Detective Comics #618

"Rite of Passage, Part One: Shadow on the Sun"
writer: Alan Grant
layouts: Norm Breyfogle
finishes: Dick Giordano
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Dennis O'Neil
Batman created by: Bob Kane

grade: D

Could this comic be feeling any more corporate by this point? Everything is a marketed event or a tie-in to a previously successful marketed event in order to boost sales. Frankly, I'm amazed they weren't market testing elements of these storylines to target demographic test groups. First, we got a new Robin who is pure Marty Stu so that every ordinary kid can feel like Robin. Then we got a massive amount of multi-part story arcs, two of which were designed to build up demand for The Penguin ahead of his Batman Returns cinema debut, several more storylines beating to death their connections to Year One, Death in the Family, and the Killing Joke, and now we land in a move so despicably transparent that Marv Wolfman has conveniently left the Bat office just in time to not have to write this stinker.

Tim Drake should be an everyday kid!

Great, but how's it going to work with his being Robin if he's got parents at home?

Let's bump 'em off! Heck, it's pretty much what happened to every other Robin. Let's kill the single aspect of this character that isn't completely generic for the sake of convenience.

It will also help because, if we throw Robin into one of the movies soon, stupid kids rushing out to read the comic won't be able to distinguish the fact that this is a different Robin.


There's simply no integrity in any of this; no actual attempt to create a worthwhile character or storyline. It's all pulling strings to make a buck.

Oh, and the first panel (in which we get our first in-continuity glimpse of the Jason Todd memorial in the Batcave) overtly works to align itself with Dark Knight Returns, the ONE highly profitable Batman storyline of the past five years that DC hasn't excessively worked back into the comic in order to get fanboys screaming louder and shelling out more bucks yet. C'mon. It's just tacky.

SO...we finally meet Tim's parents and learn where the heck they've been all this time, they are the wealthy co-CEOs of some multi-million dollar company that Grant doesn't even bother to name, they fight a lot (I guess that's DC's way of still making Tim's family life relatable even though he's now apparently just as rich as Bruce Wayne and this NEVER came up before ["Oh yeah, Tim Drake. OF COURSE I, Bruce Wayne, would know who your parents are!"]), and just as we meet them, their lives are already conveniently in danger. While absolutely none of this makes any sense (what multi-million dollar company thinks it's a good idea to hire a husband and wife as co-CEOs, and why would they both go on the same business trip when one could easily pull it off while the other overlooks other important business...especially if they hate each other???), perhaps the even greater insult is that, with all this exterior development for Tim Drake and his back story, the kid still has ZERO personality. Who is he other than a stooge who sits, watches what Batman does, and provides just enough ingenuity and rebelliousness to further plot lines?

Really, the only aspect of this issue that doesn't feel like it came down from some execs at Warner (or at least the editor who desperately wanted to please them) is the particulars of HOW the Drake family would be shattered. The Obeah Man is pure Alan Grant,through and through: supernatural character pulled from another culture's mythology and depicted semi-realistically (sans colorful costume), and even he's not a worthwhile addition to this shameless story concept.

So Wolfman is gone, Warner and Denny O'Neil are doing all they can to make more money (apparently, going twice a month in order to get a Batman title on the shelves every frickin' week isn't enough) and support the future of the film franchise, and Alan Grant, once the red-headed stepchild of the Bat Office, has become their new stooge for making all this happen.

It's such a shame. I really don't remember these issues well. In fact, as a kid, I used to think I wasn't particularly smart (or at least not a particularly good reader of comic books) because these damn Batman issues always confused the heck out of me. I used to think it was my fault I had no idea who Tim's parents had been or what his back story was prior to this point, that I couldn't remember what had happened to Harold the Hunchback and why he was no longer working in the Batcave (okay, that hasn't happened yet), or that I truly had no idea what the heck so many of these worthless issues had actually been about even after reading them twice (Year 3 and Batman #450-451 come to mind immediately). This is just a truly lousy era in Batman publication. I wonder if there was ever a time for the franchise that the ratio of stories published to actual worthwhile content was more unbalanced.


plot synopsis:

Tim wants to be Jason Todd because he was just an ordinary kid like him (uh, why? Dick is the one who's been sort of a big brother to him through all of this, as well as the original Robin that he idolized and bonded with in that flashback in Year 3), Bruce and Tim are trying to track down a cyber criminal electronically ripping off banks, there's some Haitian dude worshiping something evil he keeps locked in a cabinet that his son is curious about, we meet the Drakes and learn they are wealthy co-CEOs of a major multi-million dollar company, their plane is hijacked by The Obeah Man, a voodoo crime boss of sorts, the other Haitian dude from earlier on appears to be one of his subordinates(?), he has the pilot of the plane killed in order to send a message to both the Drakes and the readers that bad stuff is about to go down, the news reports the disappearance of their plane, Tim freaks out, Bruce fails to stop the cyber criminal from stealing from Wayne Enterprises and infecting the Bat Computer with a virus, and Tim looks out a window and cries.


Sucky event writing intended to make a buck and brand a property -- plus a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Just flipping brilliant stuff.


[/soapbox]

[vehementdisagreementfromothers]

Batman #452

"Dark Knight, Dark City"
writer: Peter Milligan
pencils: Kieron Dwyer
inks: Dennis Janke
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane

grade: B


Peter Milligan and Keiron Dwyer come on for one story arc, which actually seems better suited for Legends of the Dark Knight than the core Batman title. Perhaps it was intended for LotDK and moved over because the Bat titles were going bi-weekly for the summer and Marv Wolfman had just left. Snagging an already planned three part story arc for the Batman title would have been a logical way of providing enough content and lead time to get a new writer caught up on the summer publishing schedule.

This story makes more sense as a Legends of the Dark Knight adventure both because of the darkness and depth of the story (it almost feels like it's trying to follow Grant Morrison's lead on "Gothic") and because it really isn't watching continuity at all. After all, Secret Origins Special #1, published just a year earlier, redefined the post-Crisis Riddler as a relatively light-hearted criminal who longed for the good old days of campy super criminals and detested the idea of the Rogues Gallery committing senseless acts of murder, and yet that's EXACTLY the kind of villain he is here, going so far as to toss a live baby in front of the Batmobile as Batman pursued him.

Additionally, there's zero mention of Tim Drake in this storyline, nor do the Batman and Detective issues reference each other at all for the duration of this storyline. Generally speaking, O'Neil had been working to tighten up inter-title continuity over the past few months. This storyline just doesn't fit that picture.

Perhaps more important to discuss is how this storyline serves as an inspiration to, and template for, Grant Morrison when he returns to Batman two decades later. The concept of Gotham having its own personality, and intertwining its past and the symbolism of Batman's identity in a secret history of devil worship absolutely informs so much of Morrison's later Batman work. Funny then; this story seems inspired by Morrison's work on Batman in 1990 and goes on to inspire Morrison's work on Batman circa 2010-2011.

And yet, as much as I detest Morrison, I remain undecided on what Milligan is doing here. It's an abrupt shift in the Batman mythos, but it may be an appropriate one, it doesn't attempt to put on unnecessary airs with the reader, and (most importantly) I think it characterizes Batman well, whereas Morrison didn't appear to understand the character at all. This Batman is methodical and menacing, but also human and doubting deep inside -- a nice balance between Miller's terrifying sociopath and Wolfman's thinking/feeling/human approach. I particularly enjoyed these lines as Batman attempts to avert running over the aforementioned infant the Riddler has placed in his path:

"The car comes to a halt. I hold my breath. I'd felt the bump. The sickening bump, something scraping under the car.

Try to shake from my mind the picture. Soft baby flesh, sharp metal, tarmac...

Then I hear a cry. A single cry.

A single, beautiful, wonderful CRY...

And I'd feel like crying myself...

If I hadn't stopped crying years ago."


Fantastic stuff.


Really, my only complaint with this issue (and it's a danger with any Riddler story) is that the riddles are too simple. They're presented as being tough -- Gordon can't solve them, and even Batman needs Alfred's help to figure out one of them -- but they really really aren't hard. I solved them just as quickly as Batman did and, in the case of that last one that required Alfred's help, I solved it faster.

Better this than riddles that are too vague or whose solutions make no sense, but, if you're going to write the Riddler, the riddles make or break the story, just as Wolfman's terrible jokes broke his Joker imposter story.


So I'm unsure what to make of this yet. One thing's for sure, giving Gotham a secret history of devil/bat worshippers and having a zombie rise from the grave at the end of this story, and setting this all in regular continuity, is a pretty ballsy move. Can we expect this to have a meaningful impact upon the Bat franchise from hereon out (aside from Morrison two decades from now), or will this be the kind of stuff that O'Neil and later writers politely ignore and toss into the corner as some out there take on Batman that didn't quite fit? I'm suspecting the latter.


Minor Details:

- Dwyer is the first penciler to adopt Norm Breyfogle's awesome Batmobile. All other recent pencilers, most notably Jim Aparo and George Perez, have taken a more traditional/conventional approach in depicting Batman's vehicle.

- If the Riddler is so knowledgeable, how does he make the common mistake of misinterpreting the line "Wherefore art thou, Romeo" (or, in this case, "Batman") as meaning "where are you?" It means "WHY are you Romeo?", and Riddler would know that, even if Milligan does not. Again, don't write a Riddler story if you're not willing to do put in the thought, effort, and research to write him and his riddles authentically.


Plot synopsis in one sentence:

We're presented with excerpts from the journal of a member of a secret devil worshipping cult, writing in 1793 about his experiences thirty years earlier, in which he and several others (including Thomas Jefferson) attempted to enslave a Bat demon and failed, we're providing with an internal monologue by Gotham City itself, the Riddler leads Batman through a series of seemingly unconnected and purposeless, yet savage and murderous riddles, completely contradicting his previous characterization in Secret Origins Special #1, the Riddler still has three kidnapped babies that Batman needs to get back, and he follows a clue to Gotham Cemetery, where a zombie appears to rise up from the ground, reaching for him.

Batman #453

"Dark Knight, Dark City, Part II"
writer: Peter Milligan
pencils: Kieron Dwyer
inks: Dennis Janke
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane

grade: B

Milligan back-peddles a little bit in this issue to make the more drastic of his changes work. I wonder if this was O'Neil actually getting involved as an editor, or a misdirection and subsequent explanation that's been intended all along.

At any rate:

- It's now clearly and repeatedly established throughout this issue that Riddler has been acting out of character. He's been different ever since he found "that book."

- The supernatural is not running wild after all. The "zombies" seen at the end of the last issue were sophisticated robots and a guy in make-up.


So now we have a story that can work in the regular Batman continuity, even if it's still suspiciously ignoring the super important events occurring simultaneously in Detective right now.


And it's surprising just how much this storyline continues to resemble "Gothic". We've got a devil worshipping cult, as well as an emphasis on the former locations of centuries-old structures, and finally a clear connection between all this and the death of the Waynes, as well as Batman's very creation. It really feels like a do-ever of "Gothic," only not trying quite as hard to be deep.

The writing continues to be strong, and Dwyer steps it up quite a bit for this issue (though he apparently cannot draw pitbulls), but the decompression is becoming frustrating. Two thirds through this story arc and there still isn't much of a plot at all -- just Batman being put through the ringer. That being said, I'm glad to see the Riddler providing hints that are less clear/obvious this time around.

My one real problem with this issue -- Batman repeatedly being stopped by Riddler threatening the life of a baby. I get why this is a dilemma, but perhaps it's too real a logistical problem to belong in a comic book. How could any hero EVER be effective if truly murderous villains knew they could do this? Just hit up an orphanage on your way to the bank heist and you're home free -- every time.


Minor Details:

- I love Dwyer's depiction of how the old farm where the summoning/sacrifice were attempted gradually evolved into Crime Alley. Interesting contrast having Wayne Manor on the next page, lit similarly, and facing back at the previous page. In that Wayne Manor panel, Bruce even refers to "the ghosts there" fortifying him as if a spiritual war is being waged through physical spaces.

- Batman visits a bar called "Millikens." Is this an homage to an old business in Milligan's family, or maybe just him having fun?


plot synopsis in one sentence: The zombies weren't real zombies, EVERYONE is commenting on how noticeably the Riddler has changed, Batman figures out that the Riddler is keeping him alive for a reason, the Riddler is apparently possessed by the daemon from the flashback (or perhaps Satan himself) and is apparently tricking Batman into taking part in the sacrificial preparations (tricking him into using a ceremonial knife first to kill a dog and later to cut an innocent baby), we learn the flawed summoning/sacrifice from last issue occurred where Crime Alley now stands, and Batman realizes there's some connection between what the Riddler is doing and the death of his parents.

Batman #454

"Dark Knight, Dark City, Part III"
writer: Peter Miligan
pencils: Keiron Dwyer
inks: Dennis Janke
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
assoc. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane

grade: A-

An interesting solution to an interesting story. Like Grant Morrison's "Gothic" (and, in fact, like everything Grant Morrison writes) this story creates an elaborate and incredible mystery that seems too impossible to resolve well, and, in fact, it doesn't, but it still comes out better than "Gothic." No, there are no easy solutions and wrap-ups this time; no greater understanding of how Gotham can be a character, what it actually wants, nor what (if anything) we should expect from it now that it and Batman have talked. As I suspected earlier on, this incident will go largely forgotten in the Batman mythos until Grant Morrison resurrects certain aspects of it two decades later.

Still, it was well written, well paced, well characterized, and generally compelling. I can't totally argue with that. The Riddler's plan was brilliant, even if it was easy to see coming, Batman's characterization is rich, especially as he rushes to save the life of baby Michael, and I positively love how Miligan writes Gotham's dialogue (yes, the city talks in this story) while Dwyer's pencils are positively electric in chronicling all that Miligan has envisioned.

It's a GOOD story, even if I still have no idea what the heck Gotham wanted from Batman; what can it now do that it couldn't while it was "trapped" in that cellar, and why would it want its intended sacrifice freed? It doesn't really add up in the end, and maybe there just isn't a satisfying way to resolve a story in which we discover that Gotham is a thinking, feeling demon trapped in a basement.

So, back to TruerToTheCore's point that, though this is some people's favorite Riddler story, it isn't really a Riddler story, I agree and I don't. True, the characterization is intentionally off and disingenuous to the character since he's being possessed at the time, but the ingenuity that drives the plot is all Riddler. For once, instead of using his skills just to toy with Batman, he takes things a step further and uses his wits to manipulate Batman into doing his work for him. It's a VERY creative use of the Riddler in my mind. I can't call this a favorite Riddler story myself because characterization matters greatly to me, and this wasn't The Riddler's characterization, but it was a highly distinct usage of The Riddler's talents.


Minor Details:

- So wait. Stockman's Square burns down. I guess it wasn't Crime Alley afterall. Perhaps the previous chapters were showing that the Waynes were coming from Stockman Square before they were killed? I can't imagine Miligan just burned down Crime Alley, especially as Batman has seemingly no reaction to this occurring.

- Love the little Easter Eggs in the carnival panel on page 6. Is "Who or what is The Ordster?" a dig at Jerry Ordway?

- So let's be clear. We've learned in the past year that The Shaman, Whisper, and the demon that possesses Gotham City ALL directed the events that led to the creation of Batman. Maybe Denny O'Neil should step in and put a moratorium on any other villains being revealed to have secretly steered Batman's fate from day one.

- Fan reaction to all the emphasis on The Penguin as of late has begun pouring into the letter column, and the verdict appears pretty universal -- Penguin sucks. Dan Raspler practically concedes as much in response (""we still think the Penguin is a viable character [albeit probably not as grim as many folks would wish]. and we're still going to play around with him from time to time"). A pretty far cry from O'Neil and Kahn's assertion that Penguin was Batman's #2 villain less than a year ago in this very column, while presumably directed by Warner to build anticipation for the character in the (then) forthcoming Batman Returns movie. Who would have guessed that Warner doesn't always know best when pushing its editors and writers around to fulfill its own marketing goals? Good thing Tim Drake is beginning to work out.


Plot synopsis in one sentence:

Batman rescues the second to last infant by giving it a tracheotomy (as the Riddler had planned), he and Alfred figure out that the Riddler has him on a flight plan shaped like a question mark and ending at Stockman's Square (where we know the satanic sacrifice happened all those centuries earlier), Batman faces off against Riddler's stooge at a carnival and ends up doing acrobatics in front of a horned goat (again, intended by the Riddler), he's abducted and brought to the sacrificial cellar where we learn the Riddler has been possessed into wanting to sacrifice Batman to the demon ever since finding Stockman's journal and that all the clues and manipulating were intended to make Batman perform the rites of preparation before being sacrificed, Gotham itself reveals itself to be the demon, as well as the source of all that is happening, stops Riddler (apparently, it just needed Riddler in order to get Batman in that cellar), implores Batman to free it and the woman who was the original intended sacrifice, and Bruce does so, burying her in the Wayne mausoleum and reflecting on Gotham itself having a hand in his becoming Batman.

The Batman Awards

In honor of this thread's 100th page (*note: this post was originally made at the old classic comics forum, where the page and view counts were different), as well as its soon to occur 100,000th view, as well as the fact that I'm off from work this week, have lots of time on my hands, and miss this thread, here are my reflections on the creative teams that have passed through the Bat franchise since Batman #300.

Best editors

3. Dick Giordano -- Very brief stint. Didn't really do anything, but unlike Levitz and O'Neil, he didn't do any damage either.

2. Julie Schwartz -- He was at the tail end of his career by Batman #300, but he still made the call to bring on Len Wein as writer, and Wein thrived under him.

1. Len Wein -- Best development/growth I've ever seen for Batman. You could tell he really helped to hone the work of both Gerry Conway and Doug Moench on Batman, who both came in doing pretty uneven work and gradually became much stronger, adhering to tight story arcs and intense character development. That a near seamless continuity exists across Batman #307 thru #391 (a span begin by Wein, continued by Conway, and ultimately ended by Moench for Crisis on Infinite Earths) is nothing short of impressive.


Best writers

3. Marv Wolfman -- Two years into the Post-Crisis continuity, Wolfman was the first to really begin establishing the foundations of who the Post-Crisis Batman was. He gave the Post-Crisis Batman, Nightwing and Alfred a consistent voice for the first time, and also gave Bruce Wayne a distinct identity apart from his role as Batman.

2. Gerry Conway -- A master of pacing. His work was positively bi-polar in its uneven quality, but the best of his stories were also some of Batman's very best, especially the Killer Croc storyline.

1. Doug Moench -- His work was far from perfect, but he truly made me care about his characters, from Bruce and Jason Todd to Harvey Bullock and even Nocturna. He made his supporting cast feel as real and familiar as family; even those family members you can't stand yet still feel connected to.


Best pencilers

3. (tie) Gene Colan and Norm Breyfogle -- both brilliant in completely different, yet equally striking ways.

2. David Mazzucchelli -- It's kind of cheating since he only did four issues, but WOW. Year One is a visual materpiece.

1. Don Newton -- His work during Moench's run positively blew my mind.


Best inkers

3. Steve Mitchell

2. Dick Giordano

1. Alfredo Alcala


Best colorists

1. Adrienne Roy. She's completely without peer.


Best covers

3. Todd McFarlane -- I hate the man, but he deserves the praise here.

2. George Perez -- A true master.

1. Mike Mignola -- Death in the Family, Dark Knight, Dark City, and a host of others that brought a new level of stylistic darkness to the Caped Crusader.


Best individual stories

3. Batman #357 -- the death of The Squid. Brilliant usage of perspective and pacing to make us truly care about the death of so forgettable a villain. The fact that it's also Jason Todd's first appearance is really incidental.

2. Batman Annual #11: "Mortal Clay" -- one of the best things Alan Moore has ever written.

1. Detective Comics #556 -- One of the most moving comics I've ever read as the red skies from Crisis on Infinite Earths cause every one of Moench's beloved characters to believe this is the end, especially Bruce, Jason, and Nocturna.


Best story arcs

3. The Haunting of Boss Thorne (Detective #520, Batman #354) -- Majorly compelling series of events, executed with brilliant skill and precision

2. The Killer Croc story arc (Batman #357-359 and Detective #524-526) -- Many brilliant moments, striking visuals, and major developments, both in the criminal underworld and in the introduction of Jason Todd.

1. The Jason Todd custody battle/Nocturna's return/the fall of Mayor Hill (Detective #542-547 and Batman #376-381) -- the core of Doug Moench's run. Reads like a soap opera, only with more heart and better dialogue. Some of the best depictions ever of the relationship between Batman and a Robin.


Creative teams not otherwise mentioned here who deserve serious praise

3. Wagner, Grant, and Breyfogle on Detective (emphasis on the ones with Wagner)

2. Wein, Byrne, and Aparo on Untold Legends of the Batman

1. Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis on Detective Comics

Well here we go: my FIRST new review in this thread since the move to the new site!


Legends of the Dark Knight #11



"Prey, Part One"
writer: Doug Moench
pencils: Paul Gulacy
inks: Terry Austin
letters: John Costanza
colors: Steve Oliff
assistant editor: Kevin Dooley
editor: Andrew Helfer
Batman created by Bob Kane

grade: A+


This is a noteworthy issue for me, both because I'm now an avid fan of the Pre-Crisis Doug Moench run reviewed earlier on in this thread, and because I've never read any of Moench's Post-Crisis work on Batman (other than Knightfall a handful of years before I had any familiarity with his work). Clearly, the way Moench characterized Bruce prior to DKR and Year One wasn't going to fly in these pages. That Pre-Crisis character had a dark side that could become overly isolated and distant, but he also had happy, more well-adjusted sides and generally appeared able to arrive at an inner peace. So how would Moench handle this new Post-Crisis character who, while possessing the outward appearance of the Batman that Moench once spent years directing, is internally completely different?

My mind goes back to Batman #400. Written in the immediate wake of the media blitz caused by Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, Moench suddenly portrayed a Batman who was in serious danger of going over the edge -- extremely dark, unpredictable, and dangerous. Here's an excerpt from my review of that issue:



It seemed, in that single issue, like Moench was either inspired by DKR or at least saw which way the wind was blowing, and decided to make his own mark on this new direction for the character.

Fast forward almost exactly four years, and Moench makes an interesting choice upon returning to Batman after so long away. He doesn't try to return to the old characterization, and he doesn't try to tell some non-continuity original take on the character either (as Helfer originally claimed was the purpose of this title, and as Morrison seemed to be working toward in the previous storyline).

Nope. Moench does something far more ambitious. Just as he saw which way the winds were blowing after DKR and tried to make his own personal contribution to that new direction with Batman #400, he tries once again to embed his own take on the new characterization into mythos by writing what has to be seen as an unofficial Batman: Year One, Part 2, clearly functioning as a sequel to Miller's revamped origin story, taking place only weeks later, outright referencing all that transpired previously, focusing once again on Gordon and Catwoman in parallel to Batman, showing Bruce first building the Batmobile, and even returning to the themes of the original story, including corruption versus virtue and the continuing development of the strange understanding between Batman and Gordon. Heck, Gulacy even utilizes the same cursive writing Mazzuchelli famously employed to depict internal monologues.

All told, it's pretty much the perfect sequel to Year One thus far and, best yet, much as Batman #400 tempered Miller's outrageous depiction of Batman in DKR, this storyline doesn't shrug from the cold obsessiveness Bruce has taken on as Batman in Year One, but works to understand and explain how a fully developed human can be buried beneath that characterization and not just be a one-note caricature of a man on the edge.

There's also the use of Hugo Strange in this story, Batman's original nemesis, employed here as his first major antagonist as well. Though he gets some of the details very wrong, his original analysis of Batman in this chapter seems almost like Moench talking directly to us about how he has come to understand the Post-Crisis Batman:

"Well, psychologically speaking, I should say he is extremely obsessed--and he craves individual power, indicating a paranoid mistrust of others...obsessed with the night, with darkness. Perhaps obsessed with vengeance. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he or a loved one proved to be a victim of crime--a crime committed in darkness. Indeed, the very genesis of this tormented figure might well be traced back to the traumatic events of a single key night...a night that haunts him, and may well haunt him forever."

But, perhaps even more significant than this insightful and poetic take on the Post-Crisis Batman is how Moench and Gulacy choose to depict Bruce in hearing this analysis. Whereas Miller's DKR Batman would sit on the edge of his seat, gritting his teeth in rage in response to this public analysis of his character on TV, and whereas Miller's Year One Batman would likely listen without reaction or emotion -- an emotionally shocked individual because "all sense left me" after the death of his parents, this Batman listens intently and is emotionally vulnerable, almost haunted, in processing Strange's analysis. This Batman can be the emotionless and obsessive Year One Batman when the cowl is on, and he may well become the unhinged DKR Batman in the far future, but when he takes off the cowl, there's still a full and complex human beneath it all -- someone we can relate to and understand emotionally; someone who has the same heart Moench's Pre-Crisis Batman had, only with far more recent memories of his parents' death haunting him, and no Dick Grayson or Jason Todd to help share his pain.

Essentially, if you were a fan of the Rogers/Wein/Conway/Moench Pre-Crisis Batman, Moench found a way to make Miller's Batman on the path to become that Batman.

And if you're a fan of what Miller did with the character and have little taste for what went before, the story is still totally respectful to Miller's work and, in a sense, completes it.

It's a win win.



So, that extra long analysis aside, this story sets a precedent for the title. Whereas O'Neil's "Shaman" storyline was clearly an attempt to get O'Neil's signature on a part of the Post-Crisis Batman's origin story, and whereas Morrison kept the Year One costume seemingly without purpose -- probably because it looked darker, Moench has clearly and consciously made the choice to set his story squarely in the first year of Batman's career. To the best of my knowledge, all LotDK stories after this continue to use the Year One chest emblem and imply that it's still early in Batman's career -- a scope not mentioned when Helfer originally explained the purpose of this title in the first issue letter column. Did Moench begin this trend, or was this story an attempt to uphold a tradition Moench already assumed was in place?


So enough of my ambling on about Moench's return to Batman. You all know I'm a huge Moench geek, and I won't deny the possibility that I'm giving this return too much focus as a result (but it's MY review thread, so 'nyagh! nyagh! nyagh-nyagh-nyagh!' ). Let's talk about the quality of the story itself:

What I like about the writing is how character driven it is. The story is told from four different perspectives (that of Bruce, of Gordon, of Strange, and of a cop out to get Batman), and while we're inclined to root for two of those characters and against the others, Moench gives equal respect to all of them. He paints Bruce and Gordon sympathetically and heroically, but also makes Hugo Strange impressively brilliant and almost lovable in both his cold-hearted self-interest and in his deranged obsession with Batman. In some ways, Strange is more fun to watch than the good guys. And Moench also treats Sgt. Cort, the cop looking to bring Batman down, with tremendous dignity, fairly depicting why any well-meaning non-corrupt cop would feel threatened by a masked vigilante and feel his work was undermining the effectiveness of the force. Classy treatment all around.

Gulacy's art is something else, all together. Terry Austin and Steve Oliff really know what to do with his dynamic layouts, absolutely making the most of the new Baxter paper format with inks and coloring that make the wholesale visual effect nearly as awe-inspiring as Ed Hannigan and John Beatty's work on the "Shaman" storyline. If nothing more, this LotDK title is quickly proving itself as a monthly visual feast.

Perhaps, though, the one unusual (though understandable) choice Gulacy makes with his art that I don't love is that he always depicts Batman very literally -- as a guy in a costume; no subjective artistry to express his darkness nor the fear he inspires, no billowing cape, nor limbs eclipsed in shadows. Instead, Gulacy seems to enjoy focusing on Batman as a well-trained fighter. The martial arts moves Batman uses to take on his opponents are always precise and accurate, devoid of exaggeration and extremes of the human range of motion. I have to think this is a nod to Moench and Gulacy's most famous team-up: Master of Kung-Fu. Surely, it's the standard against which old-time fans would be measuring this work's merits.


So, as a massive fan of Doug Moench who was terrified that this issue would disappoint me (and Moench's work sometimes does), this story exceeded my expectations. If for no other reason than that it provides a particularly well-done sequel to Miller's Year One (and, I would argue, fixes Miller's characterization of Bruce), it's a first chapter worthy of serious respect.

Let's hope Moench can maintain it.


Important Details:

- As an answer to that ambiguous moment in Year One where Gordon may or may not actually see Batman's unmasked face without his glasses on, Moench spends a lot of time suggesting that Gordon understands Batman's history and motives almost intimately (even knowing with certainty that the tragic event that sent Bruce on the path to becoming Batman occurred during childhood), but he only strongly suspects who Batman actually is.


Minor Details:

- In addition to working meticulously in order to have this story carefully follow the events of Year One, Moench throws in a subtle nod to O'Neil's "Shaman" storyline when Strange remarks, "...the tight fit of the costume...its symbolism....it must make him feel hellishly strong...and there's a THRILL in it. A definite DARK thrill...an almost shamanic power releasing all inhibitions."


plot synopsis in one sentence:

Batman decides to intervene when he sees a drug bust about to go badly, a cop on the scene (Sgt. Cort) takes particular offense to this, Dr. Hugo, a noted psychiatrist, appears on a talk show to psychoanalyze Batman and is then recruited by the Mayor to aid the police in taking Batman down, Gordon is appointed to lead a special anti-Batman task force, placing him in a difficult situation, Gordon appoints Sgt. Cort to the task-force, expecting that Cort will be honest but ineffective, Batman has his first run-in with Cort and the officers working under him, we see Catwoman on a robbery but don't yet understand how this relates to the main story, and we see Hugo Strange wearing his own crudely made Batman costume, disturbingly obsessed with his mission to understand Batman and take him down.