more expensive one. The three Secret Files one-shots are origin stories for the characters. They are by no means integral, more of a bonus feature.

Batman: Fear State (Batman #112-117) by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez & Bengal - ★★★★
Holy smokes, does this book look fantastic. Jorge Jimenez may be the best artist working in comics right now. If you can get past some of the nonsensical things in this (like Fauxracle announcing to citizens that cannibals are coming to eat you and the people are acting like they believe it.), it's actually pretty good.

Batman: Fear State Alpha by James Tynion IV & Riccardo Federici - ★★★★
I kept feeling like I was having deja vu until I realized this recaps all of the events leading up to Fear State in Future State and The Cowardly Lot. It was really nice to have the recap with how infrequently trades come out. Fear State itself drops you in midstream and leaves you to remember what's come before. Federici's art is always welcome. Lots of clean details and lines.

Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper by James Tynion IV, Ed Brisson & Joshua Hixson - ★★★★
Peacekeeper keeps flashing back through his life while he's on the run from the Magistrate throughout the city. Brings a lot to how troubled his family is and adds a lot of character.

Batman Secret Files: Miracle Molly by James Tynion IV & Dani - ★★
Miracle Molly gets the same origin story as half the villains in comics. She works at a robotics firm where her genius goes unnoticed until she gets fired and the company steals her ideas. I am not a fan of Dani's art. To me, it's a sloppier version of Frank Miller. I also don't like how her linework doesn't outline her characters. She leaves that to the colorist to do for her.

Batman Secret Files:The Gardener by James Tynion IV & Christian Ward - ★★★
As much of a Poison Ivy origin story as the Gardeners. It's fine but there's not much there that couldn't have been inferred from the Gardener's scenes in Fear State.

Batman: Fear State Omega by James Tynion IV, Riccardo Federici, Christian Duce, Rtan Benjamin, Guillem March & Trevor hairsine - ★★★★
A nice cap on the series and sets up the future. I'm not sure why this wasn't in the regular Fear State collection.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best way to enjoy this book is to look at all the pretty pictures, and just make up all the dialogue in your head. I ended up enjoying this a lot more when I started doing that. The Gardener one-shot was pretty good, just not enough to save this massive collection of shit. Pretty bad end to a pretty boring Batman run.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating read and almost took me a couple hours to finish but it shows the Joker's big attack on Gotham by unleashing his fear attack and how Peacekeeper and Simon Saint and Magistrate are involved is shown here and then how does Batman fight it like escaping Scarecrow and fighting Peacekeeper, teaming up with Miracle Molly and Ghost maker and then the whole story of how he fights back is so epic and Jiemenez art is next level, he shows Batman being badass so well and like the fight choreography is just insanely well drawn and yeah the texts may seem like its a lot but its worth it and I love the ending!

P.S. the one shots exploring the origins of Peace-keeper and Miracle Molly were some of my fav origins in recent years and really Tynion does such a good job with exploring who they are and giving them a new identity and an albeit different origin and he really levels up Peace-keeper as one of Batman's top villains and it will be interesting to see where Miracle molly and the "Unsanity collective" go from here, it should be fun!

And then finally some good moments for Poison Ivy after a long time. Also the way other seriestie into the overall big story is awesome and I just love the shot of Bat-family coming together in the end and defeating the villain and standing with hope! One of my fav events to read so I highly recommend it!!

[Corey Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read a single issue of Tynion’s run on Batman before this, but now I’m intrigued to go back and read the rest.
This collection of fear state includes every issue that is important to the main story. Which is nice when Dc made the bizarre decision to have separate a separate, alpha, and omega that could honestly been just fine published as part of the Batman series but whatever.

This collection is a bit hard to review since it so big so I will only talk about the basic stuff. Plus, I enjoyed going in somewhat blind (except for the night wing crossover but that doesn’t really go into much detail about what is going on) so maybe you will too. The story has a lot to do with Scarecrow and this new gas he has created. And of course Jorge Jimenez does a fantastic job of showing all of this. Every page just looks amazing.

There is 3 other issues that go into some of the background of some of the characters that play a key role. Peacemaker (not Jhon Cena), Miracle Molly and The gardener. The peacemaker one the best and has a lot of great moments. Miracle Molly was okay, it was a little boring but it was cool to see a little bit of the collective which I knew nothing about. The gardener really wasn’t that important to the story and probably could’ve been left out. It doesn’t tell you anything that you could’ve not gathered from the other issues.

Overall this was a great collection that I would recommend.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This far more comprehensive collection of Fear State includes the main Batman issues, as well as the opening Alpha and concluding Omega one-shots and the Gardener, Peacekeeper-01, and Miracle Molly Secret Files issues. I'd highly recommend this over the Batman trade, because you're basically missing half the story if you skip out on this trade.

Fear State is the (early) culmination of James Tynion IV's Batman run, bringing together the Future State Magistrate story and The Cowardly Lot Scarecrow story into one big knockdown brawl. With Scarecrow in control of the city as well as Simon Saint, leader of the Magistrate, it's up to a pared-down Batman and friends to take to the streets and wrestle back control even as the entire city turns against them.

It's the kind of cinematic storytelling that reminds you why people keep coming back to Batman. It's easy to tell a story where Gotham goes mad, but it's much more difficult to tell a story like this where all the action is framed with some thought-provoking ideas about fear and the nature of why people are the way they are. This is explored even more in the Secret Files one-shots, which serve not only to give us the origins of Miracle Molly, The Gardener, and Peacekeeper-01 but also show us why they're acting the way they are in this story. Everyone has their own motivations that feed into the bigger plot, helped by the fact that Tynion IV writes all of these issues as well.

The Alpha and Omega one-shots are also essential to the story - the Omega especially helps propel Batman into his next storyline under new writer Joshua Williamson, as well as set-up the next Detective Comics story, The Tower. I'm really surprised DC omitted these from the Batman trade given that the story kind of starts in-progress without the Alpha and doesn't really close down without the Omega. Odd decisions.

The artwork's nothing to sniff at either - Jorge Jimenez tackles the Batman issues with his usual dynamic flair (aided by Bengal here and there), while Riccardo Federici's beautiful renderings fill the Alpha and Omega one-shots. Dani captures the mundane and the marvelous in the Miracle Molly one-shot, while the Gardener's world of plants is brought to insane life by the painterly styles of Christian Ward, and Joshua Hixon makes his mark on the Peacekeeper-01 story.

Fear State got a lot of hate, but I really enjoyed it. It's not quite the blockbuster that Joker War was, but it's in the same vein, and an explosive bang for Tynion IV to end his time on the main Bat-title with.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tynion’s run on Batman amounts to just Gotham constantly being taken over by a revolving door of villains without many compelling consequences, except for one that’s not fully explored, and the introduction of new supporting characters that are just rehashes of more popular ones. The previous run by Tom King had its highs and lows, but at least King was attempting something new and thoughtful and swinging for the fences. Frankly, this run is uninspired, quite boring, and here, it ends with a sad whimper.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman: Fear State Saga collects DC Comics issues Batman 112-117, Batman Secret Files: Miracle Molly 1, Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 1, Batman Secret Files: The Gardner 1, Batman Fear State: Alpha 1, and Batman Fear State: Omega 1 written by James Tynion IV and Ed Brisson with art by Jorge Jimenez, Bengal, Ryan Benjamin, Christian Duce, RiccardoFederici, Dani, Trevor Hairsine, Joshua Hixon, Guillem March, and Christian Ward.

The Magistrate has secretly made a deal with Scarecrow to unleash a Fear State upon Gotham City. When Scarecrow's toxin quickly overpowers the Magistrate's new super cop, Peacekeeper-01, and the Batfamily's communication with the city is shutdown, will Batman and Gotham be able to survive the terror that has been unleashed?

I have never been a big fan of Scarecrow. Every Scarecrow story is the same: Scarecrow unleashes a new toxin, Batman is effected and trips out, Batman overcomes the fear toxin, Batman capture scarecrow. Rinse and repeat. They even mention it in the epilogue how every villain has evolved except Scarecrow (which begs the question why they bothered to do this story?). I really liked the underlying Poison Ivy story and wish it focused more on that than Scarecrow. I have liked a lot of the original characters Tynion has created for the Batverse, but his actual story arcs failed to capture what I thought he would bring to the table. Which is a surprise because I really like what he did with Detective Comics, Batman/TMNT, and Batman Eternal. The art is pretty great throughout which isn't a surprise as Jimenez has been one of most consistently great artists lately. I am really hoping we can get back to some smaller scale Bat stories now.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Batman: Fear State Saga. I admit that I didn't read the comics that built up to this story - so I did feel slightly confused at times. However, I was able to understand the story and the motivations of the characters. One strong point about this book is how it fleshed out most of the characters and gave some in-depth backstory about them and the situation in Gotham.

That does lead to some pacing issues. There is also a lot of exposition at times. Time-jumps are used as well. However, it was all needed to give a detailed overview and to flesh out the characters and story. I also enjoyed the complexity of the characters and story as well. There was some nice character development too.

The artwork was well done too as was the action. Overall, I think it's a good book.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you absitively posilutely want to read 'Fear State' and not keep buying s*:+
Accept no substitutes (and don't shell out extra $$$ to grab the other 'Fear State' books unless you have money to burn)

Is this a Cliff Notes version of Fear State? Not exactly. Pretty close, though. With Alpha and Omega added to this collection, you get the lead in details and you see what the heroes did after the event ended. Worth the money? If I want it in one dose, yea.

Bonus: The character origins for Peacekeeper 01, Miracle Molly, and The Gardener are...interesting?
Bonus Bonus: It's still annoying that to 'completely' read the event, you have to buy 2+ books.

[Brylliams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this event comic. Probably more than the joker war. It helps to have all the character minicomics too which give some much needed backstory and character development for some of the tertiary characters like Sean the Peacekeeper, Miracle Molly and the Gardener.

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is that it?

While the Fear State Saga wasn't bad, I expected so much more—especially when Will gave it five stars! I ultimately found the whole event to be underwhelming.

The strengths of the saga lay mostly in its new and modernized characters. I liked Peacekeeper-01, and this is the best I’ve seen of Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) in comics, although he wasn’t present anywhere near enough to anchor the chaos. I thoroughly enjoyed everything Peacekeeper-01 was involved in, and the Miracle Molly issue was surprisingly good.

The dialogue was decent, and the art was strong throughout the collection. However, the story itself felt a bit all over the place, with so many plot threads intertwining and many of them feeling completely unnecessary. The result was a bit of a narrative mess.

Ultimately, everything outside of the Peacekeeper-01 and Miracle Molly material was a bit of a miss for me. I blame my high expectations, but this saga struggles under its own weight, delivering an uneven and forgettable event.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
This book was kind of a wash for me. Most of it was contained in the "Fear State" Volume of Batman. I was able to get some more info about the Poison Ivy side of the event, as well as a glimpse at the mental instability of Peacekeeper- 1, and some more about Miracle Molly. Probably the greatest surprise was in "Omega", the epilogue, when Batman drops Scarecrow at a new criminal mental institution, which is unnamed here, but features Dr Chase Meridian, our doc from the Batman Forever movie. Very interested to see where this goes.
Overall, this was fine. If you've read the Batman volume already, you can skip this one unless you are a completionist.

[William Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable read. Let me start off by saying as a huge Batman fan I have been waiting to read this one for a while, and I am thoroughly glad I finally pulled the trigger. Scarecrow operates as a shadow boss, controlling from the shadows, peacekeeper 01 his puppet, and I actually despite wanting more crane found this thoroughly satisfying because of the work that was put into making peacekeeper 01 a successful main villain. The lack of onscreen crane was made up for in the final issue which is by my favourite in the comic, talk about a way to end. This was also my first introduction to Miracle Molly, The Gardener, and Ghostmaker. The gardener was solid. Miracle Molly was surprisingly likable and really cool. Ghostmaker is now someone I am incredibly fond of and want to read more of. The plot is really well executed and the use of different povs works really well. Batman has a range of awesome moments, but again that final issue with Crane was where he peaked. I would have liked to see more of the bat family as we are given scraps and are shown that they are actively helping/fighting but I understand there's only so much space. Highly recommend this one, don't wait.

[Pruett · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Tynion’s run on Batman is officially over with this event! It was…okay!

Here’s what I liked:
- Our guy has a pretty solid knack for dialogue, and he does some good work when characters are just sitting around chatting
- I appreciate the boldness in introducing new characters to the mix. Batman has so, so many characters in his bench already, but it’s refreshing anyway to see a creator building out his own world inside one so solidified already.
- Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy kiss! I can’t remember if this was canon or not before Tynion’s run, but it’s so nice to see actual representation uncensored (ugh) in a major comic book
- Jorge Jimenez is a spectacular artist, and his work elevates stories like nothing else
- the actual concept of a Fear State is pretty cool and even if it’s faux science I feel like I learned something!
- the artwork and storytelling in the “Secret Files” issues was actually worth reading and looking at, which was such a shock!!! Because usually those issues are so boring and distracting!!! But they might have been better than the actual event. All three of them (Miracle Molly, Peacekeeper, and Gardener) were gorgeously drawn and interesting.

Here’s what I didn’t:
- nothing about the landscape of Gotham feels legitimately changed after Tynion’s two events, even if he wants me to think it has. Joker War and Fear State both suffered from a tell not show approach to their larger stories that I didn’t dig
- Uhhhhh some of the new characters in this arc didn’t work for me. Peacekeeper-01 and Saint Industries were particularly egregious. Peacekeeper-01 was kinda cool for a minute (corrupt Arkham guard getting juiced up and elevated to a hero status through the lens of the media? Nice!) and then really wasn’t (grrr I have a big ole suit of armor grrrr). Simon Saint was boring.
- Even though there’s a deep bench of Batman characters Tynion is throwing into the mix, there’s no reason for them all to be here. Let them go home!
- outside of his new characters, this run left no mark on the Batman story. Snyder and King both changed the game forever and had an indelible style. Tynion’s stuff was a lot of fun oftentimes, but felt just like that. Blockbuster, popcorn-munchin’ fare. Which is okay! Just not particularly interesting!

I’m glad Scarecrow got a chance at a big story. He deserves it, that silly feller.

One more volume of Batman to go, and then I’m officially caught up to 2024 in the main run! Then there’s just Nightwing, Poison Ivy, the Future State Batman stuff, and… sigh.

Three stars! 🦇🦇🦇

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool event! Good writing.

Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey are a pretty unstoppable art team, and as always, everything James Tynion IV writes hits the spot. I really dug the Secret Files issues. Especially the Gardener one-shot. It provided some interesting backstory on Poison Ivey. Overall, a very worthwhile read and an awesome addition to Bat canon.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it but didn’t love it—a whole lot of carnage that wrapped up in two seconds flat to set up the status quo for the next writer. Also, Ghost-Maker and clown killer or whatever that lower-case talking dickbag is called are not good characters. Kill ‘em off ASAP, please.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good but why was scarecrow ginger in some of the chapters lol

[Jonathan Wormsbecher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuk verhaal, maar sommige tekenstijlen zijn nogal, tja... Passen niet echt bij Batman

[Alek Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fear State Saga contains all the essential issues of Tynion's Fear State finale of his Batman run. It has all the Batman issues, Alpha & Omega issues, and the three Secret Files issues of Peacekeeper 01, Miracle Molly, and Gardener.

It has a very profound super villain plan and exceptional artwork. I thought the idea of the fear state was a very Gotham concept. With the constant chaos and villain attacks it's easy to see how trauma can be used to push the city into evolving.

Simon Saint's plan was to have the fear state open the citizens of Gotham to accepting a police state with the Magistrate. And of course Scarecrow has his own plan to push the fear state to an extreme with his fear bomb. After breaking Peacekeeper 01 with a fear toxin overdose, pushing him to commit murder, and then evolving his mind with a trauma reversed mind machine. He plans to expose all of Gotham to that kind of psychic trauma and then have the murderous robo-cop, batman a city governed by fear.

The Unsanity Collective and the Poison Ivy side story are the opposing ideas to the fear state concept. Miracle Molly represents the possibility of evolving into your best self if fear and trauma had never repressed our full potential. Ivy represents the current state of Gotham. After years of trauma twisting us with fear and hate there's a danger of lashing out with destruction. But if we embrace that spark of innocence that believes in people being good and making the right choice we can be the good the world needs, and make the call necessary to help people.

Now with the outline explained here's why it's not a spectacular finale. For starters, it's not really clear as to what Scarecrow expects Gotham to be on the other side of the Fear State. I mean what are Peacekeeper 01 and the city supposed to be evolving into? Secondly, what exactly is the downside to the Unsanity Collectives plan? Why not erase all the trauma of the past and evolve into a version of yourself that is uninhibited by fear? And lastly this event suffers from the same problem Joker War did, and that's that the tie-in Bat-Family stories do not benefit the story what so ever. Catwoman, Nightwing, and Harley all have tie-ins with this event. I read all of them with my DC Universe App and I gotta say they all kind of suck; plus they focus more on their own stories rather than the actual Fear State. The fact that they all were needed to flesh out things like there being 2 Poison Ivys or how the Bat-Family takes down the Skybase and then didn't was very disappointing.

[Geoff Mclennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun moments but a little all over the place. One thing that didn’t work for me was that in Future State all of the setups seemed like they had been that way for a long period of time but then in the book everything was very compressed. For example, in Future State it seemed like Batman had been assumed dead for quite awhile but it’s less than a full issue in Fear State. I think part of the problem was that they had already told those stories in Future State so it would have been anti climactic to rehash them but it made everything feel very fast.

The art was fantastic.

[Chris Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear State is the grand finale to James Tynion IV’s Batman run. I did read the Batman volume when it came out but it was missing the start and end of the story so I waited for this to come out to write a review.

Fear State sees Gotham plunged into chaos and fear by the Scarecrow as part of a plan to push Gotham to its absolute limit to prove people are better once they’ve faced their own fears. Scarecrow’s plan has only been made possible by the actions of Simon Saint and his Magistrate Programme and now Saint is desperately trying to clear up his mess as Peacekeeper-01 goes on a Scarecrow-fuelled rampage, and Saint’s scapegoats The Unsanity Collective seek refuge underground with Poison Ivy. Batman is caught in the middle of all this chaos, trying to hold Gotham together.

Tynion’s Batman run has relied heavily on new original characters and Fear State is really the story of those characters. Batman’s sidekicks do appear but mostly only briefly. Harley Quinn goes off to complete her part of the story predominantly in tie-ins. Scarecrow doesn’t actually get much focus for the middle part of the section. Fear State instead focuses on Sean Mahoney, Miracle Molly, Simon Saint, Ghostmaker, The Gardener and of course Batman. This book even includes three Secret Files issues to dive into the origins of The Gardener, Miracle Molly and Peacekeeper-01 in detail.

It will be interesting to see how many if any of Tynion’s creations survive him now he’s moving on. Simon Saint is a fairly generic evil businessman really and I can’t say I’m desperate to see more of him. The Gardener is a weird character I still don’t entirely understand, but the secret files gave us some context for her.

I’ve found myself enjoying Ghostmaker much more than I expected, his relationship with Batman is refreshing and cute. At the end of the book, he takes other Tynion creation Clownhunter under his wing. I’ve not minded Clownhunter so seeing that combo together could prove interesting.

Miracle Molly gives us insight into the Unsanity Collective and I found her origin interesting to explore but I didn’t entirely click with it. I started to have horrific Harper Row flashbacks at times in the middle of the book when Molly seemed to be perfect and amazing at everything. But then I warmed to her again by the end as I really liked her ending. Her final position leaves her open to return as an ally or an enemy. Bruce’s speech to her at the end is my favourite part of the book and gave me chills.

Peacekeeper-01/Sean Mahoney is the main antagonist really, even if Scarecrow is pulling the strings for most of it. The Secret Files provided useful context for his history. For most of the story, he’s Scarecrow’s puppet and I struggled to care. But there’s real weight to the moment when he shoots Scarecrow and finally takes on Batman as himself. I loved that fight, and the weight of Future State weighed on it. Having seen the world if Mahoney won that fight, it felt like a really important moment and Batman’s victory was that much more satisfying.

Most of the story sees Batman and the Magistrate running around Gotham almost aimlessly. It’s mindlessly entertaining but not brilliant. The strength of the story is its ending. Fear State delivers the punch the air moments we needed at the end - the Harley-Ivy kiss, the Bat-Signal in the sky as a symbol of hope, etc. - but also manages to give each character a satisfying ending for Tynion’s run while leaving them available for new writers to pick up and use.

The Poison Ivy plot felt detached from the rest of the story and significantly relied on tie ins that aren’t collected here (Catwoman I think), but seeing Harley and Ivy reunited at the end warmed my heart and I loved the kiss. DC doesn’t chicken out on what their relationship is here.

Scarecrow is very well written and I enjoyed him a lot. There wasn’t as much of him as you’d expect since the focus was on Mahoney and the Magistrate. But he still is the driving force of the story and I really liked Tynion’s take on the character. The last issue tying up all the loose ends focused on Batman and Scarecrow together and I enjoyed that a lot.

Overall, Fear State is not the best story Tynion has ever written but is enjoyable throughout and delivers a satisfying ending. I had hoped for more from Tynion’s Batman run narrative-wise but I felt the character work has been consistently strong and Tynion has created some memorable new characters like Ghostmaker and Punchline. Fear State leaves Batman ready for a new status quo and I’m interested to see where we’re headed next.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. Feels like I read this one before. Maybe it reminded me of The Joker War? Or City of Bane?
Either one.
Fear State reads like one of many (one after the other after the other) big baddie events that try to destroy Gotham. (+ the introduction of Peacekeeper-01; the "enlightened" Batman-hating anti-hero.)

Even Ghost-Maker says it in #113!
Ghost-Maker to Batman: "You know, it's remarkable! From the outside looking in, it seemed like every other month in Gotham there was some outrageous thing happening. But I just assumed it felt different on the ground. That it'd become ordinary after a time. But it really does just keep going and going."

I'm not sure what I didn't love. Maybe it was that Simon Saint, the architect of this whole fiasco, was barely present in his own story. Or maybe it was Peacekeeper-01, himself. This story had Scarecrow in it, I don't think this book needed to introduce another Batman villain into the lineup. This story could have been a lot stronger (and a lot scarier for Gotham) had Scarecrow poisoned all the peacekeepers, not just Sean Mahoney.

Anyway, I did appreciate this volume's inclusion of Batman: Fear State: Alpha #1 and Batman: Fear State: Omega #1. And even though I hated on Mahoney above, I did like Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 #1. It brought me back to a lot of the OG Batman I like, with crooked cops and Gotham corruption. It had good character writing from Ed Brisson and pretty art.

Batman: Fear State: Alpha #1 by Tynion, had beautiful art by Riccardo Federici, and colors by Chris Sotomayor. Obviously, Saint is an idiot for trusting Crane to begin with, but I was really unclear whether he was faking the panic or was actually panicked when Peacekeeper-01 went AWOL. I thought maybe that had been part of his plan? Becuse he couldn't have been that stupid to fully trust Scarecrow, and get immediately betrayed, right? But, no. He really just was that stupid.
Oracle's corruption was so frustrating & well done. And the Unsanity collective in Ivy's underground garden was eh, ok. I thought that whole plot-line added to the book's business in a negative way.

LOVED the art & colors in Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 #1 by Ed Brisson. Art by Joshua Hixson and colors by Roman Stevens. And I enjoyed the story of not-a-great-guy Sean Mahoney and his crooked father. Good character writing in one issue.

Batman Secret Files: Mirical Molly #1, was interesting. I did not like the art & colors by Dani and Lee Loughridge. And while I appreciate Mary being unhappy and unfulfilled in her life that fact that she doesn't talk to her husband and just lays underneath him, unhappy, during sex (multiple panels of that) is just wild. And kind of cowardly, when she runs away. (Ok, she does accidentally kill her ex-boss, and probably needs to skedaddle...) But I am not impressed with the idea of erasing one's past.

And while the art & colors by Christian Ward in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1 were gorgeous (stunning!), I was like, who is this person? lol The book is so busy as it is. The pause for Gardener's story felt ill-placed and while the reveal of the second/separate Ivy was relevant to the plot, I didn't love this mini story's inclusion in the saga.

I don't have much to say outside of what I wrote above for Batman, issues 112-117. This story felt like just another big bad event after the last 10 big bad events. Chaotic and busy, with too many characters and introductions, and no real focus on Batman. :(
The story ends with Mahoney escaping, of course. ...Ready to pop in at another time in another run... And Batman and Scarecrow have a weird/interesting conversation at the end. Feels like it was geared toward a progressive Gen Z readership. Am I reading too far into that?
And at the very very end, Ghost-Maker takes Clownhunter (Bao) under his wing.

All-in-all, 3 stars.

P.s. 5 stars for Cass getting the drop on Batman in #112! ;)

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for which book(s) to read as part of the Fear State crossover or how to finish up Tynion’s Batman run, this is the book you want. This collection contains all of the issues collected in Batman volume 5, Fear State, along with some very strong tie in issues and the crucial Alpha/Omega end caps. And it’s worth the extra few bucks.

Fear State feels like a much more cohesive and coherent event and like a more impactful ending to Tynion’s run when read in this collection. I have struggled with his Batman run up to this point. It felt like he was throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see what would stick, but I give him credit for trying to add new characters to the Batman cast. It may have just been a bad time to do so, because the Bat family already feels too bloated.

His run ends with a bang here though. Tynion knows how to make a book feel big and knows how to stick a landing, even with the run ending earlier than originally planned. The tie in issues about the Gardener and Miracle Molly are arguably the best in his whole run, perhaps showing how Tynion’s strengths may be with more focused books with smaller casts.

Either way, the stand out part of this book is the artwork. Tynion has been playing to Jimenez’s strengths this run, for better or worse, and here it’s for the better. This is one of the better looking super hero comics I have read. Shout out to Tomeu Morey for making the art somehow even more bombastic with his hypersaturated colors and intense rendering. The art on this book gives Pepe Larraz, RB Silva, and Marte Gracia’s art on HoXPoX a run for its money. But it’s not just Jimenez in this collection. The end caps are illustrated by Richard Frederici, one of the most talented draftsmen in the industry. The Gardener tie in is illustrated by Christian Ward, and it’s some of his best work. Perhaps my favorite art in the book actually ends up being Dani’s work in the Miracle Molly issue. She’s become one of my favorite comic artists in the last year. She’s the successor to Frank Miller and Tim Sale, and she’s quite prolific.

[Daniel Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 This book is the definitive collection of the final arc for Tynion’s Batman run and includes integral character origins and motives, as well as a nice prologue and epilogue to the storyline. While I really enjoy Tynion’s writing on Detective Comics, JL Dark, and his indie work, his Batman run has been very hit or miss. There’s definitely some fantastic and fresh ideas, but it can sometimes feel too rushed or jumbled to make a completely satisfying story that is worth revisiting.
One incredible highlight of Tynion’s run has been Jorge Jiménez’s art, which is absolutely stunning. Jiménez has a very kinetic style, which he gets to showcase during several beautifully illustrated action sequences. His design for Scarecrow was very solid and it was exciting to have Tynion utilizing the villain in a psychological manner. However, I also think Jiménez’s abilities weren’t fully utilized, because there are many scenes of characters sitting, talking, and exposition-dumping. I also want to give a shout-out to Tomeu Morey’s wonderful coloring. His colors perfectly accentuate Jiménez’s detailed pencils and can be a joy to pore over.
In conclusion, I think this “Saga” collection is the preferred method of reading this conclusion arc, because it features extra stories that provide more detail and expansion of the world, but overall I can’t see myself returning to this book or Tynion’s run any time soon.

[Ricky Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Batman: Fear State Saga" is a compelling dive into the darker, psychological aspects of Batman's world. Written by James Tynion IV, this saga expertly balances intense action with deep character development. The story explores fear as both a weapon and a psychological state, with the Scarecrow manipulating fear to new heights. Batman, portrayed with vulnerability and resilience, faces his own fears, making him more relatable.

Supporting characters like Oracle, Nightwing, Robin, and Batwoman add richness to the narrative, each contributing unique strengths. Newcomer Miracle Molly offers fresh perspectives on fear and control, challenging Batman's methods. Jorge Jiménez's stunning artwork captures Gotham's gritty essence and emotional intensity, enhancing the narrative.

"Fear State" also reflects on fear's impact on society, making it both entertaining and thought-provoking. However, the complex plot can sometimes feel overwhelming, and the darker tone might be heavy for some readers. Despite these minor issues, the saga is a triumph in storytelling, combining action, suspense, and psychological depth.

"Batman: Fear State Saga" is a must-read for fans seeking a nuanced, character-driven story. It reminds us that true heroism lies in facing our deepest fears.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading several things that tied into this story, whether that be by forming characters motives like Poison Ivy Vol. 1 I read earlier this year, or a collection of actual tie in stories like Batman Urban Legends Vol. 2, I expected this story to be… bigger than it was.

But thankfully I still wasn’t let down by reading it. Though the extra tie in issues in this edition may have helped build the story for me than if I had read just the Batman comics. While they flowed well, it did help that I had the extra stuff in my head from other books.

I could easily see an omnibus that collects all those extra Fear State tie ins as well. But I can also see that it might be a bit more of a slog to read through then.

And I must say I was a little confused as to what happened in this universe prior to the story but that’s what you get by just jumping into a random story but the advantage of this story is that it’s interesting enough to want to complete it despite may not knowing a lot about where the characters are in their lives.

[Dave Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

As superhero action goes, Fear State delivers enough excitement and plot developments to be an enjoyable read. Yet there's something about what I've read of Tynion's run on Batman that has never clicked for me. I greatly appreciated his Rebirth run on Detective Comics, as well as when he helmed Justice League Dark, but I don't find the same magic here.

By no fault of the creative team behind this collection, I think it is borderline necessary to have read the preceding volume of Batman (which I have not) to know who all the players are and what set the stage for the Fear State to take hold. The one-shots go a long way toward defining who all the new characters are, and the heart of Scarecrow's plan gets explained more than once. Nevertheless, I kept having the nagging sense that I'd missed something important. Having said all that, I still liked this story and might read it again someday should I endeavor to read Tynion's Batman from beginning to end.

[Clay Bartel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe James Tynion is one of the great modern DC writers and a series I can really recommend is his Justice League Dark, it's fantastic... unfortunately Fear State Saga is just kindof okay with a few bright spots and then some really dull stuff... unfortunate.

I'd nearly collected this in monthly issues but then decided to wait for the collected edition.

By far the best thing in this series is Miracle Molly and her one shot story which focuses entirely on her origin.

I can't say why this didn't excitement... it's not horrible by any stretch either. I just focused on reading a lot of other books first and always saw this as my last go to Book when reading time came every day.

Another plus is scarecrows redesign. It's fantastic.

Art is dark and moody and different artists handle different sections to great effect.

This is just a 3 star book for me. I wouldn't revisit it.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how they're evolving Bats away from purely right and wrong, it must be this way, to allow some nuance. But it's hard to see where it ends unless he eventually concerts everyone (which will of course never happen.)

I liked Molly, the inclusion of Ivy felt wasted, she's, to me, the most perpetual non-character because of what they've done with her power levels. She's almost evolved beyond Bat titles or needs to become a comedy character like Harley.

I don't like the art, the weird MGS style attention marks are off putting an not needed.

I hope the back away from further big stories, go street level/detective style and let absolute deal with the (admittedly cool) OTT stuff, but let's see.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Batman issues #112-117; Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1; Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 #1; Batman Secret Files: Miracle Molly #1; Batman: Fear State: Alpha #1; Batman: Fear State: Omega #1

This collection continues the story that was started in "Batman: The Cowardly Lot." Scarecrow has put Gotham City into a state of fear and chaos, while at the same time, shades of "Future State" are happening in the present day. This expanded collection features solo stories diving deeper into the motivation of some of the key players in "Fear State."

I'm torn between a 3.5-star rating and a 4-star rating, so I'll round up for this one.