Infected with the poison from the Joker's heart, Batman had been gradually giving in to the darkness that was always there, lurking in the fringes of his well-cultivated sense of control. It's the pinnacle of the Abyss Staring Back.
This installment from a very splendid mini series written once more by my favorite Bat-writer gave us more than just a few passing glimpses; instead it took us through an unnerving journey that was greatly supported by one of the best visuals I had seen drawn for a single Batman comics issue to date.
My reviews for the previous three issues substantially tackled Synder's writing chops. The man does know how to write compelling exposition, and more so for dialogue. All the Batman issues he's written have chock-full of glittering examples, regardless if there were inconsistencies in the plot.
However, at the risk of sounding repetitive at this point in time, I instead would like to review the other equally important side of a comic book issue which are the visuals. The synergy among Jock, Baron, and Cipriano was fully realized for this installment in particular. While it's possibly ninety-percent leaning on text blurbs since the dialogue for all scenes served to push forward the developments of the second half of the story, it wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for the engrossing art.
I more than appreciated the use of red for some panels, especially since it conveyed effectively the state of mind Batman/Bruce was undergoing as the toxin has spread across his mind. It's truly horrific to watch him lose sense of reality bit by bit each time he looked at those he loved and cared about such as Alfred and--to a lesser extent--the ordinary folks of the city he wanted to safeguard. The metaphor for this issue, too, talked about how Bruce often tried to see the world through 'the eyes of children' or the innocent whenever he felt discouraged or too fatalistic.
That was why the opening pages had Dick Grayson as the first Robin swooping down happily in the Gotham cityscape in all his bare innocence. But this time such an attempt to utilize the same practice was failing, since Bruce can hardly differentiate between what he truly sees and what the toxin wanted him to see. And the images are frightening, splattered in red and chaos. The notable adoption of the same visor BMWL wears made me uncomfortable; Bruce reasoned out it was a way for him to see what his enemy sees, but methinks it's just another manifestation of his dark side slowly taking over his defenses. But much like Alfred, I am placing my faith that Batman/Bruce can survive this. He's proven himself strong where lesser men are their weakest.
Red yet again was used to differentiate the text (courtesy of Cipriano) wherein certain terms or phrases were color-coded like that to indicate that Batman/Bruce was slipping while he's talking. After all, BMWL's own blurbs are colored purely as red, which I haven't noticed until now. He and the Grim Knight had abducted James Gordon, because he was Batman's 'best friend'. The Grim Knight doesn't share the sentiment, however, because in his world, the Commissioner was the one adversary that kept getting in the way of him claiming victory as a caped crusader. Going back to the well-known saying of how the Abyss Stares Back, it's also aligned to Synder's recurring metaphor of seeing things through 'the eyes of the innocent', which was twisted in this case.
The climactic confrontation in Blackgate was my favorite scene. The second would have to be Batman's quaint temporary 'truce' of a sort with the Joker. The installment ends with a grand soliloquy from BMWL which hits the right notes when he claimed, "You're trying to see things through the eyes of your Robins, aren't you? Through the eyes of your so-called children. But they knew, Batman. The hope you saw in people, it was a lie. That's why Dick, why all of them, stayed high above. Yes, the hard truth is you're finally seeing things clearly. Because of the first time ever, you're looking at Gotham through the eyes of your real child..."
I don't know how James Gordon and his son would play into this, but I have a feeling it has to tie up with the ongoing parable between Batman and his darker alters. It's worth mentioning that there's a Grim Knight oneshot that's connected to this, so I might have to look for that and read. Overall, this was far more impressive than the previous issue which I have a few nitpicks in my review. The loose ends were being tied up here while it also has more room to surprise readers yet again.
Two more issues to go before The Batman Who Laughs hopefully wraps up amazingly.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
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