A twist in the mix?
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: David Finch, Sandra Hope, Matt Banning
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: John Workman
What They Say:
“I Am Gotham” part five. In the final chapter of this epic, is Batman truly the hero Gotham City deserves-or does it deserve better? In this ultimate showdown, where the line between allies and enemies blurs, the question will finally be answered…and the fate of Gotham will be decided.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening arc for this Batman series under Tom King’s story guidance comes to a close here and has an epilogue installment the next time around. What becomes interesting is that in the last couple of pages we get the twist that this is all just a preamble for what’s to possibly come with the true star of the story, which is something that had been bothering me over the previous four issues. While much of the focus was on Gotham, a most frustrating of name in a city of the same name, Gotham Girl was relegated to the background and just a mess after Psycho Pirate did his damage with her. She felt like little more than an accessory at most that I really had to wonder what King’s plan was for it considering the complexity of his other works.
This installment works two tracks in a pretty good way. The main focus is on the action as Batman works to get back to the city so he can stop Gotham and that involves several different methods in a short amount of space. I loved Alfred’s dressing up in the costume sequence and how meek he looks in it combined with his narration that makes it clear that things did not go as expected in life. I was less than amused at Batman having a controlled plane crash into the city to try and stop Gotham since he knows it won’t be enough to do it and the potential for sprawling collateral damage is big. What I did like was seeing the Justice League show up, a rarity in Gotham as Batman never really wants them there as they don’t work the rhythm and flow of the city, but they’re underused and little more than props. We do get some decent material with the fight between Batman and Gotham as he does his best to turn the focus on him as opposed to the city, but it’s all a holding action to buy time.
The more interesting track in the book for me is what’s going in the Batcave as Batman has tasked Duke – a character I still don’t know much about – with trying to find out how to stop Gotham through Gotham Girl. She’s still scared because of the Psycho Pirate’s effects and seeing her brother getting smacked around just heightens everything for her with the potential of being alone combined with the belief that nothing can stop him based on how their powers were given to them. It’s not terribly clear, presumably to be explored later, but it works well as the narrative shifts from it being about Gotham to Gotham Girl revealing her involvement in Batman’s upcoming death and the connection she’ll grow with Duke as all of this is being related as though it’s a flashback. It’s a curious piece and, damnit, King got me more curious because I thought Gotham Girl had a lot more potential than Gotham anyway.
In Summary:
Of all the Rebirth/relaunch books that I’ve been checking out and going forward with, Batman is the one that I’m feeling the weakest on. It’s also the only bi-weekly book that I’ve been reading as well, so I have more material to work with. I like aspects of what King does here with the story and I love Finch’s layouts and all the work with the art team in giving it power and impact, but the overall first arc just feels weak and without enough of a strong hook. The ending stinger here is enough to get me to come back to see what the next arc is like after the epilogue issue the next time around but this is a book that has to still earn the subscription button from me at this point. I have plenty of faith in Tom King based on his other works but there comes a point where you want to invest only so far and part of me wonders if I’m just not able to connect with the main Batman books anymore as well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 17th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
