Batman fights a bunch of sewer alligators before accomplishing his most ambitious feat yet: scoring a 3-pointer with a piece of litter into a trash can. Swish!
Cover by Karl Story,
Patrick Martin,
& Scott McDanielWritten by Larry Hama
Illustrated by Scott McDaniel
Inked by Karl Story & Hector Collazo (#578)
Colored by Roberta Tewes
Separated by Wildstorm FX
Lettered by John CostanzaEven Batman has to keep up with household chores when it appears the Batcave has a rodent problem that keeps setting off alarms. As he and Alfred combat the pesky rats, could there be another problem lurking in storm conduits deep under Wayne Manor?
It’s really refreshing to go back to an era where every issue of “Batman” is a complete story in and of itself. Sure it feels like there are some longer term storytelling decisions being made, but primarily these issues are concerned with telling compelling one-offs that showcases one aspect of Batman. Last time we got Batman the Defender of Government & Batman the Action Hero. This time we get Batman the Compassionate Orphan and Batman the Boogeyman.
As with the last two issues, there’s not a whole lot to dig into. In “Batman” #577, the bat-cave is broken into by some stock bad guys that could’ve fallen out of a “G.I. Joe” comic while Batman investigates the wildlife in the sewers by Wayne Manor. It’s interesting how in this era everything is really well lit. The Batcave is still, well, a cave but unlike contemporary interpretations it is clear and open and infused with the zany fun of superhero lairs.
“Batman” #578 is from the dual-perspectives of a Mad Hatter-esque character and the reality around him as he breaks into a building to try to murder a woman “like an artist” and then gets his comeuppance as he imagines Batman on his tail. I wanted to like it more than I did. The story’s been done better before and the narration is insufferable; one can only say “art” so many times before I want to throw the comic out a window in exasperation.
I did get a chuckle at the ending with Batman picking up the now bloodless hammer and tossing it over his shoulder into a trash can about 30-ft away. Hector Collazo’s additional inks added a nice touch too. Instead of the usual solid blacks that define buildings and characters, Story & Collazo make the pages busier, filled with swirls and hatching, while McDaniel pushes the malleability of the world. It gives “Batman” #578 an off-kilter feel, with backgrounds that look like they could’ve come from The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari.
Moreover, Scott McDaniel’s & Karl Story do a great job of conveying scope and scale in both issues. The cartoony nature of the art helps make the more outlandish elements of the series fit in and softens the horror of what is being portrayed. Like Mike, the giant alligator? Give that to Greg Capullo and I shudder to think what it’d look like.
But seriously, Hama brings these comics to some dark places, even if it is a fairly shallow darkness. Multiple characters are killed or beaten bloody on panel and one is even fed to a gigantic alligator, to which Batman just kinda shrugs and is like, “Ah well. Them’s the breaks.” It’s…really weird, honestly.
There’s an ongoing conversation about whether or not the more and more militarized Batman we’ve seen since the 80s kills people with his methods and whether the comic should acknowledge it or if the fantasy of the genre can continue to support it. Here that isn’t the case. While he might not have directly done so, his actions/inactions do lead to at least four deaths, three of which he knows about, and he kinda doesn’t care. In fact, Hama & co. play it off as the price of their actions.
I can’t place my finger on why I feel so ambivalent about this aspect of Hama’s take on Batman. It’s not incongruous or offensive or needlessly cruel but it doesn’t jive with the rest of what he’s doing. I dunno. Maybe it’s that the rest of the characters are stock archetypes, and not great ones at that, and so the moral lessons don’t hit the same way they’re supposed to?
Whatever the case, they’re not bad issues but they’re not great either. They’re fine and do what they set out to do: tell a story with Batman every month. They can’t all be winners but I appreciate the attempts. And I got to see a baby alligator! So cute. So worth it.
