Out of all the New 52 Batman titles, The Dark Knight is the only one I never really got into as much as the others. The first volume collected entitled Knight Terrors was written and illustrated by Paul Jenkins but these issues were subpar and lacklustre and their artwork was mainly the most exciting part about the ordeal. When Greg Hurwitz took over the writing duties and Jenkins stayed as the artist, the second volume Cycle of Violence finally had more substance than its predecessor though their is uneveness in the characterization and the overall plot presentation.
Nevertheless, I was impressed that Hurwitz placed enough effort to tell us a gripping tale concerning the Scarecrow and his descent to madness which started with ab awful childhood. On the other hand, Bruce Wayne's love life was also touched upon when he started getting serious with the Ukranian pianist Natalya who seriously gave me Silver St. Cloud vibes. I remember enjoying a few parts in Cycle of Violence and as few as they are, I enjoyed them immensely and they have to be the character-centric moments in the volume.
Now, this third volume called Mad concerns the Mad Hatter himself, a villain in rogues' gallery I honestly did not care about as much. Much like with the Scarecrow, the same formula was applied. Readers get to witness firsthand the struggle and descent to madness that Mad Hatter experienced which somehow gave us insight as to why he is committing crimes the way he had been doing during the present. Basically, he is trying to recreate his happiest memory with his childhood crush Alice and Gotham has to suffer the unbelievable ways he inflicts his unique vision of horror on its citizen just to accomplish this. It really was the same thing as with the Scarecrow narrative in the previous volume about the child abductions although Mad had a much more satisfying pay-off and conclusion. If it wasn't for that vital difference, the two story arcs are easily interchangeable.
That would have been an unfair generalization though because I believe I much cared about Hatter's experiences which were bittersweet. And I enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland symbolism since I've always been an Alice fan myself. Artist Ethan Van Sciver delivered just as strongly as Jenkins did in the first volume. His body of work in this one was absolutely chilling in spite of the colorful panels depicting Hatter's ugly version of Wonderland. And the Hatter himself looks positively deranged. I wasn't into the Scarecrow sewing his lips shut in the last volume, personally and I like that the Hatter was drawn less conspicuously insane except for the close-ups of those weirdly spaced eyes. Those eyes completely creeped me the fuck out.
Bruce's relationship with Natalya has also reached its expected tragic and disastrous death. Natalya was after all the ghost of Silver St. Cloud right to her demise which actually made me feel bad because those precious small moments of Bruce finally telling her that he is Batman were just so adorable and it sucks hairy donkey balls that the moment he has let another person in is what cost her life. It was a nice change of scenery that was almost nostalgic; to see Bruce Wayne actually try to live his life outside of his vigilante calling. It broke my heart just a little bit to see him hopeful and only to have that hope bashed in its head. Hurwitz made it believable enough for me so when he flipped the fuck out by the last issue, I bought it.
As a standlone title, The Dark Knight can pull of stuff like this without affecting continuity in other titles so don't expect Scott Snyder to talk about Natalya in his own Bat-run because she only existed in TDK, much like the nefarious and city-wide crimes committed by Scarecrow and Mad Hatter in their respective volumes are exclusive to TDK. There's a bonus story in here called Once Upon a Halloweenabout a night with Penguin, Scarecrow and Mad Hatter which was rather interesting to say the least. I was baffled by it but I nonetheless thought it was quirky and fun to see these villains painted in such a light. So, overall, The Dark Knight volume 3: MAD was a great improvement from the last two volumes combined. I certainly hope Hurwitz would continue this upward projectile in his next collected volume which I will get around to reading and reviewing next.
I finished the first volume of The Dark Knight series earlier this month, which was misleadingly entitled Knight Terrors penned by David Jenkins. I felt good about the fact that I decided to review it as a volume and not as individual issues because the first nine collected in Knight Terrors weren't exactly top-shelf quality.
The most memorable moments of that book were also its most horrendously absurd particularly the creation of the White Rabbit lady who I disliked with fervor, something that even rivals my unending hate towards the Joker's Daughter. Pleasantly enough, this sophomore collection has a different writer (Gregg Hurwitz) though it's still illustrated by the same artist from the previous volume, the fabulous David Finch whose artwork is simply extraordinary. I think he remains as my favorite part of The Dark Knight title. Colorist Sonia Oback also helped in making every illustration shine for this volume which then in turn helped me enjoy what Hurwitz offered in the story department which was, in many ways, an improvement of Jenkins' run. Weirdly enough, there is no kind of connection between their works for this title so you can pick this up even without reading Knight Terrors.
I think that Gregg Hurwitz' Cycle of Violence was a polarizing collection, most notably because I sincerely believe that even though it has many potentials to become a fully-realized character-driven emotional story, the delivery and ultimate conclusion were a tad disappointing. In summary, this is a five-issued story arc concerning Jonathan Crane a.k.a the Scarecrow and his twisted plans involving the abduction and torment of young children in order to concoct and perfect his new brand of fear toxin. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is dating a Ukrainian pianist named Natalya who has expressed her disapproval over the fact that he is such an emotionally unavailable dud. But in spite of the obvious signs that this is a man who will never let her in, Natalya still wants their relationship to mean more than just keeping up appearances and the occasional shag. I didn't mind this angle of Bruce's story for this volume because I'm honestly still hangover from the unfulfilled and unresolved character arc about Silver St. Cloud from Len Wein's Strange Apparitions comics. I can't help but think about her while I was reading Natalya though this Ukrainian girlfriend is not as interesting of a character as Silver was. But Bruce's love life is not a subplot you will ever concern yourself with. The only reason I cared a bit was because I merely tried to draw parallels between this and that of Silver St. Cloud, but I was grasping at the straws about this one.
Still, this relationship drama does serve a real purpose to the plot, even if it's only to make some hollow connections regarding Bruce's inability to form healthy relationships with women he's romantically involved, and the extent of the childhood trauma he suffered. The zero issue included in this volume explored the ways he tried to cope from his parents' random deaths at the hands of the mugger Joe Chill whom he confronts at the end of that issue. It's a classic tale we all know as Bat-fans, but the zero issue's take lacked any kind of new insight to this aspect of Bruce's tormented psyche. There will be many times when reading this volume that you'd wonder why you even bother but, unlike Knight Terrors, you get the sense that Hurwitz is trying to make you at least care about his characters from the way he writes them, often lavishly examining the childhood traumas incurred by Bruce and Jonathan which turned them into creatures drawn to the darkness as Batman and the Scarecrow respectively. There is a bit of indulgence and excess in how grim and tragic the story was told that it takes me aback half the time while reading.
I think Hurwitz is trying to put more emotional weight in his issues for The Dark Knight which is something I can applaud him for because previous writer Jenkins didn't even bother. However, the transition from Jenkins' loud yet empty showmanship of action-packed and needlessly out-of-character interactions to this serious and gritty yet ultimately unsatisfying psychoanalysis concerning two deeply conflicted men can be the most jarring experience you will ever had as a Bat-fan or casual comic book reader. Overall, I liked and disliked both volumes for varied reasons. The only thing they have in common is the concept (and flimsy deconstruction) of FEAR. Jenkins' angle was something more entertaining than Hurwitz' whose self-aware and verbose contemplations of how fear damages people can get tediously sentimental. I like my Batman stories emotionally resonant and character-driven but what Hurwitz offered is a bit much for me, I'm afraid. Let me give you some panels that I did like:
The finale issue #15 has the big confrontation which was resolved in the most depressingly hilarious manner that I almost wanted to laugh and cry all at once. That was the only reason why this volume is receiving the same rating as Jenkins'. That wrap-up did not work for me in any level. It was just so absurd and weird! Still, Scarecrow's send-off was handled pretty much as what you could expect. Villains will never get happy endings and it really is just a cycle of violence for them. I never really bought Hurwitz' interpretation of the Scarecrow a hundred percent because I felt like he was, er, "wussified'. Hurwitz presented a Scarecrow who is just a scared young boy underneath his sewed-up lips (ugh, what is up with Bat-villains mutilating themselves lately? Everyone's an aspiring Victor Zsasz). I did like the fact that one of the children he kidnaps has developed Stockholm Syndrome for him and tries to justify his actions even after she was recovered by the police; it was pitiful. Small father-son moments between Bruce and Damian were also great. David Finch's art is the real main attraction for The Dark Knight series, nevertheless. I can still recommend this volume but you better prepare yourself for its very dark content that has a tendency to become emo-ish in some aspects.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
Reading all New 52 Bat-titles this year is self-obligatory which was why I knew that I was going to pick this up--granted, later rather than sooner because I was quite aware of the lukewarm response a lot of fans and critics share when it came to Paul Jenkins and David Finch's first nine issues collected in this particular volume misleadingly entitled Knight Terrors. It took me only two nights to finish this entire thing and even while I was midway through, I was already patting myself in the back for making a wise decision to simply review it later as a volume as oppose to the usual per-single issue quota that I've been doing since April. And I'll tell you why:
Knowing that the quality of writing for this one was subpar due to my research on other comic book websites, I decided that The Dark Knight might be best reviewed as a collected work for the most understandable reason ever: I DO NOT WANT TO REPEAT THE SAME INCIDENT WITH TONY DANIEL'S DETECTIVE COMICS which, if you've read my reviews for each of his issues in that title before, WAS LIKE WILLINGLY STEPPING INTO A CIRCLE OF HELL TO GET NEEDLESSLY TORTURED FOR A SIN I HAVE COMMITTED IN ANOTHER LIFE. It had been such a depressing week for me since I read Daniel's run last month, and I vowed from then on (after deciding to read and review his second volume as a collected work though it was already too late by then; the damage has been done) that I will NEVER READ AND REVIEW whatever heavily criticized Bat-title INDIVIDUALLY again. Hence why I am only posting this review for the first volume and for the second one before the year ends. And boy, I can't tell you how relieved I am right now while calmly typing this review.
Just like with Daniel, the quality of artwork for this title was the only best thing it had to offer consistently. Jenkins and Finch's nine issues were beautifully drawn with luscious illustrations colored splendidly. I loved Finch's depictions of Batman in a lot of panels and there are strong visual choices that really made me pause reading (which is probably not that difficult to do, mind you) just so I can stare at a particular landscape or an entire page filled with the most minuscule yet interesting background details. There is a great energy and motion in Finch's art that I admired all the while the writing end of the spectrum made me laugh so hard aloud once or five times while reading. And this is actually a good thing for me. The writing wasn't shitty enough if I compare it to Daniel's which HAD NEVER MADE ME CRACK A SMILE. Jenkin's writing at least made me throw my head back and laugh. And that's because the first five issues of this volume are "RIDONCULOUS" which is an adjective I hope to never use again and yet it seemed to be the best one to describe what I just read in their scope, dialogue and plot. I even screencapped some panels and posted them on my Goodreads notes because I felt the need to share to the rest of the cyberspace the absurd bullshit fun I was reading.
My favorite moments include that roided-up Clayface-as-Joker hugging Batman ("Come on, hugs!" he says which made me almost spit out the coke I was snorting drinking); and that random shot of Batman HOLDING A FUCKING ICE CREAM CONE which Alfred had given him one night while they were talking about the mission at hand. I will forever wonder what happened to that ice cream cone. It was never shown again in the next panels. Did Batman just finish it in one gulp and not get a brain freeze, like the badass he is? Or did he spend some time licking the damn thing off-screen while he as inside the Batmobile? These are just the many questions I never thought I will ask and then get frustrated when they were never answered. And who am I to rob you of these pristine beauties? It would be an injustice so, here, allow me to bequeath you with the said panels:
A notable thing that I want to bring up for this volume is the fact that it made use of the Alice in Wonderland allegory which I was actually fine with. I'm an avid Lewis Carroll fan, especially his Alice character, and the fact that we have Mad Hatter as part of the rogues gallery here in Batman is a treat for me. However, I don't think Jenkins did a good job applying this allegory on his stories for this volume, especially his incorporation of the White Rabbit lady whom I loathed because she was so uncomfortably blatant in the pages. She's basically a sexy girl in a white lingerie and bunny ears, like some Playboy knock-off prancing around coquettishly, making suggestive remarks to Batman about how far down the rabbit-hole goes. Her insertion in the issues was confusing and forced, and did not help me appreciate what I was reading, truth be told.
By the sixth to seventh issues where Bane was the focus, I was shockingly happy about it because I retain that those issues have to be the most enjoyable ones I have read for the volume--and judging from my previous review of the Knightfall Omnibus volume one last July, y'all should know that I am not the biggest fan of the venom-totting guy. That said, I loved Bane and Batman's confrontational fight scenes, and the tonality of the dialogue sounded better too whereas in the previous five issues they were often out-of-character (most particularly Gordon's. He's a bit weepy and clingy with Batsy, by the way. I don't understand why he's acting like some scorned ex-girlfriend or something). The eighth issue was plenty of exciting read too with a few moments to criticize in between. Again, we get another Alice allegory but it was pretty acceptable with the plot. Finally, we have the Night of the Owls tie-in for issue #9 which I remember reading way back so I didn't bother reading it again because I also recall it was one of the weakest of the tie-in bunch too. So that's Knight Terrors, ladies and gents.
With a fabulous artwork by David Finch, the volume was a visual achievement but the writing by Paul Jenkins and Finch themselves lacked any kind of memorable moments except those that were utterly ridiculous and out-of-character. Still, there is some potential here and pieces of the plot that can be salvaged and improved upon. Since I didn't have to individually examine each issue, it helped me enjoy even the most irritating bullshit this volume offered, hence why I can give it a generous rating below and just happily walk away so I can start reading Grant Morrison's New 52 line-up for Batman Incorporated by next week.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
