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

Batman #623

January 27, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Broken City Part Four

Batman tracks down some new hoods in Gotham town.

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

It took getting halfway into the “Broken City” story arc, but I finally feel like Brian Azzarello is starting to get a feel for Batman. But just starting. For the first three issues, this hasn’t felt right, and I think I’ve figured out why. It isn’t so much a matter of things being wrong (although there are some things that are wrong, but more about that in a minute), but it’s a matter of things being out of place. Batman is a character with many interpretations, and DC, for some time, has wisely split those interpretations among his various titles. This feels more like a story arc for Detective Comics than it does for Batman, which has traditionally focused on the more superheroic elements of the character.

Even when he’s being a superhero, Batman is still a detective, of course, but different stories can focus on different aspects of this character. That said, I enjoyed this fourth installment of “Broken City” better than the previous three — Batman seems a little less smarmy than he has before, and the inclusion of the new hoods Fatman and Little Boy adds a lot. These two characters feel like they could have stepped out of a great pulp novel or film noir, and they fit in the universe that Azzarello is creating quite well.

There are still some things that don’t work for me, though. This is still hands-down the worst interpretation of Killer Croc I have ever read, and the Batman in the fight scenes doesn’t feel right. Batman has always been, to me, a character who knows how to be violent and uses it as a necessary too. This Batman seems to relish in it, goad it on, and that doesn’t sit right with me, even if I accept this as a “detective” story rather than a Batman story.

Risso’s art, however, remains very good and very suited to the character. It looks like a great old-fashioned crime movie, and that’s definitely the feel the writer is going for. These two make a very good team and have for some time on 100 Bullets.

People are still enjoying this story arc, and more power to you if you are. It’s still not totally working for me, though, and with two issues left, I feel like I’m just sort of marking time until the next creative team comes on.

Rating: 7/10