|
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #34
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
|
DC Comics
"Tabula Rasa, Part One: Skin Trade"
Writer: Scott Beatty
Pencils: Roger Robinson
Inks: John Floyd
Colors: Gloria Vasquez & Wildstorm FX
Letters: Bill Oakley
Editors: Lysa Hawkins & Matt Idelson
Black & White: "The Delusions of Alfred Pennyworth"
Writer: Danielle Dwyer
Artist: Scott Morse
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Tabula Rasa: I'm a bit torn when it comes to Beatty's plots for this new story arc. On the one hand, he comes up with a novel, if outlandish, new gimmick for a villain, and he makes her a sympathetic figure. And then there's the Batman/Bane connection. It strikes me as too large a pill too swallow, but it has opened the door to some interesting characterization.
Bane has turned up in Batman's life, claiming that Thomas Wayne was his father as well. As everyone waits for blood tests to come back, the entire Batman family struggles with the ramifications of Bane's claim. Meanwhile, a young tattoo artist is attacked, and her pain spurs her on to use her talents and new nano-technology for the purposes of revenge.
Bane and Batman... half-brothers? I realize it's unlikely this plot element will turn out to be permanent, but it strikes me as such a soap-opera cliche, the kind of thing that earns that daytime TV genre a certain degree of ridicule. And the notion that the title character would submit the samples under his own name and that of "B. Ane" makes it seem even sillier. But it's forced the title character to look upon his dead, revered father as something other than a picture of perfection. It's also brought out some interesting reactions in other members of the Batman clan. And sure, the notion of nanotech tattoos maybe far fetched, but it fits as a nice bit of super-hero fun.
Robinson and Floyd's artwork continues to achieve a nice balance between traditional super-hero visuals and the darker atmosphere in which the Batman works best. Another key is that Robinson makes Bane look big, but not impossibly so. The colors also reinforce that darkness established in the line art.
The highlight of this story, though, is a quiet yet disturbingly chaotic scene depicting a rape. Beatty wisely gets the reader on this new villain's side by demonstrating what darkened her spirit, and just as wisely, the artists tell us what's going on by showing us the victim's face, her reactions, and not the violation itself.
Black & White: Scott Morse brings his quirky artwork to the world of the Dark Knight, or to be more precise, to the world of his valet, Alfred Pennyworth. He and writer Danielle Dwyer manage to demonstrate the eerie quiet and loneliness that must make up the bulk of the character's existence. The addition of an element of the supernatural works incredibly well here, not just because of the tone of the script, but with Morse's odd, geometric style and the haunted tone that the rich black-and-white detail brings to the segment.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
