Batman #6 Review

Because of DC’s promotional tactic of releasing their new titles bi-monthly during the summer, we’ve unfortunately fallen behind on our Batman reviews, which is why we’re jumping from issue two all the way to issue six. Because of this, we have quite a bit to catch you guys up on.

Recently, some new masked heroes have arrived in Gotham, calling themselves Gotham and Gotham Girl. In my review of issue two, I erroneously referred to these characters as kryptonians given the shape of their chest insignias as well as their Superman-level abilities. However, we’ve since learned that they are, in fact, human, their powers the result of some sort of experiment. Things went well for a while, but that seldom lasts. The Psycho Pirate, a super-villain with the ability to manipulate emotions caused Gotham (the superhero not the city) to go on a homicidal rampage. As a result, Gotham’s sister, Gotham Girl was forced to kill him.

Naturally, taking any life, let alone one’s own brother, is going to mess you up and so our comic opens with Gotham Girl having an apparent mental breakdown, laughing like a maniac, talking to her brother as if he were still there and shaving her head for some reason. Gotham Girl then goes on a reckless streak of beating up d-list Batman villains like Colonel Blimp and Kite Man, all while laughing and talking to her brother. Realizing that this rampage is clearly not a healthy way to deal with her grief, Batman steps in to intervene. He offers Gotham Girl his help, but she’s unreceptive to him. In a really nice, if not tragic, moment, Batman asks Alfred how he helped him after his parents’ death, to which Alfred replies: “Master Bruce, with all do respect, each night you leave this perfectly lovely house and go leaping off buildings dressed as a giant bat. Do you really think I helped you?”

Later, Batman confronts Gotham Girl yet again, this time asking she’s helping the city in the first place. Gotham Girl, still thinking she’s talking to her brother, says that being alone hurts and helping Gotham makes it hurt less. Batman, understanding all this, Batman removes his mask and properly introduces himself to Gotham Girl as Bruce Wayne. Bruce tells Gotham Girl the story of how his parents died. His father was a good man, but he was also incredibly formal and Bruce never had an easy time talking to him for that reason. His mother on the other hand was someone he could always just talk to about anything. When she lay there dead in the alley, young Bruce held her hand as he waited for the police to arrive and just talked to his mother, because even though he knew she was gone, he couldn’t think of anything else that could ease the pain. Finally snapping out of it, Gotham Girl breaks down and is embraces by Bruce, Gotham Girl only able to say, “I miss him.”

The comic ends with an epilogue in which Batman confronts Amanda Waller about the whereabouts of Psycho Pirate. Apparently, he’s being held by Bane at the prison in Santa Prisca, which means, in order to take down Psycho Pirate, Bats needs to invade a powerful sovereign country, break into the most secure depraved prison in the history of man and somehow pry a the pirate out of the hands of a roided out muscle monster in a luchadore mask who once broke his back. Fortunately, Waller thinks she may have a solution. She doesn’t say what it is, but she indicates that it has something to do with the Suicide Squad.

What Works: I love seeing Batman kick ass and be all dark and mysterious just as much as the next guy, but my real favorite Batman moments are the ones where he opens up to others. With all the darkness, gadgets and costumes, it can be easy to forget that under all of that, there’s a decent human being who just wants to help people. Batman and Gotham Girl’s emotional scene is very powerful and adds a nice punctuation mark to this arc.

Also, the tease of a story in which Batman teams up with The Suicide Squad to fight Bane sounds awesome.

What Doesn’t: I don’t particularly care for the inclusion of the D-list villains. I feel they add a comedic tone to the book that’s trying to show a person’s mental break down in a realistic and serious light.

Overall: 5/5

This arc had it’s ups and downs, but it still managed to tell a great story with a powerful ending.