Graphic Novel Review
Batman Dark Knight, Dark City by Peter Milligan, Kieron Dwyer, Jim Aparo et al
Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City, by Peter Milligan, Kieron Dwyer, Jim Aparo and others, DC Comics.
This is a collection that reprints a number of stories written by Milligan from Batman issues #452-454 and Detective Comics issues #629-633 from the early nineties.
Dark Knight, Dark City, the title story, features a violent and unpredictable Riddler taunting Batman, interwoven with pages of confession in a 1793 diary detailing a ritual from Gotham’s past. The two stories connect and create a mythological quality to Gotham City itself, enhanced by Kieron Dwyer’s art and the coloring of Adrienne Roy.
The rest of the trade has several of Peter Milligan’s issues of Detective Comics drawn by legendary Bat-artist Jim Aparo and though his art is stylistically different to today’s comics it’s still excellent. Even though Aparo was past his prime by this point, it is still nice to see him drawing the character, and the stories are inventive and interesting
We start with a single issue tale called The Hungry Grass that showcases Milligan’s use of myths, followed by a second stand-alone issue that finds Batman caught in between an escaped death row inmate and a mob hit man.
Following this the two-part Golem of Gotham, which finishes the Aparo issues, shows racially motivated violence leading to an old Jewish man, a holocaust survivor, experiencing flashbacks to the horrors of his younger life. He makes a protector – a Golem – for the slums of Gotham.
Artistically, Kieron Dwyer and Dennis Janke are the highlights here but Tom Mandrake’s story, Identity Crisis, with Bruce Wayne waking up drowning (and things getting worse from there!), shows that Mandrake is the natural successor to Gene Colan when it comes to drawing superhero stories with real atmosphere and menace. Milligan has always been as good in the world of mainstream superheroes as he is in the Vertigo and creator-owned milieu and Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City illustrates his understanding of the character. These are classic Batman tales given a modern spin and this book is well worth picking up…
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