Batman #112
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBatman #112 is the opening chapter of 'Fear State,' James Tynion IV's culminating Batman event, which had been seeded across his entire run stretching back to Infinite Frontier #0. The issue delivers the first full appearance of Peacekeeper-X — the costumed identity of Ricardo Huertas, Simon Saint's former personal assistant — making it a key character-debut issue within Tynion's ambitious project of introducing a wave of new Gotham figures to the DC Universe. It also dramatizes one of the most narratively high-stakes conceits of the arc: an Anti-Oracle spreading disinformation across Gotham's communications network, a direct inversion of Barbara Gordon's role that gave the event a distinctive social-media-age horror flavor. As the first of six core Batman issues collected in the Fear State trade paperback, it anchors one of the defining Batman storylines of DC's Infinite Frontier era.
In "Fear State Part 1," Batman emerges from Scarecrow’s latest nightmare, his mind fractured by fear, as Gotham descends into chaos under Simon Saint’s Magistrate program. While Saint broadcasts promises of safety, he secretly hunts a delusional Peacekeeper-01 warped by the same fear gas that now haunts Batman. Reuniting with Oracle, Cassandra, and Stephanie, Batman begins to piece together the scale of Scarecrow’s psychological campaign—just as Harley Quinn and the Gardener prepare their own plan to restore Ivy to herself.
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Tynion IV had openly discussed his philosophy of character creation as a creative and commercial strategy, acknowledging in his newsletter that meaningful new character introductions in the Bat-books had been rare since Scott Snyder's Court of Owls in the New 52. Batman #112 was the payoff of a plan he described as over a year in the making, set in motion as far back as Infinite Frontier #0. The issue featured a dual creative structure: Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez on the 22-page lead story (with Tomeu Morey on colors and Clayton Cowles on letters, edited by Ben Abernathy), and Brandon Thomas with artist Jason Howard on the Clownhunter backup — the first installment of a three-part sub-story titled 'DIY.' It was Tynion's penultimate act on the title before departing DC for his own Substack-based projects.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Peacekeeper-X as a costumed identity: Ricardo Huertas, Simon Saint's former personal assistant, is transformed into Peacekeeper-X on Saint's Skybase-01 and assigned to hunt down the fear-toxin-infected Peacekeeper-01 (Sean Mahoney).
- Ricardo Huertas had previously appeared in Batman #106 as a civilian character; Batman #112 marks his debut in the Peacekeeper-X role.
- The issue is officially 'Fear State, Part 1' — the opening chapter of the Batman-line crossover event, and the 8th of 31 issues in the broader Fear State story as tracked by League of Comic Geeks.
- Main story by James Tynion IV (writer), Jorge Jimenez (artist), Tomeu Morey (colorist), and Clayton Cowles (letterer); backup story 'DIY, Part 1 of 3' by Brandon Thomas (writer) and Jason Howard (artist).
- The issue introduces the Anti-Oracle concept: an unknown agent ('Seer') has hacked Barbara Gordon's network and is impersonating Oracle to broadcast false news — including a report that Batman is dead — in order to amplify city-wide fear.
- Batman, still compromised by Scarecrow's fear toxin, regroups with Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and Batgirl (Stephanie Brown/Spoiler) at the Clock Tower, while Ghost-Maker coordinates from beneath Gotham with Harley Quinn and the Gardener.
- The events of the main story are set twelve hours after the conclusion of the one-shot Batman: Fear State: Alpha #1, according to Barbara Gordon's in-story dialogue.
- Batman #112–117 were collected in the Batman Vol. 5: Fear State trade paperback (ISBN 9781779514301), the final arc-collection of Tynion IV's run on the series.
Cast · 21 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Batman Special Edition (FCBD) #1 (2021), Batman #7 (2022), Batman #5 (2022), Batman #65 (7) (2022), Batman: Fear State Saga #[nn] (2022), Batman #62 (2022), Batman: Fear State Saga #[nn] (2023), Batman #5 (2024)
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