BATMAN #601
"Turning the Town Red, Part One of Two"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Andy Owens
Colors: Greg Wright & Wildstorm FX
Letters: John Costanza
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Perhaps one of the best moves the various creators on the Batman titles have made when it comes to this "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline is that as it progresses, they're telling other stories as well. Here, Brubaker and company introduce a new villain into the Gotham stable who serves as a nice parallel to the title character. This is some solid storytelling that shows how the Dark Knight is continuing to isolate himself from the world around him.
Key figures in Gotham linked to police and political corruption have started turning up dead... not just dead, but burned to a crisp, and once alerted to the problem by police Commissioner Akins, a weary Batman sets to the task of tracking the firebug down. Meanwhile, Alfred Pennyworth continues to pour over Bruce Wayne's journals and finds that something is amiss with his employer's musings on his other identity.
McDaniel brings his usual angular intensity to bear in this issue, and Owens adds another level of darkness that suits the title character and his city. Wright's mix of bright colors and darker, muted ones reinforces the stark tone of the story and the setting. Though simple, I rather enjoyed the inhuman design McDaniel has come up with for Nicodemus. There's something alien yet plausible to his look.
Though this issue marks the beginning of a short story arc, it's also smack dab in the middle of the "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline. Mind you, it's not hard to pick up on those story elements. However, one aspect of the book will come off as unfamiliar and inaccessible to some readers. Brubaker builds on the discarded journals of Bruce Wayne, an element that stems from Devin Grayson's work on Batman: Gotham Knights. It's not completely confusing, but those who haven't followed Knights might wonder where these journals came from.
There's an interesting parallel that opens the book that stands out as potentially this story arc's greatest strength. The Batman exists because a child vowed to protect people like his parents from nasty people, but Nicodemus shifted his grief onto Gotham City itself and its inherent corrupt nature. It makes Nicodemus something more than a bloodthirsty vigilante with super-powers.
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