 |
| BATMAN No. 4, February 2012 |
Ever since Batman’s origin was first presented in Issue
Thirty Three of “Detective Comics” Bruce Wayne has always been haunted by the
murderous double deed of small-time criminal Joe Chill. For without the mugger’s
cold-blooded shooting of Doctor Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha in front of
their eight year-old son, there would be no need for the orphan to subsequently dedicate his
life to fighting crime and thus create the persona of the Dark Knight.
Over time however the character of the gunman within the “DC Comics” universe
has continued to slowly develop with the petty robber first evolving into a
hitman working for the Mafia, and then becoming one of two sons belonging to
the housemaid of Bruce’s guardian, his Uncle Philip Wayne.
“Face The Court” puts
another slight spin on the ‘Joe Chill’ story, as Scott Snyder portrays a
grieving child unwilling to accept that his parents’ deaths were the result of
a random act and “that some plain old… no-name” had killed them “over nothing
but pocket change and pearls.” Instead the boy, desperately needing to believe
that “there had to be something bigger at work”, starts to earnestly
investigate the possibility that his Mother and Father were slain on the orders
of the Court of Owls.
Substituting his later famed powers of deduction and intuition
with youthful exuberance and weeks of book work, a foolhardy young Bruce
finally believes he's found the Court of Owls and the men behind his
parents’ demise. Only to discover “an old, empty room that hadn’t been used in
years.” From this inauspicious beginning and the lesson learnt ‘The World’s
Greatest Detective’ would be born. But for any reader of this particular issue
of “Batman” it provides a slightly slow and disappointingly diverting backwards
look into the past of the Caped Crusader, at a time when the
current multi-issue story-arc was very much gaining momentum.
Admittedly the New Yorker both begins and ends this twenty-page instalment by penning
a pulse-pounding action-packed event; be that Batman’s hairbreadth escape from
an exploding building or later his falling victim to an ambushing Talon. But
the vast majority of this comic book is rather bogged down in the somewhat
superficial historical tale of an eight year-old boy chasing ghosts and
shadows.
Greg Capullo’s pencils are marvellous throughout, whether it be
depicting a grim-faced, no-nonsense cowled action hero, throwing himself out of
a high-rise window, or a shadowy sleuth stalking the sewers of Gotham City
spotting clues. In addition the very noticeable change in his artwork for the
multi-paged flashback sequence is extremely well done. As the simpler style really
helps give the entire scene the feeling that it is being ‘played out’ through
the eyes of a child, during a time when life can appear far more ‘black and
white’ than it really is.
 |
| The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 4 by Michael Choi |
No comments:
Post a Comment