Overview: In Detective Comics #1079, Batman is dead! Catwoman has lost! But like any heist, all is not as it seems…
Title: Gotham Nocturne: Intermezzo – Batman, Outlaw Part 4
Writer: Ram V
Writer (Backup): Dan Watters
Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander, Liam Sharp
Artist & Colors (Backup): Juan Ferreyra
Colors: Dave Stewart
Main Cover: Evan Cagle
Variant Covers: Jason Shawn Alexander, Sebastian Fiumara, Liam Sharp
Release Date: December 12, 2023
This comic book review contains spoilers.
As Catwoman sees Batman’s body hanging, she thinks that the Orghams have won. Her team mourns – Oracle, Azrael, Cheshire and Shoes, Cassandra Cain Batgirl and Mr. Freeze – as Shavod claims victory. As Oracle asks Catwoman for direction, Shoes and Cheshire break free of their attackers, and Azrael faces Gael the wolfman. As Shavod demands Selina surrender her team, Catwoman reveals that she’s actually Eiko Hasigawa, a second Catwoman, and uses a smoke bomb to break free herself.
Selina Kyle, disguised as an Orgham guard, steals Batman’s body – still living, but poisoned by one of Ivy’s poisons. Solomon Grundy, Cheshire, and Shoes arrive to help escort Batman’s body to Jim Gordon and his van. Freeze betrays Batgirl, leading the attempt to destroy the reality engine founder. Renee Montoya dons the mask of the Question again and fights the Orghams.
The last part of Selina’s heist remains: Get Batman’s body to Talia al Ghul’s boat at the docks.
Ram V builds up his “Outlaw” story to its penultimate climax here, and the tension is quite well-managed. As expected from last issue, the classic heist “twist” or “turn” appears in the use of the second Catwoman and the recontextualization of Selina’s visit to Bruce in the second issue of the arc. It’s very well handled, from the narration managing our emotions, to the various team members, then the reveal and ramping up of action. Artists Jason Shawn Alexander, assisted this issue by Liam Sharp, handle the scenes extremely cinematically, with pacing, flashbacks, and action that really hit home emotionally. While the switch between artists is obvious to those who know Sharp and Alexander’s styles, it’s another very good blending of styles. And quite reasonable given the five issues in two months schedule of this arc – though still, it would have been nice for DC to plan enough in advance to have Alexander handle art duties solo.
All of our heist team members get one or two cool things to do. For those who have been reading Ram V’s Gotham work for a while, the work he’s done on Cheshire and Shoes probably hits home a bit harder. But though it’s very nicely constructed, and once again, Ram V masterfully deploys each character to their strengths (especially hardcore, bombastic Azrael and his exploding sword), there are so many that none of them really seems to develop or show something really deep. A huge cast is always a problem for an ensemble arc. The Ocean movies basically focus on three or four characters, with the remaining 11 providing fun color or one “thing” that stands out in a short scene. However, I think it might have been nice to maybe take out one or two of the characters and simplify the scheme to give more focus to the remaining characters. One could imagine even more emotion and themes being poured into Azrael and Shoes’s arcs, instead of the brief (but delightful) glimpses we get. With that caveat, the arc remains one of the strongest Ram V has done in Detective Comics to date.
It is a bit perplexing that the arc is called “Batman, Outlaw” when that sounds more appropriate for the solicited next arc. “Batman, The Hanged” or “The Execution” feel more appropriate, and have the same Western flavor. Even so, “Batman, Outlaw” still gets a much stronger thumbs up from this reviewer!
Detective Comics #1079 variant cover by Sebastian Fiumara
In the backup story, the Queen of the Orghams sails across the sea to Gotham. Along the way, the crew attacks her, but she reveals she poisoned all but one, and they die frothing. The one who remains she charges to spread the fear of her voyage, as she gazes upon the Gotham coast.
Dan Watters takes on the story point of the Queen of the Orghams arriving in Gotham like Dracula arriving in London on the Demeter. I think it probably would have worked a bit better if we hadn’t had all of the backups where we saw the Queen murdering and plotting so many times, so the mystery is lost, and all that’s left is the cruelty. However, it’s an effective bit of reference woven into a new context, with nicely done dialogue. Juan Ferreyra, always an excellent horror artist (from such solid tales as Gotham by Midnight), really does well with the tension and evil of the queen. He captures a lot of really striking images of the queen and her power that hopefully will return as she plays a bigger role in Gotham Nocturne.
Evan Cagle’s main cover features a ragged wooden cross facing a sun rising or setting – a nicely bleak image, with a branded bat on the cross for specificity (also featured in black and white as the 1 in 50 incentive). Interior artist Jason Shawn Alexander gives us a black and white Batman in front of a coffin – pretty effective, with gorgeous lighting and shading effects. Sebastian Fiumara’s variant shows a Batman with his arms above him, chained by negative space manacles, a lot of processing of the image to make it look damaged, sort of like an old photograph. To celebrate this month’s DC movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Francesco Mattina paints a muscular Black Manta blasting underwater. Lastly, both as part of his series of Wanted Poster covers, and as interior artist for this issue, Liam Sharp gives us a simple but evocative Question image as the 1 in 25 incentive.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by pre-ordering this issue digitally through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
