Batman: Fortress #7 starts right where we left off in issue #6 – with a literal cliffhanger. Batman is falling into a giant chasm and with Lex Luthor’s suit out of power and D’yal’s lantern ring out of juice, it’s up to Emoki Queen, Red Arrow, to save the day. She does it the only way she knows how: by shooting an arrow right into Batman’s shoulder and pulling him up. This whole time in the Fortress is giving big Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone vibes. Just like Harry, Ron and Hermione trying to get through the obstacles placed by Hogwart’s professors, our ragtag group of heroes and hero adjacents is trying to get through to find some hint of Superman’s whereabouts – or the technology to defeat this alien invasion.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Batman: Fortress #7!
Credit: DC Comics
The next obstacle facing the group is a locked room slowly filling with water. Though we’ve seen this same situation about a million times in all forms of media, the solution to the problem is definitely novel. Jackson returns from the cocoon he was trapped in and simply turns the water into steam. Super easy, barely an inconvenience for him. There is a nice sequence of two panels where our protagonists are floating in the water-filled room as black silhouettes and in the next panel they are suspended in wispy steam, almost in the exact same position as the previous panel. It’s a great way of conveying the sudden nature of their rescue.
The last obstacle is a room full of doorways into phantom zones, with only one of them leading to their final destination. On top of that, we’ve got a guard dog. No, not a three headed dog named Fluffy, it’s Krypto! With the help of some bacon jerky (that utility belt really does have everything, doesn’t it?) our interloping friends are able to reach the Fortress proper.
We learn through a giant hologram of Jor-El that Krypton wasn’t the peaceful paradise that Superman made it out to be. It turns out that Superman is actually descended from a family of war criminals. Of course Lex sees this as an opportunity to damage the reputation of Superman. Batman argues that the past isn’t what determines who we are as humans – or Kryptonians. The issue ends abruptly when we learn where Superman has been this whole time.
Credit: DC Comics
The artwork throughout the issue is stellar. The facial expressions that Robertson draws, especially those of Lex Luthor, really convey the emotions and stakes of this mission. Though the methods of escaping from each section of the Fortress may seem a bit contrived, I think they still work well enough. We know from previous issues that this creative team isn’t afraid of sidelining or even killing characters. Whether or not that extends to Batman, though, is questionable. I also enjoyed that the whole team is back together. Jackson escaped from the cocoon and D’yal was able to charge his lantern ring. I’m hoping this will make for an exciting final issue.
It was nice to see Batman’s defense of Superman from Lex Luthor’s disingenuous attacks on his character. It really shows the strong bond that makes these two the World’s Finest. The debate could have been more interesting if Jackson and Emoki didn’t both side with Batman, it would have been more compelling to see nuance in the discussion and maybe one of them actually siding with Luthor. This issue definitely has me excited for the finale – it’s just too bad we have to wait until January.
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