Batman: Li'l Gotham #4
New Year’s Eve
DC’s release schedule for Li’l Gotham has me a bit stumped. They release their Christmas issue nearly a week before Christmas which makes a sort of sense. After all, people enjoy Christmas stories before the big day itself. However, they also chose to release their New Year’s issue on Christmas day. Does that make sense to anyone?
Well, I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Li’l Gotham has been a whole lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed all the previous episodes immensely. This issue's cover makes it look as if the Gotham City Sirens are taking center stage. Is this a rousing tale of crime and mayhem or does Li’l Gotham fail to work apart from the Bat?
In this issue, Catwoman fails to live up to her New Year’s Resolution of living crime free when the Sirens convince her to throw a New Year’s Revolution.
One Note
Sad to say it, but this issue just didn’t live up the quality of the previous three.
Let’s get the praise out of the way. First, the visuals are beautiful as always, and the personalities are great playing up the most fanciful and playful aspects of the characters. There were definitely some scenes which made me laugh especially Ivy’s line, “We water all the plants.” On that note, Ivy stole the show for me being a sort of pixie like creature. I wouldn’t mind seeing her in her own featured Li’l Gotham tale.
Despite the issue's inarguable charm, this issue did have problems. The main drawback of this issue is that by page eight, you’ve already seen all the comic has to offer in terms of plot. After that, it just rehashes the same idea in slightly different scenarios. It kind of reminded me of those extremely simplistic books for toddlers such as, “Where is Jacob’s ball? Is it in the closet? No. It is not in the closet. Where is Jacob’s ball? Is it in the bathroom? No, it is not in the bathroom.” It’s the same thing over and over again, and though it is more deep than Jacob’s ball, it was still a bit too repetitive for my taste.
The conclusion was also a disappointment. For one thing, a character appears at the end of the issue with no explanation. I consider myself pretty well versed with Batman, but I had to look her up. I know this is a series made for fans with a lot of inside knowledge, but if the comic can throw me off, then it is relying on rather obscure knowledge. Apparently, you more or less had to have read Gotham City Sirens to know this character. A panel introducing her at the beginning would have been enough to eliminate her surprise appearance at the end. (Spoiler) Furthermore, the conclusion showed no consequence for the Sirens crime spree which would make me hesitate to show this story to my children which is a shame since the series has otherwise been so kid friendly.
Conclusion 7/10
If you have enjoyed this series so far, you should still pick this up, but go in with moderate expectations.
For more news, reviews, and commentary for the entire Bat Family, check out BatWatch.net.