Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Batman: Gotham After Midnight # 4 (of 12)

By Koppy McFad
September 6, 2008 - 02:29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This miniseries is about a mysterious figure called "Midnight" who is killing criminals and harvesting their hearts. It is a mystery tale with horror-story trappings so it is a bit jarring to open this book and see that most of the action is devoted to Batman in a giant robot, battling a gargantuan Clayface, like something out of a Japanese monster movie.

The fight with Clayface is actually a bit comedic as Batman is so respectful of other people's property that he will not punch Clayface into a building unless it owned by Bruce Wayne. Then later, we discover that his company is suffering from financial problems because of all the property damage that Batman caused. There is also a little social commentary here with Wayne unwilling to layoff workers, no matter how much money he is losing.  Okay, so Batman is a good guy but at this point, you have to wonder if the writer is trying to get him nominated for saint-hood.

The mystery of Midnight is a intriguing. His agenda and ties to Bruce Wayne are carefully concealed. The character does look rather strange and frightening. But nothing that Batman hasn't handled about twenty times before. In fact, that is part of the problem with this miniseries: basically, we have a new mystery villain who is manipulating old bat-villains to target Batman--or Bruce Wayne. Doesn't this sound very similar to the whole "Hush" storyline? Or the manga-Batman just a few weeks ago. Or to the "Black Glove" storyline running in the Batman titles right now? Or even to the "Long Halloween" story of not so long ago? With Batman appearing in about nine titles a month, almost every possible story about him has already been told, so the story-tellers end up repeating themselves. Everyone recycles old stories but in this case, the story we are getting is too similar to the ones that ran just a few months back. Perhaps it would be better if an acclaimed writer like Niles would do a story about someone other than Batman. 

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12