In Batman: City of Madness #3, Batman reaches the heart of Gotham Below and faces off with an occult entity to try and save Jevoney.
Title: Batman: City of Madness #3
Writer, Artist and Colorist: Christian Ward
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Main Cover: Christian Ward
Variant Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz, Patric Reynolds
Release Date: February 13th, 2023.
Please note: This review contains spoilers.
Batman: City of Madness #3 variant cover
(All images courtesy of DC Comics)
Batman: City of Madness #3 kicks off with Batman and Talon in Gotham Below fighting villains like Firefly and Croc to get to a version of Arkham that sits at the center of Gotham Below. Upon reaching Arkham, they meet the Gotham Below version of Harvey who explains that this all started with Amadeus Arkham and his failed attempts to save his son Arthur. Amadeus made a deal with a dark occult force he didn’t understand. The entity tricked him and switched Arthur with a copy and then began to feed off Arthur’s trauma and pain. Over time, the entity began to construct a city (Gotham Below) based around that pain. Harvey also reveals that the Gotham Below version of Bruce is dead because he tried to help him and that he was his friend. Batman and Talon get into a fight which results in Talon falling down a hole until he becomes face to face with the entity.
Meanwhile, Batman Below is trying to goad Jevoney (his potential new Robin) into committing murder by killing a man who resembles the man who killed Jevoney’s father. Batman interrupts and engages Batman Below in a fight. Talon is ingested by the entity and arms a suicide bomb from within the entity. Batman is able to convince Jevoney to turn away from the path of revenge by unmasking. Harvey informs Batman about Talon’s bomb and Batman takes Jevoney and escapes via a flying craft of Batman Below’s. Batman tries to save Arthur, but he declines to come with them. Back in the real Gotham, Jevoney gets counselling and the murderer of his father is brought to justice. And as Bruce and Alfred share a warm moment reunited in the Batcave, it is implied that the copy of Arthur Arkham in Gotham is the Joker.
Overall, I think Batman: City of Madness #3 wrapped up the main plot in a satisfactory manner. There are some good themes about fatherhood, mentorship, not pursuing a path of revenge and Batman growing to reach out to people as Bruce and help angry kids without making them sidekicks. While these themes were used, I’m not sure that any of them were really developed in much depth or in ways that we haven’t seen before.
I’m also not someone who needs every single thread to be wrapped up at the end of a story, but I found that there were a few rather large things left hanging. For example, the Court of Owls aspect is essentially hand waved away by Alfred saying Bruce told him not to worry about the Owls. Given their role in the plot and their origins in this story, I would have expected something a bit more than that. There were also a number of things that happened during the course of the story that seemed too convenient and that kind of took me out of the story. For example, if the Batman Below killed all the copies of the rogues, why is Harvey Below alive but imprisoned? Why and how is Harvey Below able to mystically project his consciousness to Gotham Above? Why does Harvey Below want to help if he’s created by the entity? How does Talon happen to fall right in front of the entity? How is there a flying craft conveniently parked near the fight for Batman to escape in and why does it not get destroyed if the entity gets blown up? And lastly, why is the copy of Arthur Arkham teased as the Joker? These are all questions that often took me out of the narrative a bit.
The art and colors in Batman: City of Madness #3 continue to be absolutely phenomenal and is the main draw for me with this book. I actually think this style and design would work amazingly well for an animated film. Ward understands the visual aspect of the comic book medium like few others right now. I hope to see him do more work at DC, and in Gotham specifically, in the future.
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 purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
