Harvey Dent and Two-Face duel once more, and this time what is hanging in the balance is only the life or death of Batman. The lead story is written by Ram V, drawn by Ivan Reis and Rafael Albuquerque, inked by Danny Miki, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, Jim Gordon and his mysterious young charge make a discovery about the boy’s mysterious past as he chases the tune that has haunted Jim. Written by Si Spurrier, drawn by Dani, colored by Lee Loughridge and lettered by Steve Wands.
Catwoman wants to steal a brooch with a special significance to her, one tied to a day that changed her young life. But not everything is as it seems.. Batman: One Bad Day: Catwoman is written by G. Willow Wilson, drawn and colored by Jamie McKelvie and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
A breakout at Bludhaven’s private prison leads Nightwing on a chase through the city with the help of his fellow Titans. But things are changing for Nightwing, and a meeting with Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as a chat with Batman at the grave of a lost friend, sets Dick on a whole new path. Nightwing #100 is written by Tom Taylor; drawn by Bruno Redondo, Scott McDaniel, Rick Leonardi, Eddy Barrows, Javier Fernandez and Mikel Janin; inked by Karl Story, Eber Ferreira, Caio Filipe, Joe Prado and Leonardi; colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Wes Abbott.
Matt Lazorwitz: OK, so the first thing I have to note, and we’ll get to this in the individual issues, this is the best looking week of Bat books we have had in as long as I can remember. Each of these comics is stunning to look at.
Will Nevin: Art across all books is good, generally, yes. Great in spots. But I thought the coloring could have been sharper in one of ‘em. But don’t let me yuck your visual yum, Matt.
’Tec
Matt: Two-Face takes center stage here. I can’t think of a run in a long time that has handled Two-Face as well as this; he’s probably the second most overused Batman villain, after Joker, and it’s nice to see a deft hand at the wheel.
Will: We read the first arc of Scott Snyder’s All-Star Batman for the show, and while that certainly approached Two-Face with the requisite seriousness, it was also overwritten as hell with that shoehorned first meeting between the two that’s better left ignored. This story has presented him as he should be: a serious and conflicted character, with one side plagued by indecisiveness and the other limited only by what meager control Harvey can exercise.
Matt: And we have two incredible artists with significantly different styles, but one inker. It shows the power of an inker who can take Albuquerque and Reis and while not overwrite their styles, blend them in a way that the art shifts are distinct but not jarring.
Will: Thematically, of course, we have a reason for two artists, which is much better than the typical excuses of “Oops, this book is running late” or “Let’s cram some guest pinups into an anniversary issue.”
Matt: Absolutely. And there’s a lot going on here for both artists: Batman’s fight with Tenclaws, Harvey’s inner turmoil and a last minute tie-in to a somewhat but not too recent favorite, Arkham City: Order of the World. I should have expected it, since Ram V and Dan Watters, who wrote that, are part of the same writers collective, and they do tie in well, with the way the Orghams are working the mystical geography of the city and all the strange mapping of Gotham from the miniseries. I love it when things like that tie together.
Will: You have to think the good Dr. Joy is in a much different place now than when that mini started. Maybe a little too much time with her patients.
Matt: Oh, definitely.
And Dani, who drew that mini, is back on the backups this week, with another tale of Jim Gordon and his mysterious young friend. Between the way the kid reacted and what he saw, as well as the page of Bruce struggling with the demon and then suddenly standing again, do you think Bruce made a deal with Barbatos? Or is he still fighting him?
Will: I interpreted that as the kid seeing the potential for darkness in him, but that’s certainly a plausible outcome. “Venom” but supernatural/demonic would be an interesting place to go. Also, kudos to Gordon for telling Batman, “You can’t have [the kid].”
Matt: That is definitely Jim still dealing with the death of James Jr., and I’m glad that we’re seeing that dealt with. His kid, as estranged as they were from each other, died. That is going to affect anyone, but especially someone as empathetic as Jim Gordon.
Will: Poor Jim. He can’t catch a break. Ever.
OBD: Catwoman
Will: I have lost the entire damned thread as to why this series exists. Only something in this cursed title could take a Catwoman heist and make it boring, in addition to introducing a new villain with exactly zero substance to her who says “we’re on the same side” before also saying she should be “competition.”
Matt: I don’t think I agree entirely on this. I really enjoyed this up until the last five to 10 pages. For one, I’m a very easy mark for Jamie McKelvie art; that will elevate any comic for me. And I didn’t find it boring. I was not in love with the Forger when she started talking, when she was speechifying, and that’s where it fell flat for me.
Will: It wasn’t the talking so much as the fighting — the Forger’s martial arts skills felt like a non sequitur. And this is the book where I didn’t care for the coloring. We got folks in outdoor scenes who could pass for Batwoman. Translucent people, Matt!
But the stuff with Maggie was good. Selina reflecting on her mom was good. The intrigue behind the brooch was fun and a good example of how something is worth whatever someone else will pay for it. But the opening narration dragged, and the book lost me.
Matt: That is a quirk of McKelvie’s coloring in general, I admit. You just have to roll with it or not.
I liked that this took the “one bad day” thing that each of these books has focused on, and instead of making it something earth shaking, like Riddler’s murder of the teacher or Penguin being dethroned, it was a seemingly very small thing. The one bad day that changes your life isn’t always something that looks from the outside like a momentous occasion, but it’s how it affects you.
Will: See, that right there is a better exploration of the main idea than we’ve seen in any of the other books. Some of them have been OK stories (no need to talk about that there wretched one you mentioned), but few if any have really gotten at the promise of what this could have been. You’re right in that this story singled out Selina’s mom taking a trip to a pawn shop as the one day that changed the course of her life, and inasmuch as that resulted in a quieter story, it was good. I think, though, we could have used the scene where the Forger sold it originally — something that maybe could have explored how Selina’s mother was always looking for a score, too.
Matt: I have to think about that. I don’t know how much of the Forger’s word you can take on Selina’s mother’s motivations, and also, this story is entirely from Selina’s point of view. I hate it when a story in first person narration breaks away from that and shows something the narrator could not have seen. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine.
Will: Ahh, but it is not a peeve of mine because I do not think about such things for my brain is small. I’ll admit — you’ve talked me off the ledge here. It’s still not my favorite one of these, but I think after talking it over, I appreciate it more.
Nightwing
Matt: This is the first time we’ve covered an issue of Nightwing. Have you read any of Tom Taylor’s run on the series?
Will: I don’t think I’ve read any of Tom T.’s work in the main universe. But as we’ve discussed for the show, I loved Injustice. And this was certainly a solid issue that I was able to pick up and read with only a little background knowledge of what’s happened in Batman — e.g., Alfred is dead, Nightwing was shot, etc.
Matt: Yeah, Taylor does a good job of making this an entry point issue, especially since this is a major turning point for the DCU, with the Titans taking center stage again. But for our purposes, the reason I took this issue up for the column is for the scenes between Bruce and Dick, and, well, just thinking about them … excuse me, I think I have something in my eye …
Will: Breaking my damned heart over here, Matt.
Matt: I can count on one hand the number of real heart-to-hearts the two of them have had on one hand, and this might be the best. Taylor is really good at two things: big, wild AU action and quiet, interpersonal moments. Between this and Jon Kent coming out to Clark, he has shown in the past couple months that scenes like this are where his strength lies.
“I love you, Dad,” is going to be my panel of the year regardless of what else comes out this year.
Will: That *murdered* my insides.
Matt: Also, you mentioned All-Star Batman in the Two-Face story, and here we have the Beast popping back up, and this is another example of how his skill slides on a scale. Dick acknowledges the Beast is one of the best fighters in the world, but he still beats him single-handedly. There, he was able to take Batman, who was only saved by Singal’s last minute interference. No one seems sure how tough this guy should be.
Will: Another curious story point is the appearance of Tony Zucco. Is that going somewhere? Strange if he pops in without any further exploration. Kinda like breaking Joe Chill out of cold storage for him to stand around in the background in Batman.
Matt: Ah, OK, that might be one thing that is lost: He’s been showing up for a bit in Nightwing. He moved in on Bludhaven, trying to set himself up as the new capo of the town after Blockbuster died. And with the woman he thought of as his daughter in the mayor’s seat, he thought he could pull it off. Someday we’ll talk about Melinda Zucco, nee Melinda Grayson-Lin.
Will: I knew there was some context there I had to be missing.
Matt: Boy, it’s like you could use some kind of recap page in a long-running series when you’re trying to do an intro issue. Have you ever heard of such a thing, Will?
Will: In a Detective Comics comic? N E V E R.
Bat-miscellany
- This week on the BatChat podcast, it’s three versions of Batman’s first encounter with The Joker.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
