The decision to hit the reset button on all Batman continuity is an understandable
one for DC. Inevitably, this will create
some strong stories as writers try to retread familiar ground without seeming
predictably. Inevitably, also, some
stories will serve as fill-in. Not every
Batman publication can be a
showstopper.
As much as I admire Tony S. Daniel’s drawing style, I was
rather disappointed by the writing here.
All the prerequisites for an early Batman
story are here: the Joker, the
Penguin, a cameo from Catwoman, and no Robin yet in sight; a young Gordon; a
Bruce Wayne still intent on maintaining a playboy façade. Perhaps it’s my personal preference, for
though this hasn’t the logistic flights of fantasy of The Joker’s Last Laugh, its grisly obsession with pseudo-medical
sadism and piecemeal disfigurement hearkens to Batman of the future, less so to
Batman Begins. And indeed, there must be enormous
pressure to do something completely different to the Nolan!verse. Unfortunately, for me, Nolan!verse is my
comfort zone and default Batman setting.
Daniel draws Batman better than almost anyone else working
today. His sense of composition is
dynamic and complex. His Batman is bold,
powerful, rippling with muscle, but never unwieldy or an unimaginable
beefcake. I like his Harvey Bullock,
Gordon, and though his Bruce Wayne looks a little too Superman for me, I think
there’s a little in joke in that one of the (impossibly proportioned) female
characters has a perfect porcelain mask that never reveals what horrors like
beneath.
Horrors, indeed.
There are some excellent moments in Faces
of Death which stand out from the general malaise the volume gives me. Batman’s interior monologues are crisp and
convincing. The Joker has become a cult
figure to disaffected (or plain vicious) Gothamites, reflecting scenes from Can’t Get You Out of My Head or the
viral campaign that preceded the release of The
Dark Knight. The plotline involving
Mercy Hospital has nice (if unintentional) echoes of the Nolan!verse, and
Alfred is, as ever, a delight. The
Charlotte-the-reporter and Jill-the-assassin storyline was far too incredible
for me to give it any credence (why do all women in DC Batman-verse have to be either fighting machines or victims? The only exception I can think of is Dr
Leslie Tompkins—for all her sins, Rachel in the Nolan!verse was in many ways a
far more stable female role model). I
liked the character Snakeskin (surely a Clayface preamble?), and the Joker had
a few truly Burton-esque panels which looked wonderfully retro.
For me, the most exciting part was “Russian Roulette,” with
very striking art by Szymon Kudranski and Toneu Morley, featuring Catwoman and
a hitherto unknown (to me) character, Eli Strange.
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