More shocking revelations and surprise character appearances abound in this review of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3 main cover by Leandro Fernandez
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Leandro Fernandez
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover: Leandro Fernandez and Dave McCaig
Variant Cover Artists: Francesco Francavilla and Felipe Massafera
Release Date: August 14, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers
The Story
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3 begins as from the midst of his Antarctic expedition, Adam Strange writes to Bruce Wayne about the mythic battle he witnessed between several giant otherworldly centipedes and a mysterious Amazonian warrior. Once the alien threat is neutralized, the warrior reveals herself to be Diana from Themyscira leaving the explorers with a warning that the doom that the sons of Krypton once brought upon this world has returned. Unfortunately for them, they are unable to understand her native tongue.
In Gotham City, socialite Bruce Wayne attends a private club called The Black Cat dressed as “Malone.” There, Selena Kyle reveals that she knows Wayne’s other alter ego, just as he knows hers. Together they interrogate the final living agent from the League of Shadows attack in issue #1 about the significance of the Ring of Jong Li, but all they can get out of him are the whispered words: “the sleeper awakens.”
Subsequently, aboard a passenger train hurtling through Colorado, an eclectic young arealist named Alan Scott meets a elderly debutante with a glowing emerald ring: the real ring of Jong Li. Only moments later a group of mercenaries blow up the tracks and derail the train before also speaking the cryptic phrase: “for the sleeper awakens.”
Back in Antarctica, Diana uses the lasso of truth to show Adam Strange where she truly comes from. It’s a fortified city within a subterranean hellscape called Skartaris, which is populated by deformed creatures and monsters. Their Amazon seers have foretold the return of a Kryptonian doom that could lay waste to all of human civilization. Despite being pressured to not interfere, Diana became the sole warrior to successfully find a path to the surface world and attempt to save humanity from the impending threat. Meanwhile on Mars, the doors of an alien casket burst open and an exotic green arm emerges.
Analysis
Writer Andy Diggle and artist Leandro Fernandez continue their extrapolation of the original 1989 classic this month with the welcome addition of colorist Matt Hollingsworth. While the origins of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3 lie more in the tradition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Diggle’s globe spanning (and now planet spanning) epic owes just as much to late era Indiana Jones. What has become increasingly clear is that The Kryptonian Age serves as more of an alternate origin story for the entire DC Universe in the late 19th century than just Batman himself. In fact, only 7 of the issue’s 33 pages are set in Gotham with Bruce Wayne, and Batman is nowhere to be seen.
The Gotham segment, brief as it is, is the highlight of the issue as we get a nod to Batman’s classic alter-alter ego Matches Malone and the beginnings of an unlikely partnership between Bruce and Selena. Aboard the Colorado steam engine we get our first glimpse of the true macguffin of the series so far: the glowing Ring of Jong Li as well as a showmanly take on Alan Scott, an arealist with a hot air balloon he calls “the Green Lantern.” It stands to reason that Scott will gain possession of the ring after or during the train crash. But then again, maybe that’s just what they want us to think.
The weakest part is the convoluted backstory Diana provides to Adam Strange to close out the issue. The inclusion of Skartaris gives Leandro Fernandez an excuse to draw a bunch of thoughtless freaky looking mutants, but it’s unclear how this is related to the impending “doom of Krypton.” I worry that this seed is being planted to set up a big dino-mutant VS Justice League blowout ala Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier, which is not a direction I’m particularly enthused about. The density of the storytelling so far has created such an intricate framework of characters and mysteries that I’m hoping the payoff is just as clever as the setup has been.
Still despite those concerns, taken on its own, this is a great issue. Diggle’s period dialogue and intricate plotting is as strong as anything in DC’s current output and I’m sure he has more than a few surprises in store for the months ahead. Afterall, we do get a tag hinting at the introduction of Martian Manhunter and there’s still a certain significant Kryptonian who has yet to show his face. Could we be headed towards a Superman villain story? I think we might be.
Leandro Fernandez’s art and Matt Hollingsworth’s colors imbue the comic with the cinematic bravura an epic story like this deserves. Fernandez’s battle between Diana and the Skartarian centipede monster has such a scale and weight to it that when the creature burrows itself into the icy tundra, you can feel it in the pit of your stomach. The switch in locale to Gotham is communicated so beautifully through shadowy silhouettes and dark basements that you would know immediately where you were even if you missed the location title at the top of the page. Malone hidden in darkness to the point where he looks like a floating mustache and frames is awesome. The half page splash of Selena’s tied up interrogee is so jarring I could hear the music cue in my head as the tone shifts. To resist the urge to praise the visuals of every scene, I’ll jump straight to the end where Fernandez and Hollingsworth’s stark and desolate Mars immediately recalled the seminal work of Michael Whelan on the Martian Chronicles. Stunning is the only suitable word for it.
Final Thoughts
As to be expected, the terrific team behind this book has delivered another excellent issue both expanding and fleshing out the world of the 19th century DC Universe. While some narrative choices raise concerns for where this story is headed and the Wonder Woman exposition dumb could’ve been handled better, you’d be hard pressed to find a more intelligent and well produced comic on store shelves today.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advance 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.
