THE DARK KNIGHT #5

[ HERE BOY ] 

Now it has been known in times past, that to be able to hold onto a distant memory such as this, you have to preserve the memory of the present. OK, sometimes this is not always an easy thing to do, as depicted in this gala installment of the caped crusader, Written by David Finch; Drawn by Jason Fabok; and Published by DC Comics in September 2011.

THE STORY:

Bruce (Batman) Wayne is thankful that he has managed to save his old friend, Dawn, from the clutches of the Penguin. However, he is not so thankful when she is brashly whisked away from him by a hoard of rampaging zombies, and then attacked by none other than the Demon Etrigan himself. Prudently, though, amidst this battle with this yellow skinned Demon, Batman comes to realise that Etrigans actions are guided by the Mistress Blaze – prompting Batman to sew a seed of doubt in Etrigans mind about his misguided actions.

And does Batman’s notion work? Yes – yes it does – and a good job too, as with Etrigan by his site, this newly appointed ‘demonic duo’ can now save Dawn from the Ragman – suddenly revealed to be Dawns own Father. Still, it is unfortunate how this subsequent attack plays out – as maidens fall – demons are baptised – and an ending comes from a supernatural fury.

In the aftermath of these tragic events, Batman and the young street urchin devise a ruse to counter-attack a future ploy involving a certain bald-headed bad-guy.  

Obviously, not the end.

THE REVIEW:

Now the cancellation of this series, like many others within this recent spate of DC’s cancellations, does not make any sense to me. For a start, it will be coming back next month with the same creative team and the continuation of this story-line – so it will basically be the same. Then, why cancel a series that has just started – no point. And on top of that, all this seems to have accomplished, is that it has impeded the current story arc – which is a shame.

OK, so maybe DC wanted all of there titles to start with a new number one – just to keep each of their books on an even numbered playing field. Well, I suppose that if they could restart long living titles like ‘Batman’ and ‘Detective’, what is to stop them from restarting this fledgling title – nothing, huh? However, this venture does seem to have left its mark on this current storyline, and made it seem quite uneven and fleeting in places.

Overall, I have to say that I did not really mind this conclusion. As the artwork by Jason Fabok was fairly consistent, the story by David Finch was fairly nice in tone, and I did like the interaction between Batman and Etrigan, very relevant. Still, saying all of that, it did come across as being a mite rushed as a final chapter, and did not seem to deliver on what I would call a satisfactory ending. Initially, because Mistress Blaze seemed to have just vanish half-way through the story – and subsequently, because the final ‘beating of the bad guy’ just came out of the blue.

Fair enough, I suppose the snags were all down to editorial edict, and you cannot really blame the creators for that. Nevertheless, I would have liked to have seen this story to have some sort of chimed conclusion, rather than a diverted and ambiguous epilogue. As was that bald-chap Lex Luthor? Or maybe someone else, huh? Hmm? Sometimes you can never tell because appearances of characters are always changing – like...

Not a bad story – just a tad brusque in tone.

THE RATING: B