Last Week's Comics

Comic Reviews: week of March 23

Batman: The Dark Knight #2 (DC — writer: David Finch; art: Scott Williams)

Parts of this comic work very well, especially for Batman. The main story involves Killer Croc and Penguin, and while I enjoyed the very . . . painful . . . interactions between Cobblepot and Batman, I was disappointed by the traditional kidnapping plot involving Bruce’s childhood friend, Golden Dawn. It’s reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, specifically the Joker kidnapping Rachel Dawes. And while Batman’s interrogation of the Joker in the movie is stunning, here his attack on the Penguin isn’t nearly as interesting, and I can’t exactly say why. I like how Bats loses his shit and starts attacking his enemy, but something about the overall plot doesn’t work. It could be Scott Williams’ art which is great, save his Penguin. Williams draws Oswald a little too cartoonish. I was more disgusted than impressed (which might have been Williams’s point). The sub plot — involving some kind of beast murdering bums in Gotham — is much more interesting. The cameos are fun to see, and I’m definitely intrigued enough to keep wanting more from this series. Finch writes a great Batman, so there’s no failure on his part in translating the best aspects of the character to this new series. I’m just not as overwhelmed as I think I should be (more…)