The Good
The all-star cast of writers continues to juggle one of the biggest casts in any NEW-52 titles and somehow allows them all to share the spotlight. We check in on Selina Kyle as she crashes one of the most hideous scenes we’ve yet seen in this title, or any other in DC. She winds up getting an unexpected call through an unexpected method to a very, very unexpected meeting. Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV have apparently decided to take this series in the darkest direction it’s gone yet while Tim Seeley wades in and handles the dialog and Ray Fawkes and Kyle Higgins provide vital support. It’s amazing to me, though perhaps it shouldn’t be, that each individual issue seems to have different tones (and casts) while, when taken as a whole, the entire thing holds together remarkably well. We also get some great follow-up from last issue regarding the Architect and what his plans ACTUALLY were. Turns out: they’re terrifying. I’m not sure, but without spoiling anything it looks like we’re getting the New-52 version of a well-known, well-loved Batman storyline and I am, so far, a big fan.
The visuals are, almost across the board, fantastic under the watchful, detailed, borderline-animated hand of Dustin Nguyen’s pencils. Characters have great distinction and looks all their own while his jagged style is perfect for the tone of the title. This isn’t a pretty book, but that doesn’t mean that it looks bad. The ultra-cartoonish look actually juxtaposes well with the bleak, dark subject matter. Derek Fridolfs’ inks do a great deal to establish tone and build what the book is wordlessly communicating to the reader, as well as highlighting Nguyen’s pencils and calling attention to the finer details. John Kalisz’s colors are the perfect mood-setting palette of dark, grim and razor-sharp. This is a very distinctive, kinetic issue and these colors look like the kinds of things that’d cut you if you ran your finger along the panel the wrong way.
The Bad
This book goes full-throttle with how dark, grim and absolutely brutal it is. Then it goes a little overboard with some acts of absolutely senseless brutality punctuated by further descriptions of insane viciousness that it actually wraps back around on itself into absurdity. When Tiger Shark describes the myriad endangered animals his outfit is made of, all I can do is flash back to an 80s movie where someone in a sharp suit describes what a pain it is dumping radioactive waste on an orphanage.
Dustin Nguyen’s art falters in only a few panels, but when it falters, it does so noticeably. It’s mostly in the facial structure, or the lack thereof when people’s jawlines become incredibly elongated or blunted, their faces rearranging like a morphing Clayface (who is not in the issue, as far as I know).
The Verdict
Selina is the main focal point of this story and I didn’t mention her a great deal as it’s hard to talk about her story without delving into some serious spoilers, but what is developing with her is becoming increasingly interesting. Whether this turns out to be what I think it is, and based on the final panel, it’s definitely looking like a move in that direction, or not, the story has been entertaining and surprisingly easy to follow. But moreover: extremely worthwhile to follow.
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