By Tony Daniel (writer and artist), Sandu Florea (inks), Ian Hannin (color), Mike Marts (editor)
The Story: Life After Death, Part 3: Someone is sparking a gang war in Gotham. The Penguin is taking the brunt of it while Dick Grayson races to stop it from spinning out of control. In the meantime, after the shooting of his informant last issue, the kiss with Huntress and the uneasy fit of Batman’s cowl all make this mission very personal.
What’s Good: Daniels is keeping the pressure up on poor Dick. Not only is Gotham’s underworld splitting at the seams, with Commissioner Gordon, Oracle and the Huntress looking to Batman for guidance, but the serious attitude he gets from his new ward Damian never stops, one of his best friends (Oracle) won’t see him because another one of his best friends (Huntress) kissed him pretty hard “in the line of duty.” When you add to that Dick’s feelings of responsibility for a boy who got shot, stuff going south at Arkham, and an unsettling link between some murders at Gene-Corp and the substitute Bruce Wayne, I don’t know how Dick gets up in the morning. But, that’s why Dick is a hero: he possesses the relentless endurance and character to face overwhelming odds. Nice character work, Mr. Daniels!
Daniels also delivers some great art for this issue. It’s dark and moody, reflecting the world (psychological, geographic and sociological) around Dick. Daniels draws a vile Penguin, an angry, driven Batman, heartless killers, scary sociopaths, a resentful, arrogant sidekick and sympathetic friends (the Huntress and Alfred). In addition to his fine work on mood and emotion, Daniel’s action scenes are clear and evocative. Check out Dick swinging through the rain on panel 3 of page 9 and then the Bladerunner-esque cityscape in the next panel. Or, if you prefer an edgy Batman-style interrogation, look at his “conversation” with the Penguin on pages 2-4.
What’s Not So Good: Even though I read this series, Batman and Robin, Detective Comic, and Batgirl, I’m having a bit of a time keeping all the pieces straight. Gotham is supposed to have a hard-boiled, noir tone, and some classic hard-boiled writers let the chaos of the unfolding circumstances be part of the feel. Daniels may be making a stylistic choice (or bat-editor Mike Marts may be making an editorial choice) to keep us guessing in the chaos, but guessing in the dark of Gotham can be hard. This isn’t a big enough point to drop the grading yet, but in the end, a reader should be able to put down a well-written story and say “This is what happened.” I’ll wait until the end of the arc to see if I can do that.
Conclusion: This was a satisfying investment for $2.99. We’re mid-arc, so the emotional punch of the climax isn’t here yet, but Daniels sure has dug the new Batman into a hole, which is right where he should be if the story is good.
Grade: B-
-DS Arsenault
Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Batman, Batman, Batman #694, Batman #694 - Review, Comic Book Reviews, comic books, comic reviews, Comics, DC Comics, Dick Grayson, DS Arsenault, Huntress, Ian Hannin, Life After Death, Mike Marts, Oracle, Penguin, review, Reviews, Robin, Sandu Florea, Tony Daniel, Weekly Comic Book Review
Hey Goeff,
I had a second read and I’m going to stand by my grade on the writing. I didn’t have any trouble (even looking for it on the second read) with Daniels’ dialogue, and in fact, most of the characters had distinct voices (word usage, tone, cadence, etc), which is the mark of someone who is paying attention. On the plotting side, Daniels has us smack in the middle of Act 2 and so he’s making things crappy for Dick. Only on the character side do I have some worries. I didn’t totally buy Dick’s sudden guilty interest in Baby D last issue, but I sucked it up with suspension of disbelief. Dick’s musings on Baby D and the scholarship got a bit saccharine, but again, that was only one page. In the meantime, I loved watching Dick outsmart Damian and the overt (Oracle) and subsurface (Huntress) tension he had with the bat-ladies.
All that being said, I am eager to learn and totally willing to be convinced to a different point of view, so let me know what parts of the Daniels’ writing didn’t work for you!
DS
Hey Goeff!
I vacillated between giving this a B- and a C+. I’ll reread the issue today and get back to you. Stay tuned and thanks for the comment!
DS
DS my friend,
I think you’re being a touch too soft on this. This issue was so bad I wondered if English was Tony Daniel’s second language. I NEVER do this, but I might just skip buying this book until Daniels stops writing it.