F*** this is DARK!
I don't think I've read a Batman this vicious, nihilistic, and dark without making the characters ghouls or over the top caricatures. This is a very Vertigo-esque take on Batman and Azzarello and Risso really take you to the bottom dregs of despair and hopelessness. It's a shocking and gut wrenching issue.
The character work in this issue is stellar. I love that all these characters are on their own painful journeys that end in their own tragedy. Azzarello gives us a masterful noir-level irony to his characters.
- Batman is on a cruel and swift warpath to The Joker and Dent Twins. However we see why he can't just kill this Joker unlike the other criminals he's disposed of.
- Jim Gordon is so selfless and determined that he neglects a home life and rushes too gravely to the situation at hand. He's so concerned with others he cannot help himself. The final panels with him are so disturbing and heatbreakingly rendered by Eduardo Risso.
- The Joker. This character has lost the anchors that would ground a normal human being. The Joker's painful and twisted journey is so horrific that the character is driving itself further and further away from it's remaining anchor: Thomas Wayne.
Risso does a strong job in his layouts, the close ups and panels really highlight the disturbing and tense nature of the story, The Artwork is just so reflective to the story, it's dark and thrilling.
No crazy gadgets, whimsical deathtraps, or glamor of super-heroics. This is Batman stripped down to his bare essentials of tragedy and mystery crime fighting. So what if this is an alternate version or Thomas Wayne. You should pick this up and relish how captivating this 3 issue mini series is. I highly recommend this issue, it goes above and beyond the expectations of what a tie-in should be.