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| BATMAN No. 20, July 2013 |
Whilst undoubtedly an action-packed high-octane read,
this second instalment of “Nowhere Man” arguably demonstrates Scott Snyder’s
writing at its most uninventive and lackadaisical. For despite ‘introducing’ a
truly formidable-looking cipher-enabled Clayface, and featuring the
shape-shifter’s subsequent seriously thrilling fist-fight with the Dark Knight,
the New Yorker resorts to some truly cheap tacky gimmicks in order to bring this
adventure to a woefully dissatisfying conclusion.
High on this list of disappointments is the way in which
Bruce Wayne is so simply overpowered by Basil Karlo despite Gotham City's most eligible bachelor confronting his foe
within Wayne Enterprises Red Laboratory; a “little armoury” crammed full of numerous
Bat-utilities and weapons. Considering the sheer breadth of familiar armaments at his disposal, it is incomprehensible that the industrialist wouldn't put up some semblance of
a contest or at the very least utilise a hidden escape hatch. But instead the Billionaire
essentially just stands impotently before his nemesis, who, after a few panels
of heavy rhetoric, swallows the wealthy playboy whole.
Dishearteningly however that is nothing compared to the
incredible lengths luck then seems to play in the philanthropist’s astounding
escape. For starters Snyder would have the reader believe that the business
magnate survived being consumed by Clayface by astonishingly holding his breath
for over seven minutes because “breathing’s overrated”; something which whilst
feasible is somewhat unbelievable even for so dedicated a crimefighter as the
Caped Crusader. The American author then follows up this implausible 'superhuman' feat by having Bruce and Lucius Fox escape
the writer's homage to the Death Star compactor scene from the 1977 motion picture “Star
Wars” by fortuitously discovering a fully-operational concept Batsuit amongst
the surrounding detritus. A staggeringly implausible find which permits the duo to easily burst through one of the
crushing machine’s extremely solid-looking walls.
Such utter absurdity is unfortunately actually surpassed though towards the end of the
comic when an armoured Batman confronts Karlo, and having attacked the clay-like
super-villain with hydrogen fluoride, coolant and an electrical charge,
ridiculously traps the criminal within “a panic chamber” whilst wearing a
‘fibre DNA mask’ of his alter ego, Bruce Wayne... Thus all-too simply negating the shape-changing criminal's argument to Commissioner Gordon that the cowled vigilante and celebrity socialite are one and the same.
Mercifully, despite being a rather simplistic tale, this
comic’s eight-page secondary narrative “Ghost Lights” is a far more enjoyable
read. James Tynion IV really captures the sometimes edgy comradery between the
World's Greatest Detective and the Man of Steel, and despite its brevity produces a storyline which
entertainingly explores Superman’s vulnerability to magic. Artist Alex Maleev
also produces some wonderfully dark visuals for this story, providing Batman in
particular with some nicely drawn silhouettes.
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| The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 20 by Alex Maleev |
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