Gotham Nocturne: Intermezzo – “Batman, Outlaw” – Part Three, and “Camouflaged”
Writers: Ram V and Dan Watters
Artists: Jason Shawn Alexander and Caspar Wijngaard
Color Artists: Dave Stewart
Letterers: Tom Napolitano and Steve Wands
Review by James Attias
Detective Comics #1078 may have finally found the balance between respecting the past and keeping things fresh! Let’s swing in…
Hanged Man Forever
I’m going to catch you all off guard right out of the gate and let you know, I enjoyed this issue. *gasp* *shock* I know, I know. Could it be that the Orghams and Ram V have finally arrived at a point where the story makes sense? My answer is… almost. In my last review, I mentioned this idea; if we don’t take into account anything else going on in the DC Universe right now, like the “Gotham War” or Catwoman’s whereabouts, then this is a fun, well-written issue.
Bat-Family – From Wish
The team and the plan have all been set up to break Batman free from his captors, who all have their sights set on hanging the Dark Knight in the town square. We’ll all ignore the fact that Batman has probably hundreds of Super-friends who could swoosh in and save him before a person could blink, but we’ll just leave it to the gritty, powerless, Family members instead (no offense to any of them, as they’re actually fun to read).
S, as well as a good setup, interesting art, and an interesting cast, can this rag-tag group of heroes and villains rescue the Bat before he is hanged? Or would better questions be, can this storyline end on a high, or will it fizzle out? Only time will tell.
Camouflaged
Next up we have a somewhat random backup. I say this because, over the last few months, these short stories have been deeply connected to the main tale. This one is more connected to the Catwoman ongoing than to Detective Comics. We have the new Catwoman, Eiko Hasigawa, who has taken up the mantle while Selina does her own thing around the world.
This was a good story; well written, with nice art, and it somehow shoves itself into the Detective Comics timeline in a very small newspaper headline on a single panel. My only question is, why was this story needed? If it was for us to appreciate the new Catwoman, then fine, job done. She proved herself to not be a complete [SPOILER], did the [SPOILER], and stopped the [SPOILER]… but why did she do all that in this title and not in the main Catwoman series? I’m sure more will come from this, and I’ll keep you all posted if/when I do.
Conclusion
Detective Comics #1078 Was yet another improvement and I’d even go so far as to say I enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe by issue #2000 we’ll be back to every issue being better than mediocre. We live in hope.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
