I've started collecting comics recently, and I feel it's about time I started reviewing 'em. For today, I'll be reviewing the miniseries The Dark Mirror from Detective Comics #871-73.
First, let me set up the ground rules for future comic reviews: I'll be reviewing miniseries and/or one-shots since I don't have the time to do individual issues. To set the perameters: A+ is Batman: The Long Halloween while F is Batman: Fortunate Son. Both of which I've personally read and both of which I believe best represents the standards of an excellent and horrible comic, respectively.
Dick Grayson's still breaking in the ol' cape and cowl while a particularly gruesome case surfaces. Someone's selling supervillian paraphernalia and distributing it to the bored, thrill-seeking socialites and millionaires of Gotham. Further investigation uncovers the Glass House auctions led by "The Dealer" in which iconic items such as Killer Croc's mutagen, Dr. Langston's Man-Bat Juice, and most sickening of all, a bloodstained crowbar rumored to be the one that the Joker used to kill former Robin Jason Todd. Grayson goes undercover and faces a darker underbelly than he ever imagined and questions his capabilities as the new Batman.
Detective Comics is taking a more genre emphasis in the numerous Batman series. To whit, it's a heady and visceral mix of horror and noir, and the seediest and creepiest that Gotham has to offer is put front and center. The best example would be how the members of the Glass House auctions all wear gas masks to block out the insanity poison that not only make them look creepy but also make them eerily reminiscent of the Combine foot troops from Half-Life 2. The art style as done by Jock is especially effective in conveying these themes. It's too bad that I'm not well versed in comics enough to compare, but Jock's work effectively portrays Gotham as Silent Hill.
I especially enjoyed Scott Snyder's writing, as it's a moment where Grayson's youthful optimism is shattered for all it's worth. Gone are the days where he was the free-willed youth bounding above Gotham at Batman's side; all the remains is the ugly truth that Gotham's depravity knows no bounds. This level of depravity is best represented in the auctioneer themselves: a group of bored rich people who've taken on an almost cult-like worship of the Rouges Gallery. They literally turn into a pit of animals trying to rip off any piece of Grayson's body they can get.
Overall the series is a very engaging read. I look forward to the Snyder/Jock collaboration in the future, and despite the fact that I'm a casual Batman Comic fan I never felt out of the loop of these recent developments such as Grayson as the new Batman. An exceptional work overall.
Final Grade: A. Snyder and Jock are exploiting the dark and depraved of Gotham for all it's worth and I'm enjoying every bit of it.
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