Weekly Comic Book Review

By Steve Niles (writer), Kelley Jones (art and cover), Michelle Madsen (colors)

The Story: Batman/Bruce Wayne continues his relationship woes with Detective Clarkson. While love is a welcome change in Bruce’s life, it’s distracting him from the job at hand. Midnight continues his reign of terror as he picks off the police officers working his case one by one. Batman’s focus takes a major hit when things get personal –  Midnight sets his sights on Detective Clarkson.

What’s Good: As up and down as this series has been, when it’s up, it’s great. I still think the arc is going to be twice as long as it should be, but that’s something only noticeable on the bad weeks. Very few writers can give Batman lots of dialogue and have it come off sounding great and intimidating. Steve Niles’ version of Batman isn’t one who can, so in this issue Batman is at his best. He doesn’t say much but when he does (especially around Clarkson) it counts.

You think by now I’d be tired of writing “Kelly Jones is awesome.” You’re wrong. When it stops being true, I’ll get tired of it. I promise. I love how quickly the Joker’s face changes in each panel. It’s like moment to moment plastic surgery. Each panel shows a new emotion on almost a new face as if The Joker is feeling each emotion for the first time. It may be the first time on whatever sedative he’s on, but it’s awesome. I think my favorite is his look as Batman’s gag gadget is applied. It’s this odd combination of surprise and joy that Batman’s outdone himself and a slight “tip of the hat” to his adversary.

What’s Not So Good: Whether The Joker is lying or not remains to be seen. But Midnight apparently duping him doesn’t sit right with me. Then again, him working with Midnight in the first place didn’t either. I’m sure that’s mostly my inner Joker fan talking, but it’s still bothersome. Batman’s relationship with Detective Clarkson feels a little forced. No more than two issues ago, she was hitting him, and cursing his name for insinuating that her partner was Midnight. Now they’re all under the mistletoe? It’s not that their chemistry is bad it just feels like the middle chunk where she went from hate to love wasn’t ever shown.

Midnight remains the book’s weakest link. Frankly, he’s too much like The Joker without any of the cool. His sing-songy dialogue is just grating and cliche — not taunting, puzzling, creepy, or crazy.

Conclusion: Since the series has been hit or miss as of late, it’s hard to get too excited about this being a good issue. That inconsistency makes it most frustrating for fans because there’s so much potential that isn’t being capitalized on consistently. Still, Kelly Jones remains a hero and the art of this book should be admired by all.

Grade: C+

-Ben Berger