‘Gotham By Midnight’ #3 promises to show you the horror behind the most corrupt city in comics. This month, Detective Jim Corrigan uncovers true supernatural insanity and the tone of the book cements itself as the most unique offering in the Batman universe.
WRITTEN BY: Ray Fawkes
ART BY: Ben Templesmith
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: January 28, 2015
The first issue of ‘Gotham By Midnight’ suffered from heaps of exposition that did their best to establish this new team of cops prying beneath the scummy floorboards of Gotham. With the introductions out of the way, Ray Fawkes sinks his teeth into the true horror behind the series to thrilling results.
After finding the strange nun who spoke in tongues in the first issue, Corrigan and company have plunged themselves into the heart of darkness. The first page sets the perfect tone for the issue showing that this team is the only thing the darkness fears. Every member of the team has a moment here, but this is really Jim Corrigan’s book.
He doesn’t quite get the moment here that I wanted but through the experiences of the supporting characters you understand why he was the perfect man to lead this force. The troubling evil he sensed has reared its ugly head, and now it’s time for people to get in line with his leadership. Fawkes reminds us that our hero is broken, and gives a phenomenal supporting team to buttress this odd demonic hero by giving Lisa Drake an incredible flashback that reinforces her character in a beautiful way.
Ben Templesmith’s work is moody and evocative. Certain pages are overpowering in their visceral use of contrast to cut the page, but it never proves distracting. Instead the think fog of his coloring creates a color palette that defines the dirty and dangerous work of ‘Gotham By Midnight.’ Plus when things get really out of control, Templesmith slides into his singnature use of dirty green and muddy orange to evoke a dichotomy of warmth and cold that really resonates through his panels.
A book like this couldn’t have existed a few years ago. Batman has grown into a full blown phenomenon and yet, he doesn’t grace a single page of this comic. His world stands tall and stranger without him. Fawkes is doing great work to build the occult underworld of the criminal underworld. Better yet he informs all the horror we’ve been seeing in the other bat books, as if its something more sinister at play.
‘Gotham By Midnight’ isn’t motivated by fear, instead it challenges you by giving a foreboding tone to a world we thought we knew and with every issue it builds a strong foundation for the best Bat book on the stands. I can only hope it lives longer than 6 issues, because for it to be wiped out by Convergence in April would be an absolute shame.