Batman Black & White vol. 4
You know the deal with anthologies: The most you can hope for with any of them is that the “hit to miss” ratio is somewhere north of fifty percent. A lot of anthologies have shown that minimum requirement is a rather difficult one to hit. However, over the course of four volumes (so far) “Batman Black & White” has shown that it’s one of the most consistently entertaining anthology series out there. My guess as to the reason this is the case is that not only does the format allow creators the freedom to do something a little different and unbeholden to continuity, but the appeal of doing something different with Batman attracts a lot of high-end creators to this series as well. All of the volumes are worth your time, and it doesn’t matter what order you pick them up in. Vol. 4 may not have as many “exceptional” stories as the previous ones, yet there are still enough to give me plenty to write about here.
“Driven” by John Arcudi and Sean Murphy: In which a woman in a car straight out of the 30’s with a machine gun leads the Dark Knight on a merry chase through Gotham for possession of a biological agent. With Murphy as the artist, the chase is thrilling to behold on the page with plenty of close calls to keep the excitement level high. Though the chase is the main attraction here, Arcudi also makes some interesting points about Batman’s obsessive drive for preparedness in all situations.
“Into the Circle” by Rafael Grampa: There are plenty of stories in these anthologies where even if the stories don’t click, they entertain simply by virtue of their incredible art. Case in point with Grampa’s story about the Joker recruiting some random thugs to break into Wayne Manor over and over again. I honestly felt the twist at the end hurt the story, as it made the setup feel unsustainable and dangerous for the key person involved. Still, Grampa’s incredibly detailed and stylized art is a wonder to behold on the page. Particularly his Joker design which begs to be stolen, but probably never will. I doubt anyone could make it work as well as he does here.
“Rule Number One” by Lee Bermejo: The artist has demonstrated that he can render the character par excellence and that’s evident here as well. “Noel” indicated that he has some ways to go before he can write as well as he draws, but this is a step in the right direction. Robin (not sure if it’s Dick Grayson or Jason Todd, but I’m leaning towards the latter) initiates a drug deal to give his boss some time to break up the dealers and winds up getting in over his head. The action is nice, yet what makes the story work for me is the rare bit of Bat-levity we get at the end when we find out what the rule in question actually is.
“An Innocent Man” by Marv Wolfman and Riccardo Burchielli: I thought I liked this one. On further inspection it turns out that I just really wanted to like it. Burchielli does the story’s noir stylings justice while Wolfman keeps his cards close to his chest to make sure the final twist is a clever one. Problem is that he keeps them a bit too close and a couple key plot points — the evidence that set the plot in motion, the computer hack — wind up not working in the context of the story. A shame, really, particularly since it comes so close to pulling off an otherwise unworkable concept once the twist is revealed.
“Role Models” by Paul Dini and Stephane Roux: No, you really can’t go wrong with a Dini-written “Batman” story. Even if this one winds up being more about Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as they manage some comeuppance on a scumbag who really deserves it. Perfectly straightforward, yet completely satisfying and a good example of quality craftsmanship from the writer and artist.
“Tea-Minus Party” by Lee Allred and Mike Allred: Allred the Michael is a creator whose style can’t help but channel “Batman ‘66.” That’s not a plus in my book. Fortunately he keeps the Penguin’s “Waugh! Waugh”-ing to a minimum and delivers an enjoyable dual-narrative short co written with his brother Lee. In the top half, Batman fights some thugs with his usual vigor, while the Penguin finds a way to turn the Mad Hatter’s latest scheme to his advantage in the panels running along the bottom of the page. Good fun all around, and a welcome reminder to myself of how good Allred’s art looks in black and white.
“Long Day” by Dustin Nguyen: The longtime artist of numerous Bat-titles finally gets the chance to write a story of his own about the character. It’s a look at what a standard night on the job for Batman is like. Naturally, it involves a cache of stolen AK-47’s, a precariously perched bus, a bank robbery, a ranting mad bomber, and Catwoman. As illustrated by Nguyen, it all looks effortlessly stylish. While the incidents themselves aren’t anything we haven’t seen before, Nguyen does deliver one of the volume’s most memorable moments when Batman defuses the threat posed by the mad bomber in the most nonchalant way possible.
“Cat and Mouse” by Keith Giffen and Javier Pulido: Some lowlifes meet up in a bar and one of them explains how he was almost caught by the Batman. There’s a lot of dialogue and incident to this story and it could’ve easily felt cramped by the eight-page limit for these stories. However, Giffen and Pulido manage to make fitting it all in look easy. The thugs have actual personalities and amusing banter, and the action is smooth and precise on the page. Things do end on a slightly unresolved note, but I’d love to see the creators resolve it somewhere down the line (or just team up for another story).
“She Lies at Midnite” by Adam Hughes: Catwoman lies in a coma, her spine shattered in an attack by some mobsters. This puts Batman in the mood to lay down some beatings, during which he encounters Selina’s other sometime-boyfriend Slam Bradley who’s out avenging his girl for a different set of reasons. Hughes doesn’t do much sequential art these days so this represents a rare chance to appreciate how great it is. The fact that it’s an entertaining tale that hinges on things we and Batman should’ve realized at the beginning is a definite plus, too.
“To Beat the Batman” by Dave Johnson: A thug at the end of his rope tells the story of how he wound up in a life of crime and on the receiving end of several beatings from Batman over the years. One of the best cover artists, Johnson shows he can deliver some great sequential art with his sharp work here. He also proves himself to be a great storyteller here, conjuring a real sense of tragedy from the fate of the nameless thug chronicled here. In the end, the story’s impact comes not from his final fate, but from getting you to wonder just how many other thugs in Gotham have suffered a similar one.