Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City #4 - DC Comics

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY No. 4, March 2023

Initially somewhat entertaining with its fascinating flashback to the origin of Vandal Savage, and the immortal cave man’s journey through the subsequent ages, Evan Narcisse’s storyline for Issue Four of “Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded City” still probably disappointed many readers with its frustratingly frequent time jumps and spluttering pace. In fact, just as soon as “Vandar Adg of the Blood Tribe” has illogically agreed to give the mysterious Runaway four nights grace to retrieve the Cro-Magnon's stolen meteorological shard before his army of zealots puts Nineteenth Century Gotham City to the torch, this publication’s audience are mercilessly whisked all across the metropolis’ continuum, as well as taking a sudden, surprising present-day sojourn to Santa Prisca.

Similarly as head scratching as the increasingly frequent flashbacks to Bruce Wayne’s home municipal in 1847 A.D. is Batman’s battle against the manic victims of the Golden Iris Virus, who suddenly descend “upon a car dealership with explosive results.” This action-packed sequence certainly contains some dynamic moments, such as the Dark Knight swooping down to rescue two people who have unwittingly destroyed “millions of dollars in luxury automobiles.” However, it may well strike a fair few bibliophiles as being implausibly odd that the best solution the Caped Crusader can come up with concerning the pair of criminally-inclined miscreants is to eject his fire-proof cape between them and the fast-approaching blaze as a temporary shield and then tie the duo together as the deadly flames approach; “I know you’re the boss but this is why we’re a team, Batman.”

Likewise, the Runaway’s romp through the various headquarters of Gotham’s elite is debatably far from convincing despite artist Abel’s very best efforts. The illustrator does a cracking job pencilling the masked vigilante’s battle against Cameron Kane’s numerous security agents, with the flamboyantly attired castigator disarming his opponents with a number of well-thrown hand-darts and spinning plates. Yet, once the acrobatic “brigand from the posters” has failed to locate Savage’s shard the panels depicting his future exploits are penned to awkwardly flow thick and fast, as do the text boxes containing “Later…”, “The next night…”, “The next morning…”, and “Later that night…”

The regular cover art of "BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY #4 by Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion

Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City #3 - DC Comics

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY No. 3, February 2023

It's difficult to imagine that many of this book’s bibliophiles were particularly won over by Evan Narcisse’s dubious decision to focus much of this comic’s narrative upon Nightwing and Robin’s successful endeavour to halt a roller coaster before its open cars plummet through “a broken section of track”. Indeed, the notion of the ‘dynamic duo’ spending a considerable amount of time simply stopping a horde of brainwashed people from visiting a condemned fairground, wolfing down large amounts of popcorn, sugary snacks and candy floss, arguably seems a strange setting for a storyline supposedly penned to help advertise an exciting new video game where the players must battle all manner of “notorious villains in epic confrontations”.

To make matters worse though, the American author doesn’t debatably do much better when it comes to writing what Batman is up to whilst his two proteges tackle the aforementioned “crazed victims of the Golden Iris Virus.” True, the Dark Knight is well known for seeking out those experts with more scientific or technical knowledge than himself if it’ll help his investigations. But turning to imprisoned criminal psychologist Harley Quinn seems a bit of a stretch, especially when he bizarrely has to fiurst fight his way through some of Blackgate Prison’s other inmates in order to speak to her; “Heya, Batsy! I see you’ve met my clients.”

Far more successful is the journalist’s flashback sequences to the Court of Owls on the outskirts of Gotham City in 1847. Nicely laced with some serious Frankenstein’s Monster vibes, the plight of a disorientated Runaway is rather riveting as he realises just how formidably well-organised and large the criminal organisation creating zombies actually is. In fact, the masked vigilante’s fate appears to be well and truly sealed by the ‘immortal’ Talons until the swashbuckling super-villain Vandar Adg of the Blood Tribe suddenly makes a surprise entrance.

Clearly this comic’s greatest asset therefore lies in the layouts of artist Abel, who manages to inject even the sweet scoffing miscreants at the old amusement park with plenty of dynamic life. Furthermore, the illustrator’s ability to pencil the acrobatic antics of both Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne’s costumed alter-egos as they utilise the Batwing's skyhook to slow down a runaway ride is one of the meagre memorable moments stemming from this twenty-two-page periodical.

The regular cover art of "BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY #3 by Greg Capullo

Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City #2 - DC Comics

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY No. 2, January 2023

Opening with an adrenalin-fuelled confrontation concerning the Dark Knight and his former protégé Dick Grayson, as well as closing with artist Abel pencilling a genuinely shocking battle between some Wild West ‘super-heroes’ and a graveyard full of the undead, Evan Narcisse’s storyline for Issue Two of “Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded City” probably delighted the vast majority of its audience in November 2022. But whilst these aforementioned action-orientated sequences are arguably well-penned, the writing behind the rest of this twenty-two-page periodical’s plot probably left something to be desired; “I’m sure some TV News producer at WGBS thinks they’re so clever.”

To begin with the motivation between the original Dynamic Duo furiously going ‘hell for leather’ at one another isn’t particularly convincing, considering that both combatants essentially want the same thing, and it is only the manner in which their mission is accomplished which the pair disagree upon. Of course, Nightwing’s move to Bludhaven to rid himself of the Caped Crusader’s shadow is certainly shown to give the former Robin a sizeable chip on his shoulder, especially when an incredibly arrogant Batman unapologetically tells the already irate costumed acrobat that he will go wherever he wants when an operation demands it.

But frankly neither character comes away from this fracas in a good light, with both appearing egotistical, self-righteous and unwilling to compromise – at least until Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego supposedly submits to taking “that hit from my Escrima stick so you could figure out what was happening”. Furthermore, the two protagonists settle their differences with such suddenness, that it is debatably difficult to comprehend just what all the fuss was about in the first place. Indeed, within moments of trying to batter the Dark Knight half to death, Grayson is next shown bemusingly telling him how good it is to see his old mentor again.

Much more enthralling is the secondary narrative concerning poor Abraham’s investigation into the disappearance of his brother from a nearby coal mine during the Wild West. Crammed full of shady characters, brain-hungry zombies and some truly sinister shenanigans, these scenes are much more riveting, and definitely provide this comic with a sensational cliff-hanger as the clearly distressed labourer shockingly loses his life just as it appears he’s discovered a clue as to the dreadful demise of his sibling.

The regular cover art of "BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY #2 by Greg Capullo

Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City #1 - DC Comics

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY No. 1, December 2022

Leading “directly into the upcoming video game Gotham Knights” by “Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment”, Evan Narcisse’s narrative for “Limited Editions” probably didn’t excite its readers anyway near as much as “DC Comics” hoped it would. In fact, considering that this twenty-two-page periodical is supposed to tie-in with an action-packed beat ‘em up set “in the immediate aftermath of Batman's death”, the American author’s plot of a mysterious virus causing shoe, handbag and food fans to potentially die from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) arguably seems a little ‘left field’ when it comes to storylines detailing the Dark Knight’s demise; “If these button-mashers want the newest graphics card so bad, they should’ve preordered like I did!”

Furthermore, there’s a definite lack of threat posed to any of the Bat Family throughout their city-wide ordeal, despite the likes of Robin and Batgirl working alone against numerous opponents. Much of this apathy is generated by the heroes facing simple, everyday Gothamites who are more determined to get their hands on the latest ‘in thing’ as opposed to being well-trained, deadly killers. But the book also lacks any recognisable central antagonist or arch super-villain, courtesy of the Scarecrow supposedly being “in custody for months” and his last “vermin-infested hellhole” being empty.

Happily however, what Narcisse’s modern-day adventure lacks in intrigue and tension, his wild west yarn debatably makes up for in some small part. Indeed, it’s a pity that the exploits of the masked Runaway and his physical endeavours to ensure white slavers don’t succeed in their vile trade of “dragging bodies back into bondage” on the outskirts of Gotham in 1847 aren’t given even more ‘screen time’ than they are – especially as the plight of Vivian Foxworthy momentarily smacks of genuine peril when she’s violently dragged from a carriage by her prejudicial abductors.

Helping add some much-needed energy to the gun-toting cowboy sub-plot is the artist Abel, who quite marvellously manages to imbue this ‘golden day of the American Frontier’ with all the shocking savagery and merciless ferocity an audience might expect from a time when a person sadly had to rely more upon their wits and close combat skills than fancy papers covered in scribbles. Disappointingly though, the illustrator doesn’t seem to succeed quite so well when pencilling Batman, and even depicts a rather stiff-looking Caped Crusader when he suddenly encounters two of Scarecrow’s ex-goons loitering in Jonathan Crane’s old lair.

The regular cover art of "BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY #1 by Greg Capullo