Blackest Night: Batman #2 Review

Blackest Night has been an interesting event so far in it’s earlier stages. With the event getting closer and closer to the halfway point I can’t help but notice Blackest Night: Batman as one of the more interesting and enjoyable mini’s to come out of an event comic. Issue #1 impressed me and was my favorite comic the week it came out, let’s hope #2 can do the same.

Creative Team
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Art: Ardian Syaf

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We see several of the resurrected Black Lantern dead Batman villains going on a massacre through Gotham. (I’m going to be honest and say that the only one I recognize is Ventriloquist so I’ll just call them all by the general title of Black Lanterns) Batman is running through the sewers with Robin, narrating how he wants to go check on his parents’ graves but knows he can’t.

Batman and Robin along with Deadman break into a police armory (or at least that’s where I assume this is) and they get geared up with flamethrowers. Robin reminisces about how he was trained with firearms. As they leave with flamethrowers strapped to their backs Deadman heads out as well.

At the police station we see Black Lanterns slaughtering the nameless cops as Gordon tries to fight back while the Black Lanterns taunt them. They briefly escape by running down the stairs as the few officers left are slaughtered (I must say all this gore feels so odd without the title Marvel Zombies on the comic)

A Black Lantern spots them in the room they are hiding in. Gordon blasts it but the head regenerates. He blasts it again and again and again and they head to try and find a way out of the room. atman and Robin rush through the city as the Black Lanterns talk near the bat-signal.

Batman and Robin show up and torch the Black Lanterns. The Black Lanterns find Barbara and Jim (I call him Gordon even though it’s his last name) and are about to kill him and Barbara when Deadman posses Barbara. He takes out the Black Lanterns and they run for it. They jump out a window and land outside the building.

Batman and Robin are struggling to keep the Black Lanterns at bay as more soon join in. Red Robin shows up and gets them out of there as the Black Lanterns soon pursue. They soon go to pick up Jim and Barbara and Batman is shocked to see her (I’m getting the old flame vibe that Dick isn’t so over Barbara like he plays off to be)

Soon they are flying above the city and the Black Lanterns aren’t following when Tim’s parents crash through the windows. Tim sheds a tear of horror and soon the Flying Graysons arrive as well. Batman is unphazed by this so he makes the ship crash into the Gotham Cemetery

Commentary
The Good: Blackest Night: Batman #2 was a solid and enjoyable read that did a great job of playing within the Blackest Night event without having to use any of the current big name characters during such and play in it’s own little corner. Tomasi shows a great use of character work while giving us some cool action along the way.

One moment that stuck out to me was Dick’s reaction to seeing the banged up Barbara. I know they had, as Deadman said, a history and all but I didn’t expect this. I wonder if Tomasi is hinting at some kind of new relationship in the future though I’m not really all that sure if it’s going to happen or if it’s just one of those moments of worry Dick was having.

I liked Dick’s reaction to his parents when they showed up. Rather then Tim who was clearly horrified Dick seemed to keep his cool and as Batman that’s exactly what he should do. Dick is fitting the cowl nicely.

Tomasi had a well received run on Nightwing and it shows that he has a great grasp on the Batman family, especially Dick who he shows both as an individual and with his time now as Batman. He’s not going to try and make Dick act like Bruce or have him go for the silent dark knight. He’s going for the same hero Dick has always been and it works well.

Damian was great here as he has been since Batman Reborn started. I liked his little stroll down memory lane about how he was trained so well. It’s both horrifying and great to see what a perfect assassin Damian has been raised to be. I also liked Dick’s reaction to this.

Deadman is an interesting character who I have little interest in usually but he is interesting and enjoyable here. I especially liked his quick conversation with Gordon after they fell out the window. Tomasi has a great grasp on Deadman’s voice and making him a distinct character in this story.

Gotham is a great place for a story like Blackest Night. All the dark surroundings and chilling characters as well as the world Batman lives in it all works out amazingly well and makes for a great story for Batman. It’s a perfect setting and Tomasi works it well.

Again we’re seeing a more aggressive Batman as Dick has so much on his hands that to try and come at this with a soft touch he’d really get killed fast. I’ve said it a few times but once again I’ll restate that Dick really has to be brutal to survive and this is another great example. That and I loved seeing Batman with a flamethrower.

While I’m not big on Syaf’s artwork here. It has a good number of issues and it does get a tad frustrating at times. But for my upcoming complaints I can’t deny he does a good enough job and certainly does a good job at some of the more gruesome images and he can capture emotion nicely.

Dialogue was solid and great. I’d have to say Tomasi does his best work here with Jim Gordon. This is on the same strong level of what Paul Dini is doing a great job with Streets of Gotham when it comes to the character of Jim. We also get a great feel of how freaked out he is.

Overall this was a solid issue though I must say the story was the higher point and Tomasi is doing his best with what he’s got in a 3 issue mini.

The Bad: Despite being an enjoyable read Blackest Night: Batman #2 was not a perfect read. It’s biggest weakness being that try as he does Tomasi can’t build any real major tension in the long run. We know the Jim and Barbara are going to survive this fine and Batman will survive this to kick ass in the future.

This is something that just about all tie-in comics suffer from. It’s incredibly rare that a really important member of the cast or main character will get killed off. Especially in a tie-in comic and this takes a lot of the tension and excitement out of a comic like this.

Syaf’s art is definitely a weakness more then a high point. While it never gets bad it’s just fairly boring and simplistic and it’s uninteresting to look at most of the time. Also there are often weird moments and he does a weird job with line work which just gets annoying.

This is a more common complaint with Blackest Night in general but the gore is really off and feels out of place for what’s supposed to be a super hero story. While I have no problem with gore this was just really weird and didn’t work well for me.

I didn’t really like the cliff-hanger, it just felt like BAM the comic is over. It didn’t really hook or excite me for more.

Overall: Despite my gripes I must say that if you’re looking for well priced and enjoyable short event tie-in you can’t do much better then Blackest Night: Batman. Fans of the current Batman Reborn status quo will definitely like it and for anyone who misses Tomasi writing Nightwing I’m sure you’ll enjoy it even more. Definitely check it out.