The Long Dark Night
Summary:
The Gotham police implicate Batman in the Abattoir’s death, and
eventually locate the body of Graham Etchison. A disheartened
Commissioner Gordon decides to confront Batman. When Batman responds to
the Batsignal, Gordon accuses him of being a different person. Batman
defends his actions and boasts that he will continue to protect the city
as he sees fit. He leaves and quickly takes down a street gang led by a
punk named Vermin. Later, he designs a new weapon in the Batcave.
Irrelevant
Continuity: I’m not sure if Alan Grant knew the exact details of the
previous chapter while writing this issue. He doesn’t seem to know
Batman was physically incapacitated while the Abattoir fell to his
death, and instead writes the scene as if Batman consciously decided to
leave Abattoir to his fate.
Review:
At least the covers are starting to get pretty good.
After months of buildup, Gordon finally confronts Batman and accuses
him of being an imposter. And while Alan Grant does a nice job with
Gordon’s first person narration throughout the story, the actual
confrontation just feels anticlimactic. Gordon and the new Batman
probably should’ve had this face-to-face much earlier in the storyline,
and it would also be nice if there were real ramifications to their
falling out. Maybe that’s where the story’s heading, but as of the end
of the issue, Gordon’s just kind of bummed that the Batman he knew is
gone. I think setting up an antagonistic relationship between Batman
and the GCPD earlier in the storyline, something akin to what Miller did
in “Year One,” would’ve helped the overall event immensely. And
spending more time on Gordon’s reaction to the new Batman, and perhaps
investigating what happened to the original, could’ve also helped to
break up the monotony.
Regarding
Jean-Paul, he actually gets some of his best scenes in this issue.
Grant thankfully downplays the mental illness angle and simply allows
Jean-Paul to defend his point of view with a fairly reasonable argument.
It’s the old “why let a villain live who’s only going to escape and
kill more people” defense, and while it’s hardly original, it makes
Jean-Paul more sympathetic than he’s been so far. I’m not sure why the
creators emphasized the brainwashing angle over the cold logic that
popular characters like the Punisher have been using for years. I would
much rather read about a driven man, straight out of the pulps, who has
a moral code but is also absolutely intolerant of murderers replacing
Bruce Wayne. Jean-Paul’s personality usually begins and ends with
“crazy.”
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