In this review of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #6, more familiar faces show up as things start to come to a head in Smallville, Kansas.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #6 main cover by Leandro Fernandez
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Leandro Fernandez
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Cover: Leandro Fernandez
Variant Cover Artists: Edwin Galmon, Javier Fernandez, Dave McCaig
Release Date: November 13, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers
The Story
In Rub’ Al-Khali AKA “The Empty Quarter” Arabia, a group of ninjas bring a captive John Constantine before their sheikh: Ra’s Al Ghul. When Ghul asks what he is after, Constantine tells of an immortal man who has appeared at key points throughout history. He believes Ra’s is guarding the secret power behind this immortality and the Queen has sent him to get it. Constantine reveals his plan to doublecross the Queen but Ra’s still orders his men to kill him. However, when Constantine mentions the man in black bearing the Kryptonian medallion who he encountered last issue, Ra’s holds his men back to ask about the man.
Meanwhile, on the vessel carrying Adam Strange and Diana of Themyscira across the South Atlantic, chaos breaks out when a crewman insists he saw a monster below deck. Diana goes down to confront the creature only to find the man in black with the Kryptonian medallion. When he offers an alliance between them, she loops him with her truth-lasso forcing him to reveal that he is a martian who has come to Earth to destroy the man who laid waste to his world.
Back in Smallville, Reporter Lois Lane asks Sheriff Clark Kent out to a wild west show. He accepts but immediately has to break the date when his deputy asks that Clark cover his shift so that he can go on a date himself. That night in the jailhouse, a red-masked mesmerist named Diablo enters and puts Clark into a trance that causes him to release the recent inmates: Slipknot and Deadshot. The gang asks Clark where the Kryptonian fallen star is and he reveals that they’ve kept it hidden in the town bank. Once they have what they want they burn down the jailhouse, leaving Clark tied up inside.
Over at the wild west show, a group of performers including Killer Croc, CopperHead, and Harley Quinn hold the audience hostage with a bundle of dynamite beneath the bleachers and demand to know the location of the Kryptonian fallen star. They then link up with Deadshot and co. to retrieve the Kryptonian treasure from the town’s bank vault.
Meanwhile, Alan Scott returns to a Smallville saloon and is confronted by Batman in his room who demands to know what happened to the Colorado train that derailed. Scott shoots an emerald blast out of his ring, causing Batman to go flying through the wall.
There is a brief flash to characters from all over the book reacting to a shift in the comic energy before Clark Kent comes walking out of the burning sheriff’s office wearing heroic blue and red threads.
Analysis
With Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #6, we’ve officially hit the halfway mark of this story and if you’re not onboard by now, the narrative has long since left you behind. To put it another way, you probably know if this book is your jam or not by now. As the narrative arc has come into starker and starker focus each issue, it’s become clear that what Andy Diggle is after is to create a true globe spanning epic more akin to Darwyn Cooke’s The New Frontier than to Brian Augustyn’s original Gotham by Gaslight. I’ve seen some fans bristle at this choice, but DC’s recent announcement of the “League For Justice” continuation makes it clear how deeply they’re investing in this property.
The narrative threads in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #6 continue to coalesce around certain Kryptonian macguffins like the Ring of Jong Li, the fallen star of Krypton, and even Superman himself. The opening pages of John Constantine meeting Ra’s Al Ghul and Wonder Woman encountering Martian Manhunter (who I mistakenly identified as The Phantom Stranger last review) get a little bogged down in information, and it can still feel like Andy Diggle is reaching slightly beyond his grasp in terms of scope. But the issue’s second half is where it really shines. There’s a great old western feel to the Superman stuff especially in the scene where the town outlaws tie him up and leave him for dead. Then the issue heats up for a climax in Smallville as we intercut between several different scenes occurring across town: the wild west show featuring a cabal of DC rogues, the discovery of the Kryptonian “fallen star” in the bank vault, Batman confronting Adam Scott, all culminating with Superman’s appearance.
Leandro Fernandez continues to exhibit his skill in drawing locations spanning the globe from the Arabian desert, to the South Atlantic sea, to feudal Japan. He also presents us with the first full appearance of the Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Superman costumes. Manhunter is still in his more alien form, and the glimpse we get of him peeking out of the shadows, lit only by the luminosity of Diana’s lasso, is incredibly cool. Alan Scott’s costume is a bit of a simplification and honestly a downgrade from his original look but Superman has the most divergent appearance yet. What he’s been given looks something like a 19th century train conductor’s uniform with a big red “S” sewed into the chest, and a blue eye mask. The mask in particular is an interesting choice as people’s face blindness when it comes to Clark/Superman seems to be a pretty established concept by this point, but it works well to differentiate him from past looks.
Final Thoughts
By this point, you know what you’re in for with this run. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #6 serves up more epic globe spanning storytelling and a heck of a climax in Smallville.
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