Batman #55

By Hervé St-Louis
September 23, 2018 - 11:34

Nightwing and Batman continue to jump across the rooftops of Gotham City while a killer comes into town to murder someone precious to Batman.

This issue continues to explore the relationship between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne though Nightwing’s banter and jest at Batman’s expense. Batman continues to look grim and pissed off as he brushes away Nightwing or attempts to ignore him. Tom King sets the story with parallel storytelling as a new agent that Nightwing calls Napkin Man shows up in Gotham City to take out a target.

Tom King does not write action sequences often. It is not his specialty. They often read as too cerebral and elaborate. He also likes to play the wordsmith which does not help writing action. Then, there is his propensity to do philosophy and draw analogies and symbolism based on the mythos of characters. It is often up to the illustrators working with him to add the action dimension to his comics. It creates a lot of double narration sequences which is one of his forte but very few real action comics.

Here, this is probably the closest that we get to Tom King writing action but again it is laden with a lot of backstory, banter, and anticipation. But it works well for the eventual payoff at the end of the comic was well-anticipated as the issue started.

Tony S. Daniel returns to the world of Batman to show us how he is one of the best Batman artists that can draw him in midair jumping from rooftops. He is the right pick for this story also featuring Nightwing. Normally, I would not be a fan of Daniel’s work not because it is bad, but the Jim Lee style is not favourite. Yet for this tale, capturing the innocence of Nightwing and the limited action afforded by King’s script, Daniel excels.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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