“The Hot Toy This Christmas”
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Russell
Art: Scott Koblish
Colors: Nick Filardi
Letterer: ALW’s Troy Peteri
What They Say:
The Toyman is creating the MUST-HAVE toy this Christmas, and everyone’s gotta have a piece of it…but when the toys become violent with the innocent press of a button, Batman must find a way to be in every home in Gotham, before it’s too late!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Timely tales aren’t one that always hold up in a lot of ways when read out of season but when they fall at the right time and place, they can be magical. Batman: Gotham Nights brings back Mark Russell for more and I couldn’t be more delighted to have him on these kinds of books. While he’s fantastic at long-form storytelling he’s also one of the strongest that DC has had in doing regular single-story books on the digital line and that’s a huge plus. This time he’s paired once more with Scott Koblish and it works out ideally to give us a Christmas-themed adventure for the caped crusader who is dealing with a Gotham that is both happier and pettier because of the season.
Naturally, the premise involves Toyman as he’s worked up the best new toy of the year that all the kids will want with Benny. Benny’s a pretty good learning toy in that it learns its kids name and talks to them that way, so it’s a delight to be sure. Toyman’s got a slew of them out there as it’s the big hit of the season and we even see some adults fighting over one in an alley, which is where Batman catches sight of the thing. Intending to bring it to the orphanage as a donation, he doesn’t quite get the chance as the thing busts out of its packaging and tries to attack him. Discovering this alongside learning that a family was killed by another one who activated a couple of days before Christmas puts him on the path to figuring out what’s going on here.
Naturally, Toyman is at the top of the suspect list and I do like that it’s a grand plan out of the guy. He wants to create such a massive distraction so he can break his father out of Blackgate prison while also being able to impress him with what he did. He’s got a pretty good crew put together for it and the results clearly show themselves in the toy. But once Batman is one it, I like how he works the media to try and turn things to his own advantage – and how badly that goes for Gordon in attempting to warn people – and working some of the toys himself so that he can push Toyman into revealing the scope of his plan and making it so that he needs to be saved by Batman as well. It’s not just a quick hit and beatdown that goes on here but something far more threatening.
In Summary:
With a great team and a solid story that has the space to breathe, Batman: Gotham Nights delivers the perfect little Christmas story within Gotham. There are several villains you can run with in this kind of holiday and Toyman may be an easy one but it works well and delivers a good bit of fun. Russell’s scripts provides for some nice personality when it comes to the interactions between Bruce and Alfred but also the narration for Batman. Koblish’s artwork is always fantastic and I thoroughly enjoy his take on Batman and a kind of classic 80s-ish feeling Gotham that’s not overly stylized but has its own personality. Definitely the kind of story to get me into the holiday mode, comic book style.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Amazon Kindle
Release Date: November 30th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
