Urban legends in Batmanland?
Creative Staff:
Story: Corinna Bechko
Art: Juan Gedeon
Colors: Mike Spicer
Letterer: ALW’s Troy Peteri
What They Say:
Batman and Nightwing investigate an urban legend of monsters in the woods outside of Gotham City, but the basis for these stories might be stranger than they ever guessed…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Gotham Nights series continues to deliver some interesting books and this one puts together a solidly creative team to play within the realm of Gotham that might not otherwise. Corinna Bechko has done a lot of work outside of the Big Two that I like a lot so seeing her work with the cast here is definitely fun, especially as it presents Batman outside of his completely all-knowing mode we usually see from most writers. Juan Gedeon is similar to me in that regard and I really like what they put in here as there’s a kind of slight bulkier/chunkier look to them with a harder angle that fits well for a rough and tumble type. With Mike Spicer’s color design, we get something that definitely feels Gotham as well and the end result is a good looking book.
The premise has us dealing with a couple of adults that were off screwing around in the woods outside of Gotham but ended up running against some disturbing creatures. While they’re hiding that they’re drinking, they reveal enough about the cryptids that they saw that it draws Batman’s attention as a curiosity. Nightwing has little interest in it since he’s just going to hit patrols and not believe this urban legend garbage, which is amusing since that’s exactly what Batman was for so long. The two hit a good split here and it’s amusing seeing Nightwing talking about him off hunting Bigfoot while he does the hard work of patrolling the city. Which, of course, has him stumbling onto a group of troublemakers that was actually a trap for capturing Batman, making him a decent consolation prize – if they can catch him.
That there are creatures in the woods makes for some fun as they’re kind of mindless humanoid slug monsters of sorts and they’re congregating around an old satellite base that was there at the outskirts of town. Of course, we discover who is really behind this with Hugo Strange making his appearance so it turns into the kind of awkward story we get at this juncture. Strange is not a physical opponent so Batman and Nightwing deal with the slug monster but carefully because it turns out that they’re transformed humans as part of a thing Strange got connected on via information over the satellite. It’s a weird little twist that goes in some really unexpected directions as it goes on and reveals itself but it fits in its own weird way. Strange being kind of duped but figuring out his own way to interpret the data to make monsters is pure Strange.
In Summary:
I’m a big fan of Hugo Strange but more in a really solid psychological thriller kind of way, which is not what we get here. What we do get is weird and interesting so I’m not discounting it but it’s not my ideal is all. Bechko works some good stuff here in how Batman handles the situation all around while also giving us a younger Nightwing that isn’t quite so established, making him a bit more reckless and focused on his own goals instead of reading the right signs. Combine that with Gedeon’s solid artwork that delivers some interesting creatures and engaging action with a mystery twist at the end and it’s a fun way to spend a book.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Amazon Kindle
Release Date: November 16th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
