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| BATMAN No. 13, December 2012 |
There is a great deal which is disturbing about Issue
Thirteen of “Batman”. Not least of which is the ‘skinned’ Joker face die-cut
half-mask which acts as one of the comic’s variant covers. Not all the
perturbances are related to graphic depictions of blood-splattered corpses or
the imminent threat of cutting off a person’s facial features either. As “DC
Comics” make it clear straight from the start that “Knock Knock” is just the
first of many instalments concerning the publisher’s “Death Of The Family” story-arc
and actually go to the trouble of listing the numerous issues and different
Bat-related titles readers will need to purchase in order to experience the
“epic event”.
Equally as psychologically harrowing an experience as the
requirement to buy twenty-three different magazines is Scott Snyder’s sinister
narrative, particularly when the writer seems to so easily allow the audience to
get inside the head of Commissioner James Gordon and genuinely experience the
man’s terror as the Joker murders the policeman’s officers in the pitch
darkness of the Gotham City Police Department. Especially terrifying is the
Clown Prince of Crime’s whispered warning to Jim that he sometimes lies under
the lawman’s bed at night and listens to him sleep. Disconcerting psychosomatic
stuff which can easily raise the neck hairs of the hardiest of bookworms.
Fortunately
for those bat-bibliophiles feeling somewhat uneasy or queasy some ‘light
relief’ is provided mid-way through this emotional thriller by the likes of a
cocksure Robin, who seems to believe that the Joker “used to be a great
adversary of my father’s, but he’s over now.” However such an arrogant
underestimate of the super-villain is soon highlighted as the green-haired
ghoul slaughters a police protection team supposedly safeguarding Mayor Hady by
making the law enforcement officers literally belch blood over one another.
The
highlight of Snyder’s storyline though has to be the comic’s conclusion which
sees a furious Batman supposedly confronting the Red Hood at Ace Chemicals.
Unsurprisingly the Dark Knight discerns he isn’t facing his old nemesis but a
heavily disguised Harley Quinn. But not before a gigantic mechanical mallet has
knocked him into a fast-sealing chemical vat, which quickly starts to fill with
a familiar looking toxic liquid.
Such an unsettling sojourn into the world of the
Joker’s revenge is made all the more exhilarating by the outstanding artwork of
Greg Capullo, who really seems to pull out all the stops for this dark grisly
tale. In particular the American penciller’s drawings of the Caped Crusader are
masterfully animated, even when the crimefighter stalks the shadows, allowing
just his eyes and teeth to be illuminated.
Possibly the most unnerving element
of this comic though is “Tease”, a six-page ‘short’ which somehow manages to
portray the Joker at his sadistic ‘Hannibal Lecter’ best (or worst) and the
lovable Harley Quinn at her most vulnerable. Mark Simpson’s artwork is a
chaotic mess but somehow manages to amplify the squeamish terror facing Doctor
Quinzel as her love approaches her, cut-throat blade in hand, and starts to
tell her how cutting off her “pretty face” is going to hurt “tremendously. More
than anything has ever hurt in your life!”
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| The regular cover art of "BATMAN" No. 13 by Greg Capullo and FCO Plascencia |
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