Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham is a four part series under DC’s Black Label of comics that allows writers and artists to depict more mature scenarios and dialogue. I reviewed the first issue of Gargoyle of Gotham here, calling it amazing and giving it a 9.5 out of ten.
SPOILERS for Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham #2 below.
The issue starts with a monologue in which, referring to himself, Batman thinks, “This is how a killer’s heart beats.” A few pages later, Batman internally clarifies and says he is using violence as a method to kill the child inside of him that is holding Batman back. His goal of eliminating Bruce Wayne’s personality and memories is front and cent, and it is certainly dark. As Batman crushes the face of the weird villain who is entirely black, onlookers, including police, are shocked into fear. It seems as if Batman is contemplating killing, but it's still too early to tell.
When Gordon later interrogates the villain, who is still nameless, he gains absolutely nothing. No information can be gleaned from this man. The only thing he gives Gordon that ends up being helpful is a symbol of a triangle with the top point connecting to a diamond inside it.
After moving on, Gordon furthers his investigation into possible victims. He starts by bringing it to the commissioner who possibly got his job by being the mayor’s nephew, and is allotted some officers to help but not enough. When the GCPD officers go to warn possible victims, they find a confirmed victim with the same wounds as the rest, this time much more fresh.
Soon after this, we’re shown more of the result of the cliffhanger issue one left us on: Bruce was a patient in Arkham’s closed down children’s wing. This list of patients is where Gordon is getting his ideas for potential victims. It seems as if the killer, who definitely isn’t the guy who cries and is all black, is hunting down and killing people who were in the children’s wing and seen by a Dr. Quinton. In this story, after Bruce’s parents were killed, he disappeared when driving home with Alfred. The police searched for him for hours until they found him beating on someone Bruce thought was his parents’ killer, but wasn’t really. He beat the poor man so bad that he ended up paralyzing him from the neck down. Dr. Quinton’s “treatment” was to somehow make Bruce forget he did this and forget his time in Arkham. Bruce wasn’t violent at all in the rest of his life until Batman came around. He even speculates that Batman may not have been his own idea. Within two pages, we find out that, actually, the guy Bruce paralyzed was his parents killer. It was a strange thing to reveal, then double back on so quickly, but it may make more sense in later issues.
An angle I did not expect after reading the first issue is the inclusion of some kind of religious corruption and a secret society. I assumed all the corruption in Gotham was going to be the fault of the rich like the first issue suggested. That theme is much less prevalent in this issue, but is still around. Arrogantly, Bruce, when driving past a protest led by the woman with moderately socialist ideals, tells her he isn’t going to “validate her speech” and calls her a brat. This will definitely have further repercussions, but it isn’t revisited in this issue.
Continuing with the religious corruption, the latest victim of the serial killer Gordon and Batman have been chasing is someone referred to as “the scribe” in an earlier page. Someone in a church that heavily resembles Catholic practices, was sent to the murder site to remove all holy books. We don’t know what the victim was writing or what the holy books contained as of yet. The only thing that seems to be tying together multiple aspects of this story, are the inclusion of moths and a symbol resembling a pointed blade angled down with two opposite angled blades crossing it that also point down.
Finally, Gordon finds another potential victim from the list who is somehow an old man who couldn’t possibly have been treated as a child at Arkham. At a point in their conversation, the old priest disappears and is replaced with some kind of moth/owl hybrid looking creature or person with a metal mask or face. Whatever it is tells Gordon to call her mother. As it’s attacking Gordon, it speaks about his aura being dry, a callback to the first issue when Gordon and Batman speculated the entry wounds on the other victims coincided with energy points in the human body. Before the creature kills Gordon, a young woman appears wielding weapons that resemble Lady Deathstrike’s claws and match what the serial killer in this comic would use. She stabs the creature and it leaps out the window.
Meanwhile, Batman is investigating an old building in Gotham that has the other symbol that appeared in this comic, a triangle with the top point connecting to a diamond inside it, on a clock tower. The building has goons on the top of it, and Batman jumps straight into action, clearly seeking violence. Batman lets himself get hurt, but takes down everyone. He breaks into the building only to find people dressed in white cloaks and black masks with the three bladed symbol covering their face all forming a perfect row leading to another man with a very large head wearing the same symbol. The man says to Batman, “Welcome home child.”
Oh, and the villain made of black that cries has also taken this opportunity to escape.
This issue left me thinking, “What the hell is going on?”
It also left me full of questions that I may have answers for. How does the crying villain made of black tie into this? It seems like he may be connected to this secret society. Maybe he was raised by them and is now trying to take them down or expose them and is willing to do terrible things, like enslave the homeless to do it. Why is he obsessed with the crytoon? No clue. Who is the serial killer? She may be working with the man made of black to take down this organization and maybe was also raised and trained by them. What was that owl/moth creature? No idea. How does Bruce being treated in Arkham connect to the rest of the story? Maybe Batman wasn't his idea. Dr. Quinton could be an agent for this secret society that planted the idea of Batman in his brain so they'd have another operative. Maybe everything I'm speculating Is wrong.
Rafael Grampa uses confusion and unpredictability to create intrigue expertly. Some writers do this just for the sake of it, but Grampa does it very, very well. The art in this issue is just as jarring as the first but works just as well. I simply can't get over so many characters being drawn with Rick and Morty style noses that makes them seem like they have a permanent cold. It's a minor issue, but it pulls me out of the story every time I see it.
Just like issue one, Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham #2 is amazing. 9.5/10