BATMAN #26

[ BONE A BAT BARGAIN ] 

Hello? Is anybody there? Please tell me someone is out there. I can't see f*ck all! The lights in Gotham City have suddenly gone out, and I'm left standing here, with my knob in my hand, waiting for Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, plus the Publisher: DC Comics, to turn the power back on, in December, 2013. Hello? Hellllllooooooo?

Using GENERAL terms, answer the following 4 questions about this STORY entitled 'Dark City'.

• WHAT'S THE MAIN THRUST OF THIS TALE: 'Look out, Bruce!' says Lucius Fox to an impish Bruce Wayne. 'Doctor Death is going to kick the living sh*t out of us' he then continues 'Lets hope that somehow, somewhere, someone can help us overpower this ugly looking tosser'.
• ARE THE MAIN OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED: Yeah. I'd say they were. With a little help from Lieutenant James Gordon, thankfully, Doctor Death isn't able to do too much 'death-ing' for the time being.
• ANYTHING ELSE HAPPEN: We get to find out why Bruce thinks Gordon is a money grabbing f*cker!
• HOW DOES THIS STORY END: With a bordello of bullets bouncing all over a certain bat shaped buddy.

All in all, what is the most memorable SENTENCE OR CONVERSATION spoken in this issue?

Try to image a captured Bruce Wayne being pursued by a mutated Doctor Death. When suddenly -- BANG! -- Jim Gordon pops up and shoots the bad Doc down. Saying to him in the process...

'Step away from the billionaire, and put your claws in the air'.

Ha! What a great line that is! It's almost rhythmical to the touch.

What are the BEST bits about this issue?

(+) Bravo, Scott and Gregg. As per usual, you've both managed to tell a faultless tale I can't really gripe about at all. I mean, what bad things can I say about it? Huh? That you're story didn't intrigue me enough? Or that I wasn't too keen on the art? Ha! Fat chance! For me, both of you have done a sublime job on this book. Please don't stop now!

(+) OK. So let me get something straight. Bruce Wayne doesn't like Jim Gordon because on the night of his parent's murder, he saw Jim's partner collecting some protection money from a number of shop keepers. Hmm. Fair enough. I suppose that makes some sense on a certain level. But I wonder if there's more to this sub-plot than what meets the eye? Something that would make the 'bigger picture' click into place, so to speak.

(+) Despite feeling more like a secondary sub-plot rather than the main brunt of the tale, that's not to say I didn't like following those 'Doctor Death scenes', because they had a great hunter / hunted quality to them I just adored.  

(+) Wait a minute! I just thought of something! Jim's crooked partner is called Dan Corrigan, right? So do you think he could be related to Jim Corrigan somehow? You know. The one time Spectre! 

(+) Without giving too much away, there was a panel in this book where Bruce held up a gun, pointed it towards Gordon, and said to him '... is this, the view'. Now if truth be told, I liked this panel quite a lot for its dramatic and heightened tension. However, the one thing I wasn't too sure about...

What are the WORST bits about this issue?

(-) ... was if Bruce's actions related to his parents murder, or something Jim himself did later on that same day. If you know, drop me a line, will you? I'd love to know what you thought about this scene too.

(-) At a push, the only slight gripe I had with this adventure would be its coloring. Now with all due respect to the colorist in question -- FCO Plascencia -- I did find his pallet slightly too contrasting at times. With his greens and his pinks too putrid for my own tastes, making certain scenes either too psychedelic by nature or too messy by default.  

What SONG, THEME-TUNE, or MELODY, would complement this tale, or add and extra dimension to it by default?

'I SHOT THE SHERIFF' BY BOB MARLEY: Hey! What can I say? I'm a right sucker for a Bob Marley song. Plus in a round about way it does sum up Jim's state of mind during this adventure, doesn't it?

If this story gave off a scent, what ODOUR would it be and why?

LEMON: Alright. So this just might be a 'me thing'. But whenever I see the sight of a distrustful person, a part of my brain attempts to pair them up with something bitter yet relatable at the same time. Like a bunch of lemons for instance, Ha!

What QUOTE would be appropriate to sum-up this story?

'It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them' -- Confucius

ANYTHING Else?

So far I'm really-really enjoying, following Scott and Greg's 'Zero Year' story-line. Not only because it's added to the overall Batman mythos, but also because it's innovated on the original in a rather cleaver yet pithy fashion. For example...

* It has introduced us to Bruce's dubious Uncle, Philip Kane, and then killed him off afterwards.

* It has confused us with the ever smoking, Jim Gordon, because of his timorous relationship to Bruce Wayne, plus if he was initially a Gothamite before he lived in Chicago

* It has intrigued us with its new take on the Joker and the Riddler, by spinning a more bolder and expansive view on these two dastardly villains.

* It has made Bruce Wayne appear more like a real human being, with some real foil balls and discrepancies we've never seen more.

* It has expanded upon Alfred and Bruce's relationship together, by transforming this humble yet reliant manservant into a surrogate father figure.

* And it has made me look forward to what it has in store for us next month.

Yeah. No word of a lie. Even though I'm a 'Bat purist' at heart, I can't wait to see what this story-line has up its crafty sleeve next! Will it be good? Will it be better? Or better yet, will it be something we'll all be talking about for some time to come?

Ohhhh! Nuff said.