The Calm Before the Storm
Story: Following his escape from the tripwire trap that went off at the end of last issue, Bruce shares with Dick his first case as a boy detective.
The Review (Minor Spoilers): Capullo's artwork has a quality consistent with that of past issues. The action sequence at the beginning of the issue was particularly riveting, although not better than any of the openings of previous issues. The rest of the book was fine as well, and the slight change in style during the flashback scene with Bruce was a nice change of pace and very appropriate. With the major candidate absent in this issue, he does not have the recurring problem of drawing Bruce and the candidate similarly, so no complaints there. I was particularly pleased with the final page of the book, which had a silver age feel to it without disrupting the dark and haunting tone the story has developed thus far. Overall good work from Capullo, although I cannot say it is anything ground breaking, and it only lives up to, but does not surpass, his artwork of previous issues.
Snyder's story continues to build at a slow pace, although that may change soon, judging by the last page. The story opens with Batman's usual monologue, which Snyder uses this time to give us context to Batman's situation and what Batman thinks of it. The issue starts off moving fast, only to turn into a slow burning yet chilling tale that we are used to from Snyder. As the issue progresses, he continues to take us deeper into Batman's consciousness and reveals why Bruce so strongly does not believe in the existence of the Court. Snyder really develops the question of whether Bruce logically thinks that the Court does not exist or if he is just in denial. On one hand, the events of the previous issues seem to lead you to believe that the Court does exist, and given Bruce's monologues, he really does believe Gotham is his city, so the idea that the Owls own the city would really scare him and leave him in denial. On the other hand, Bruce did not find proof for the Court's existence in the past, even when he searched with fresh anger over his parents' death, and he also claims to look at each case logically and not emotionally. Not only does Snyder keep us guessing with that notion, but he also leaves the question of who exactly is running the Court of Owls up in the air. Over these four issues, Snyder has expertly interwoven these mysteries to create one well crafted story. By the looks of that last page, these mysteries will start paying off soon.
My only real complaint for this issue is that Bruce's flashback could have been condensed and not have taken up five pages or so. I understand Snyder is slowly building up into something big, but I feel he could have used some of those pages to progress or build the story in other ways. We have yet to see the grand importance of that scene in regards to future events, so I may be wrong, but for now, it just seems like a tad waste of space.
This issue is another well made addition to Snyder's and Capullo's run on Batman. Start from issue one if you haven't picked this book up yet, but so far, investing a few extra dollars in this comic is really worth it. 5/5
