Gotham Nocturne: Intermezzo – “Batman, Outlaw” – Part Two, and “Toxic Love”
Writers: Ram V and Dan Watters
Artists: Jason Shawn Alexander, Christopher Mitten, and Caspar Wijngaard
Color Artists: Dave Stewart
Letterers: Ariana Maher and Steve Wands
Review by James Attias
Detective Comics #1077 takes yet another step in the right direction, but can Selina’s Seven pull off the heist of the century?
The Dark Knight Dies at Dawn
So after the story was set up last issue, it begs the question: what would be the most appropriate death for Batman? Saving the world, saving Gotham, or saving a family member? All sacrifice plays. When he did “die” in Final Crisis he saved all of reality and the multiverse.
So, when these villains are framing his death as happening by being hung by the neck in the town square, to set an example for the people of Gotham and show the power of its new villains, I have to say… I can’t take the threat seriously. If Batman dies I’ll eat my words and I look forward to reading it, as it would be a really unexpected shock that would inject a lease of life to this title.
It’s also worth noting a lot of magic, demons, spells, mystical hypnotism have all been used in this series, so even if Batman dies, it may very well be undone immediately because… MAGIC *jazz hands*.
This story’s taken a slightly different framing approach, we have a few back and forth time jumps, which is nice. A little break in the linear storytelling’s always quite fun, but at this point we’re reading Ocean’s Eleven with Catwoman. There will be twists and turns, events happening and having already happened. Either way, it’s more interesting than where we were last month. Things have improved, as I requested, soo I won’t complain… yet.
Toxic Love
Speaking of time jumps, the back up story for this issue takes place before most of the rest, so if you were wondering how some things came to be, this little glimpse into the lives of Cheshire and Jade, will clear that up. The writing in this story was great, it really captured the fractured mother/daughter relationship between the two characters. The art did feel like it belonged in one of DC’s young adult books, but that didn’t bother me, it was just an observation. It was a fun story, well written and added to the main tale in a fun, different way.
Conclusion
Detective Comics #1077 felt a bit different once again, which was a good thing. I really do have high hopes for this book moving forwards, as there have been some moments that really were awesome. I hope that as we build towards what seems to be an end of sorts that things keep moving in the right direction.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
