Batman: Gotham After Midnight #4 – Review

By Steve Niles (writer), Kelley Jones (art), Michelle Madsen (colors)

Since its debut, this has been one of my favorites titles by DC. What makes it so much fun for me is that it’s a brilliant and different take on the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, I’m troubled by how issue #4 reads. I’m not sure what happened, but I hope it’s a story hiccup and not a new direction.

Something is really off with Steve Niles’ dialogue this issue. For starters, Batman talks too much. I don’t mean too many lines, I mean each line is too long. It’s like a long winded Oscar speech, but nobody gave him the signal to “wrap it up”. I’m also turning on Midnight. The more he talks, the less I like him. I was unclear about his plan when he was a puppet-master and now that he’s become a heart stealing psycho I’m more lost. This isn’t to say it’s all bad, it isn’t. Batman’s scene in the cemetery with Gordon is executed really well; Niles depicts them as both peers and partners. The duo seek council from one another and Gordon isn’t just locking up Batman’s captives.

Kelley Jones’ artistic excellency is, thankfully, never ending. I’m not sure how his style would feel on another title, but here he truly shines. My favorite panel shows Mightnight’s silhouette on a brick wall after he’s killed Van Ark. The heart in the foreground and the details of the bricks within the lines of the silhouette is really great. What’s tough to follow, however, is how Midnight is drawn from panel to panel. Maybe it’s conveying something about the character or maybe it’s a stylistic choice – either way, he looks different shot to shot – sometimes very detailed, sometimes not. On a side note he’s starting to look like a horror version of Slash (from Guns N Roses fame) with the top-hat and stringy hair.

Part of why I like this series was how different it is. It’s possible that Steve Niles is trying to say or do too much with this issue. Either way, the writing feels off. I’m all for Midnight’s agenda – it seems like he has a good plan – I just wish we could get a better sense of what it is. Even though I’m left wondering what happened, Gotham After Midnight is still some of the best Batman reading out today. (Grade: C)

-Ben Berger