Truth, from a certain point of view.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ray Fawkes
Art: Juan E. Ferreyra
What They Say:
As the Midnight Shift is dragged in for interrogation by Internal Affairs, Dr. Tarr makes a startling discovery that might change everything for Corrigan and The Spectre. But will it be too late?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the upcoming end of Gotham by Midnight, a real shame as this is definitely one of my favorite DC Comics books, we’re now aware of just how final this current arc is going to seem. The series in this arc has done some good work so far in splitting up the team while teasing a larger issue yet making sure that it all feels utterly personal and futile in so many ways. While the opening arc focused on the dangers that exist within Gotham and the underlying evil there, this one has focused on the inability to understand those that protect the city from itself. Corrigan has a long and complicated history, though I’m less aware of his post-Flashpoint history, but the simple matter is that this is not something that can be easily controlled with his human host form. And trying to corner the Spectre through him isn’t the smartest thing in the world to do.
With the Internal Affairs storyline, that takes up the bulk of the book here. While we see Tarr and the others coping with everything from their precinct being bagged and tagged and learning from Tarr that the black flowers are really not what they seem, the main focus is on Drake and Corrigan being interrogated separately in order to get what they need. With Drake, the story isn’t exactly completely clear with what they want beyond basically implicating Corrigan and getting her to testify against him, promising her that they can protect her from him. But she knows the truth of what Corrigan contains and her laugh when they offer protection is priceless. She knows there’s no defense and she also knows that going after Corrigan for the Spectre will end up leaving Gotham in a worse place. It’s well played right through the sequence where the coming evil impacts her and she begins to fall prey to it. Ferreyra really nails the visual for this as she keels over and looks like she’s walking out of an Exorcist set.
The real meat of the book is the Internal Affairs team going after Corrigan. He’s been a cop and around cops for an age and he knows the game. It’s off-putting to them because of that and he calls them out on it regularly, but as they really begin to slip the noose around him and what he’s done you see just how scared he can become. With an examination of various cases from the last couple of years that they know he was involved with, watching his weak defense that it wasn’t him is really engaging because he can’t offer a true defense without revealing his other side. Yet the fact that they know, and are playing with this to try and control him and put him away, is frightening in and of itself. It also begins to look at the relationship between Corrigan and the Specter when it comes to its targets and why so many that are truly evil aren’t gone after. There are no easy answers here (beyond comic book business realities), but Fawkes looks to try and find an out with this and it could change the nature of Corrigan himself if the truth is that he’s in far more control than he ever believed. It a really grisly turn at the end here, which fits in with the book, and the potential for a real breakdown is exciting.
In Summary:
Knowing there’s only a bit left is certainly saddening as this is one of those books that keeps me within the DC Comics universe, since the mainline titles don’t do much to entice me. What we get with this installment is a clearer idea of just where it’ll go for the arc and that it could really end up wrapping up things in a way that gives us some closure. The focus on what Corrigan has been up to the last few years is interesting as we see the IA pair really put it all together and try and get to the truth of it all, all while touching upon Drake and the others in different ways. Ferreyra really gives it a great sense of tension as the shift between mid-range scenes and close-up panels helps to expand on what Corrigan is going through, shifting him from his cool confidence to the panic that hits at the end. While all of this was set up by Gordon awhile ago, you really wish he had clued in a few more people to be a part of it so that it wouldn’t get taken apart like this. But the unfolding of an intriguing department is fascinating to watch. I just wish we had a lot more of it ahead of us.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
