The issue kind of clears up which Batman managed to climb out of the pit. Now Thomas Wayne sits atop Gotham, the new vigilante of which the new city Commissioner, Hugo Strange requires, regardless of the stellar work of his detectives Joker and Riddler. This is a new Gotham, a Gotham of which belongs squarely to Bane. But where is Bruce?
Tom King’s writing has been building to this. His Batman has finally been broken, again. Though this time it is his very soul, the very reason for being Batman that lies tattered. King has been putting Bruce through the ringer in a way that is reminiscent of the classic Knightfall story, albeit the element that is broken is quite different. King has fun getting to change up Gotham with a few surprises thrown in, on top of Bruce’s newest quest. The dialogue is interesting enough, though this isn’t the first time that we have had an alternative Batman; we even had Bat-Bane at one point! As with most “transient” changes, there is a risk of the change over staying it’s welcome. We are down to the last ten issues of King’s run and this could be seen as his tour de force, prior to next years Batman and Catwoman maxi series.
Tony S. Daniel is an artist that seems to garner some grief for whatever reason. I for one have no idea why. As much as a I like Mikel Janin’s line work, it sometimes feels like the characters are not a part of the panel and can appear a tad wooden. Daniel’s art on the other hand, is all about the characters involvement within the scenes. The clean lines are fantastic which gives this issue a very polished feel; that is until you hit the last few pages with art supplied by Mitch Gerads. The difference between the two is startling; Daniel is all clean, smooth lines, whereas Gerads is all about block characters and super heavy inks and colors. With Gerads providing his colors, it is left to Tomeu Morey to add the colors over Daniel’s art. Letters are supplied by the fantastic Clayton Cowles, who gets to mix up fonts for the various characters.
For many, Tom King’s Batman run has been hit and miss. You could say that this is more true than not, especially as a recent issue of Batman was basically a recap of the run to date. Perhaps fearing the backlash of Heroes in Crisis, the structure of the last few issues of this book has returned to a start, middle and end format that I credit editor Jame S.Rich for, giving each arc a feeling of resolution, regardless of the larger story.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art (Daniel) – 5 Stars
Art – (Gerad) -3 Star
Colors (Morey) – 5 Stars
Colors (Gerads) – 3 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Tom King
Art by; Tony S. Daniel & Mitch Gerads
Colors by; Tomeu Morey & Mitch Gerads
Letters by; Clayton Cowles
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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