Gotham Nocturne: Act Three – “Crescendo” – Part Two, and “Auto-Da-jé”.
Artists: Stefano Raffaele and Christopher Mitten
Color Artists: Lee Loughridge and Triona Farrell
Letterers: Ariana Maher and Steve Wands
Review by James Attias
Detective Comics #1085 is a bit confusing and ultimately disappointing. The issue starts off in the best way possible, then slowly decomposes throughout, with only a brief reprieve a few pages before the end.
We jump into the story to witness a menacing Clown prince of crime, talking to someone who’s unidentifiable, not by choice but by the way they’ve been drawn. As Heath Ledger’s Joker said in his origin stories, this issue also has the villain telling an unhinged story of his own, then his nondescript companion tries poking the world’s most dangerous man in an attempt to have him help in the battle for Gotham. All this is just in the first two pages of the issue, might I add?
After this, the rest of the story goes on to follow a newly unhinged Dark Knight in his war against the Orghams. Remember, this is not the Zur-en-Arr Batman currently appearing in the main Batman run, this is just for this title. The lack of continuity hurts me every time.
Cold
We have multiple villains in this issue, the art’s very dark and Batman looks very different. The use of shadows almost hurts the story as it’s hard to tell what actually is shadow and what isn’t. If you’re one of the few people who still read my Detective Comics reviews, then you’ll already know that I’ve struggled with the current direction from the start. We got a strong first page, a terrible middle, and a good last page stinger. This issue follows that formula very closely once again.
A Snowman Walks Into A Bar
The backup story this month starts with Mr Freeze walking into a bar… I know. I struggle to think about what the writers are thinking. Other than the nonsensical start, and the art (not my favorite) this story was actually very good. Great callbacks to previous stories and a good lead on things to come. Yeah… not bad.
Conclusion
Detective Comics #1085 is exactly what I expected it to be. I hope the next issue’s better.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment