Batman#4
Story by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion
Review Score: 9 / 10
Scott Snyder dives immediately into last issues crazy cliff hanger by first showing us that Batman does indeed escape his fate . Showing us that Bruce still is able to stay just ahead of The Court of Owls and their Hired assassin Talon . Following Batmans narrow escape Scott chooses to pump the brakes on the action . Again Dick Grayson makes his way into the issue and it is through his observations that Bruce finally chooses to open up to Dick and us the reader about why he is so reluctant to believe in The Court of Owls.
It turns out after the death of his parents that Bruce actually tried to hunt and find a connection between The Court of Owls and his parents sudden death . By showing us Bruce’s first attempt at being a detective we are able to see that even in his youth Bruce was cocky and over confident and that over confidence lead to him getting himself into a very dangerous situation. Bruce looks at what happened as a silly mistake and proof that The Court doesn’t exist. Dick serves as the other side of the argument , telling Bruce that Gotham may not have always been his and that he should watch himself in the immediate future.
Greg Capullo’s art is a bit simpler this issue which suits Scott’s flashback story very well. He allows Jonathan Glapion’s inks to over take his art more and it works really well . The color palette is very basic using dark purples and blues and reminds me a bit of Tim Sales work on The Long Halloween. Capullo does manage to make very creative layouts showing us how intensive Bruces investigation is as he tries to solve his parents murder. On one page we see a very detailed map of Gotham and on the next we see pages and pages of notes that show just how obsessed Bruce has been with this case since child hood.
Bruce finishes his story and decides to investigate further in the sewers of Gotham . Just like in the flashback, Bruce’s over confidence gets the best of him and Scott Snyder shows us the first glimpse into The Court of Owls Labyrinth. After four issues it looks like next issue will be full of action and a lot of answers . Batman continues to be a consistently well written and beautifully drawn series, and as things look worse for Batman the future of the series looks nothing but promising.
Mike DeVivo
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