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BATMAN: ORPHEUS RISING #1
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Alex Simmons
Pencils: Dwayne Turner
Inks: Danny Miki
Colors:
Shannon Blanchard & Digital Chameleon
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Michael Wright
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
These days, Batman writers have a lot to live up to. Whether it's Brubaker's crime comic Batman, Rucka's police procedural Detective or Grayson's psychological examinations in Gotham Knights, the quality level on these books is high. But while Simmons's take on Batman's world is more traditional than that of Brubaker or Rucka, his story of rising racial tensions, a new mob boss and a new costumed figure in Gotham is definitely interesting and well-told. He's accompanied by terrific artwork from Turner, who is not quite up on all his current Gotham character model sheets but does an incredible job on the feel of the city and a spiffy design for this new player, Orpheus. It would be easy to write this off as just another long-winded intro of another unnecessary character in Gotham, but I think that would be a mistake. DC could use more minority heroes, for one thing, and for another, Simmons's work on Blackjack shows that he's a talent to be reckoned with,
and I think those picking up this issue will realize that.
This issue, Simmons sets the stage for his
story, using a series of short vignettes around the city to introduce the idea
of a mysterious killer hunting (mostly minority) cops, and how the reactions by
the police are causing tension in the community. The notion of police racism is
one that has a lot of story potential, and it's being handled well here,
painting neither the cops nor the civilians as right or wrong, but both coming
at it from a different point-of-view with their own biases. He's also doing a
nice subtle build-up of Orpheus, hinting at his skills and his ability to remain
in the shadows through near-miss encounters with Robin and Oracle before the
reveal at the end of the issue.
Turner is an artist who sometimes seems to
work in different styles, some better than others. This time out, his work is
impressive, with a very vivid picture of the different areas of Gotham. The
story opens with quick one-page stories in the financial district, market
district and a midtown-type area, and Turner gives them all a different feel.
His work throughout the issue gives the sense of Gotham as modern-day city,
based loosely on New York. And his work on most of the characters is quite good
as well, although his Harvey Bullock is the overweight version that went away
during No Man's Land. Although, in fairness, Simmons is writing a fairly
old-school portrayal of Bullock as well.
It's a bit too early to judge whether or
not Orpheus will become a viable character in the Batman extended family, along
the lines of Huntress or the new Batgirl. But based on the talent involved in
his creation and the strength of this first issue, I'd be willing to bet on
it.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
