Batman #4 “Face the Court” – Written by Scott Snyder – Art by Greg Capullo
My apologies that this review is late in coming…in the future when issues come out you can expect a review on it at Dark Knight News within the next couple of days. That being said, I will let you know that a few more late reviews will be coming, on Nightwing #4, Catwoman #4, and Detective Comics #4. If enough people email me (chris@darkknightnews.com) and request that I review another line of Batman comics, I will consider adding it to my list.
We find Batman in this issue being blasted into oblivion by an explosion coming from the thirteenth floor in a building owned by Wayne Enterprises. Don’t worry folks. He’s Batman, in other words immortal.
Snyder and Capullo bring yet another great Batman issue to the table, but there are a few things that get me. The first I guess is a knit-picky problem that I have as a Batman fan, but others might not think of it as much. But if you are like me, and you have also read the three preceding comics in the series, you will understand my problem. It is best explained with use of the photo below:
To state the painfully obvious, Bruce & Co. all look exactly alike. In fact, I think Alfred is the only male character who does not look like Bruce Wayne’s brother. Like I said, only people who have read many of the previous comics will think of this as an annoyance, so it is not a terrible problem.
The only other thing I think the authors could have improved on in this issue is the progress in the mystery. In Batman #3, to put it frankly, things happened. Not that things didn’t happen in this issue, it is just that to me, this series is really presenting Batman as the detective he is, and he showed many of his skills in the field in #3. Instead half this issue is spent in the Batcave, with Bruce finding out pieces of the mystery that the read already discovered in #3.
This leads to my praise for the issue. Bruce has an excellent discussion with Dick Grayson on his early life (and the beginning of his detective career, for that matter). We are shown some great flashbacks of young Bruce investigating the legend of the Court of Owls and how he had long suspected that they were behind his parents’ death. It brings a great surprise and depth to Bruce Wayne’s story and I hope they continue to delve into it.
Over all I found this issue intriguing, but it left out the suspense of discovering the Court of Owls that #3 portrayed. It had an excellent backstory and leaves us waiting expectedly for the next issue.
And what can we expect in Batman #5? Batman finds himself alone in a labyrinth controlled by the Court of Owls. I find it hard to believe that this will be the climax of this current story, as I have been suspecting that this storyline will last all year so DC Comics will be able to publish a twelve-issue collection.
