BATMAN #27 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
Although "Zero Year" has been consistently enjoyable, I've been ready for it to be over. Don't get me wrong, it's great stuff, but I'm ready for Snyder and Capullo to come back to the present. With that out of the way, I have to admit that this creative team has delivered yet another near perfect issue. Greg Capullo's art has so many subtleties here that you have to stop every so often to take them all in.
The penultimate issue of the "Dark City" arc immediately puts Batman right in the middle of the action. It's a white knuckle ride against Gotham PD that doesn't go anywhere near as smoothly as what went down in
Batman: Year One. The Caped Crusader ends up battered, bloodied, and quite literally up the river until he finds an olive branch extended by none other than Jim Gordon. These two may have not gotten along in previous issues, but this is where we truly get to see the genesis of their friendship. Gordon regales us with a flashback to his days as a beat cop and it's here that Batman learns Gordon isn't corrupt and that maybe this is a guy he should trust.
After the Gordon scene, Bruce finds himself back in the cave to have a very touching conversation with Alfred. If you loved it when Michael Caine's Alfred delivered those fatherly words of wisdom in
The Dark Knight Trilogy, then this is for you. You can probably tell that this issue is packed with exposition, but it's not too dense of a read. It's near the end of this installment where The Riddler FINALLY emerges as the villain we have all been waiting for. He's cunning and quite merciless; a bit more akin to the portrayal in
Batman: Arkham City.
Don't forget that next month's issue will see a break from the "Zero Year" storyline and the "Dark City" portion will conclude this March in an oversized
Batman #29. Next month Snyder will offer us a glimpse into the future and whet our appetites for the upcoming
Batman: Eternal. Maybe that's just the break I need.
Score: 9.5/ 10
BATGIRL #27 by Gail Simone and Robert Gill
Since this book came out last week, I've decided against giving it a full review. I decided to pick it up at my comic shop yesterday and was quite pleased, so I thought I would at least give it a glowing recommendation. Even if you haven't kept up with
Batgirl, this is a very good done-in-one that's worth your money, especially if you liked the first chapter of "Gothtopia" presented in
Detective Comics #27. Yes, this is a tie-in. And how could you resist that cover by Alex Garner?