by Randy Lander

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #26 Recommended (8/10) DC Comics "Bruce Wayne: Murderer? Part Ten: Innocent Until" Writer: Devin Grayson Pencils: Roger Robinson Inks: John Floyd Colors: Gloria Vasquez & Wildstorm FX Letters: Bill Oakley Editor: Lysa Hawkins "Bruce Wayne is Batman!" Writer: Cyrus Voris Artist: Chris Bachalo Letters: Richard Starkings Editor: Mark Chiarello Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN With Bruce and Sasha in jail and the mystery of "who killed Vesper?" playing out very slowly until "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" begins, what's left to examine for Devin Grayson? As it turns out, there's quite a lot, as Grayson plays off Batman's recent instability and trouble with his allies to tell the very powerful story of how his various allies are coping with the shock of what has happened. Batman is barely in this story; instead, it focuses on Alfred, Leslie, Nightwing and Robin, and the very different views each of them has of Batman and what he might have had to do with the crime. There aren't any easy answers, and Grayson doesn't back away from that at all, while Robinson and Floyd provide dark and moody artwork to go along with the story. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this issue for me is the relationship between Nightwing and Robin. These two have had a brotherly relationship since Tim was inducted into the "family," and as with any family crisis, the current problems are straining their relationships. Grayson hits a nice balance between comfortable interaction and uncomfortable differences between Nightwing and Robin, and both characters come out of the interaction as more believable and human characters. The brutal answers that Robin gives to Nightwing's idealistic promises are especially effective, and highlight Robin's intelligence, as well as the difficult questions being raised by Bruce's situation. At the same time, this relationship is mirrored in the interactions between Alfred and Leslie, who have always served as substitute mother and father for Bruce. That they also differ on whether he was even capable of the crime allowed for some interesting tension, and allowed Leslie to explore some interesting theories about how Brue operates. In effect, Grayson uses this issue to explore more in-depth the emotional toll being paid by Bruce's family, an essential component of what's going on as much as the effects that Sasha and Bruce are suffering in prison. Roger Robinson and John Floyd match this dark script with dark artwork, which helps to accentuate that the characters are in a very somber place. At times, I think the team went overboard with dark shadows, particularly early on where it's hard to tell Robin from Nightwing given the similarity of their masks and the lack of many other distinguishing characteristics. On the other hand, the anger and frustration between the characters as they argue is very clearly expressed, and the pure darkness of the Batcave is also conveyed very nicely. Filling out the issue is a backup story from unfamiliar name Cyrus Voris and familiar name Chris Bachalo, and as with most of the black and white tales, it's a short but sweet tale. Bachalo's artwork is sometimes confusing to follow, but he turns that to his advantage as it expresses the surreal nature of Arkham or the girl's fevered imagination. His work here actually reminds me more of Ted McKeever's work than his own, but it's a very appropriate style for the tale, which is mostly a simple one-line plot about madness and some of the casual work that Batman does to check on his identity's secrecy. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.