Shake, Rattle, And Roll
THE BASICS
A devastating earthquake hits Gotham City to (almost) everyone's surprise and Batman is faced with a problem he can't solve by punching it in the face: The overwhelming power of nature.BEFORE WE BEGIN
Normally, I like to review comics issue by issue, but since Cataclysm and No Man's Land contain an issue count that would be ridiculous to try and cover one issue at at time, I'm just going to review the trade paperbacks. Now, due to the nature of this story arc (a crossover that covered multiple comic series and creative teams), quality fluctuates from one issue to the next in a way that my usual format isn't equipped to handle, so I'll be foregoing that and changing things up a bit. Enjoy.SO WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS...
I love the concept of this story. Looking at just the premise, it gives us a chance to see how Batman and friends would handle a situation where there isn't some big bad villain murdering people. The situation is really just a large scale version of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with nature as the only real enemy. The opportunity to see Batman try and tackle something so far out of his scope is wonderfully nerve racking. Too bad that's not entirely what happens.Don't get me wrong. There is some of that. After Gotham stops rockin' and rollin' and Batman realizes that the one thing he doesn't have in his utility belt is "Earthquake-begone", he ventures out to help the survivors. We're treated to him, as well as Oracle, Nightwing, Robin and others, doing all they can to try and get Gotham on the road to recovery. But about halfway through the story, there's an attempt to put a face to the disaster and soon enough, the fisticuffs are at the ready.
My biggest problem with the fact that a supervillain is shoe horned into the story isn't that it's boring (it is though), but that it's a wasted opportunity. Pretty soon, rescue attempts are put on hold to chase after the Big Bad, but the story was so much more entertaining when the focus was on the rescue work. It's humbling to see someone like Batman, a freakin' superhero, struggling with a potentially very real threat for the reader. You could really have some great character moments with a concept like that, while also focusing on the real life people who make all the difference in situations like that. The potential isn't totally ignored, but it's not highlighted as much as I would have liked it to be.
ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING?
Just like the story, the art is a mixed bad. There are panels that are made of pure awesome, such as as splash page that depicts the Davenport Center becoming top heavy and toppling over. It's the kind of artwork that I wish I could blow up to the size of my bedroom wall so that I might be able to appreciate it fully. It's not the only one either. There's plenty of awe inspiring to go around in this story and the art is easily it's highest point.That said, there's plenty of dull artwork as well. Most of the problem comes from when the story shifts focus away from the earthquake. The panels covering the villain portion of the story just can't compare, but even some of the panels that focus on the destruction of Gotham fall flat. Still, the art is less of a mixed bag than the story, leaning towards the positive.
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
There are a few instances in the story that contradict each other or that, given what we know, don't quite make sense. For instance, Batman helps quell a riot in Blackgate Prison. The narration explicitly states that he finishes there after midnight, but on almost the very next page (which starts the next comic, mind you), it's stated that the riot is quelled at 10pm, two hours before we were just told it happened. Then there's an instance where, after Barbara Gordon makes her way to GCPD HQ, police tell her that they can't mobilize any squad cars because the road is to damaged/covered in debris. But then, how did Barbara get there in her wheelchair?These are really just nitpicks likely the cause of the fact that so many separate titles make up the story, and they really don't affect the quality of the book. I just like to nitpick every now and then.
A FEW WORDS THIS PICTURE'S WORTH
