Tom King has proven to us issue after issue that he has joined the ranks of the best Bat-scribes of our time. His name will be forever mentioned along with Morrison, Snyder, Miller and Starlin to name just a few of the brilliant writers who have left their mark upon the Dark Knight. King seems to understand the cathartic value of pain, at least as it pertains to Batman, whether that pain present itself in the physical, psychological or emotional form dictates the degree of catharsis. Certainly Batman is still reeling emotionally from a broken heart suffered as a result of his abandoned wedding to Catwoman as he is equally psychologically off-balance by the recent extreme lengths he had to go to, albeit as Bruce Wayne, to save Mister Freeze from being wrongly convicted. In this issue King deals with the conflicting aspects of Batman’s current state by juxtaposing essentially two narratives, one lighter the other extremely dark.
King made his comic book bones on Grayson, co-writing the series with Tim Seeley, so it stands to reason that he has a firm grasp on the character here as Nightwing returns to Gotham out of concern for his friend and mentor, Batman. The chemistry between Nightwing and Batman is the stuff of comic book legend and King nails it. While Batman is understandably a bit more stoic than usual due in large part to his shattered dreams of wedded bliss, Nightwing more than overcompensates with a barrage of flat one liners and less than witty banter. The paradigm seems to shift from a Dynamic Duo of equals to that of a son desperate to soothe an ailing father. As the time-tested team of crime fighters go to work on a D list villain with a penchant for mummies, Nightwing continues to try anything to lighten Batman’s darker than usual mood to no avail.
As complex as this narrative is, the main thrust of the issue is the return of the KGBeast, a villain introduced in the now classic Ten Nights of the Beast arc by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo with amazing cover by the legendary Mike Zeck. Anatoli Knyazev code-named The Beast was a trained assassin in a top-secret cell of the KGB called the Hammer, rumored to have killed well over 200 people, he is easily one of Batman’s most lethal foes. King’s take on the Beast is more grounded in reality doing away with his old S&M style costume and Nacho Libre-like mask in favor of a much more sinister yet mundane appearance, despite the prosthetic arm he could be any guy on-line at the market. I love to see this character return to the pages of Batman and in the capable hands of Tom King, I have always believed the KGBeast to be an underused villain so to see him as an instrumental player in such a provocative story is a major treat. The long reaching ramifications of Anatoli’s business in Gotham remain to be seen, as well as who sent him, Bane? I’m sure King will not disappoint as this chilling tale unfolds. One thing is certain and that is Batman has even more pain to deal with, the question is how cathartic is this pain going to be when he comes out the other side of this darkness.
Besides being one heck of a poignant issue, as far as the narrative goes, longtime Batman artist, Tony Daniel turns out one of his all-time best issues visually. Daniel is no stranger to taking on the writing duties himself as he has penned some pretty significant Batman stories including the epic Battle For the Cowl, but arguably his best artistic work has been on the now legendary Grant Morrison run. This issue calls to mine the elements that made his work on that run so great. It’s not only Daniel’s eye-popping, intensely detailed style that works so well in this issue, its his ability to enhance a script through brilliant page design and dynamic staging. Daniel is at the peak of his game as a visual storyteller in this issue, his precise use of bombastic splash pages interspersed with the more complex nine panel grid and more traditional panel layouts working in concert with King’s script creates a symbiosis that enhances the emotional impact of the issue. His character designs are iconic from Commissioner Gordon to Batman in his classic costume, Daniel swings for the fences and connects every time. Danny Miki has risen to the apex of the industry as one of the best inkers working today and that skill is on display in spades on this issue. Miki puts the exclamation point at the end of the visual sentence written by Daniel. The chemistry at work here between these two artists is a thing of beauty to behold. Add Tomeu Morey’s deep understanding of color and you have a perfect creative team, not to mention one heck of a gorgeous comic book.
Overall this is one of Tom King’s most emotionally charged and high stakes stories. King has upped the ante again and I can’t wait to see what happens when he cashes his chips in. So much hangs in the balance after this one folks, Gotham City won’t be the same. 5/5
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Writer- Tom King
Artist- Tony S. Daniel
Inks- Danny Miki
Colors- Tomeu Morey
