Batman #625

March 30, 2004

Quick Rating: Below Average
Title: Broken City Part Six

Azzarello and Risso leave Batman with a cap to the mystery of Angel Lupo.

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Art: Eduardo Risso
Colors: Patricia Mulvihill
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Will Dennis and Bob Schreck
Cover Art: Eduardo Risso
Publisher: DC Comics

And the “Broken City” arc comes to its conclusion, with some fans sorry to see it end and others, myself included, relieved that another creative team will be taking over this title with the next issue. I’m sorry, folks, but “Broken City” just didn’t deliver for me. This issue gives us a clichéd cap to a clichéd “hardboiled” mystery, an inexplicable appearance by the Joker (this isn’t a spoiler, he’s right there on the cover) and an overwhelming feeling that I’m just glad its done.

Aside from the fact that the mystery of the arc never really grabbed me, the sudden inclusion of the Joker feels entirely superfluous, as though he’s only there so that Azzarello can say he wrote a Joker story. Plus, with him running around on the loose over in Batman: Gotham Knights but laced up in Arkham here, it’s no wonder some fans feel intimidated by so many bat-books. I don’t mean we should necessarily keep a chart somewhere showing where villains are at all times, but especially in the Batman books I don’t feel like there’s any effort at reason with them at all anymore – a villain is incarcerated when the writer needs him to be and on the loose when he needs him to be, rarely if ever showing him escape and rarely if ever showing him actually getting captured. There’s no sense there.

Risso for all the skill he’s shown in 100 Bullets, sacrifices more and more of his style to a Frank Miller pastiche in this issue. From body type to facial structure to the weird “chapped lips” look Batman has in come panels, it’s like looking at something Miller drew 20 years ago instead of something Risso drew in the here and now.

I’m sorry to the fans who enjoyed this run, but I simply don’t see what the appeal was. “Broken City” never felt fresh or original to me, it felt like a halfhearted attempt to pay homage to the Miller days and never quite lived up to it.

But at least we’ve probably seen the last of the Killer Croc’s ‘fro.

Rating: 4/10

Batman #624

February 23, 2004

Quick Rating: Below Average
Title: Broken City Part Five

Batman finally finds Angel Lupo… but will it do any good?

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Art: Eduardo Risso
Colors: Patricia Mulvihill
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Will Dennis & Bob Schreck
Cover Art: Dave Johnson
Publisher: DC Comics

With only one issue remaining in the “Broken City” story arc, try as I might, I just can’t find it in me to care about the overriding mystery. I don’t care about Angel Lupo and Margo seems just another stereotypical femme fatale. To tell a good mystery, you’ve got to have the audience engrossed, wondering, yearning to know the outcome. I’m just yearning for the next story arc to begin.

Batman has a little chat with the Penguin that leads to another confrontation with Fatman and Little Boy, who turn out to be far more brutal and effective in this issue than we’ve been given any reason to expect. The fight scene seems to exist solely to pad the issue.

Even the artwork, which has thus far been the high point of the “Broken City” arc, suffers in this issue. Eduardo Risso wants to be Frank Miller so badly it hurts, and any style of his own gets lost in this issue. Whether you’re a fan of Miller’s style or not, I’d still prefer to see Risso develop and evolve on his own rather than just ape someone who did his best Batman work almost 20 years ago.

There’s only one issue left for this title to wrap things up in a satisfying fashion. It seems less and less likely that will actually happen, but if you’ve been disappointed in this storyline, you can at least take heart in the fact that it’s almost over.

Rating: 4/10