"He's out to clean up a city that likes being dirty.He can't do it alone."
"Batman: Year One, Chapter Four:
Friend in Need"
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: David Mazzucelli
Colours: Richmond Lewis
Letters: Todd Klein
Synopsis: This issue begins with Gordon realizing he has to end his relationship with Essen. It's the only thing to do, he thinks. Meanwhile, he also arrests Jefferson Skeevers, a drug dealer who was the connection between Flass and the police force and organized crime in Gotham. However, Harvey Dent lets Skeevers get released on bail, for reasons he does not explain.
Turns out Harvey's made a deal with Batman, who shows up at Skeevers' apartment and scares the living daylights out of him. The next day he shows up in Gordon's office willing to cop a plea and talk all about Flass. Gordon takes his statement without informing Loeb and hands Flass over to Internal Affairs. Loeb threatens Gordon with pictures of him and Essen.
Meanwhile, Gordon makes it over to Wayne Manor to question Bruce. Wayne appears to Gordon as a totally irresponsible, womanizing drinker. Gordon drives away, and then tells his wife all about his affair with Essen. Meanwhile, it turns out the champagne Bruce seemed to be drinking was club soda.
By October 2, Dent and Gordon are questioning Flass, Loeb's attempts to blackmail Gordon have failed, and even the mob's attempts to kill Skeevers aren't stopping him from testifying. Gordon's baby son is born on the 11th, meanwhile Loeb's memorabilia collection is stolen, with the theft blamed on Batman.
In actuality it was Selina Kyle, in her new guise as Catwoman. She is incensed that the media giving the credit to Batman, and even more angry that she sees no value in any of the pop culture collectibles she stole from Loeb. She decides to steal from the Roman, and scratch his face to leave a signature that it was not Batman who did it.
Later that evening the Batman is flying high above the Roman's penthouse apartment in a custom hanglider, listening in on the Roman's conversation with a bug he's planted. Turns out the Roman has brought in his nephew, Johnny Viti, to try and get Gordon out of the way. However, before Batman can learn the Roman's plan, Catwoman shows up and starts attacking the Roman and his guards. Batman almost instantly dispatches the guards and the Roman, leaving Catwoman alone and confused. She scratches the unconscious Roman's face anyway.
Bruce figures out how Falcone's going to get at Gordon, and leaves to stop him. He does not go out as Batman, however, as it is daylight and he feels the costume would lose all effect.
The media claims the Batman attacked Falcone and lists Catwoman as his assistant.
Loeb calls Gordon out on a minor errand, and almost too late does Gordon realize it's to give them time to kidnap his wife and son. Wayne shows up on a motorcyle and saves Barbara, but Johnny Viti drives off with Gordon's son. Gordon and Wayne pursue and Gordon shoots out Johnny's tires. Gordon and Johnny fight at the edge of a bridge, and the mobster drops Gordon's son into the river.
However, Wayne has dived in after the child and saves him. He hands the child over to Gordon, who has lost his glasses in the scuffle and claims he cannot see anything without him, giving a plausible denial to recognizing Wayne.
The issue wraps up quickly detailing how Flass testifies against Loeb, the mayor outs Loeb as commissioner and puts in a man called Grogan, the Roman ends up at war with his sister because he tried to have Johnny killed, and Gordon is promoted to Captain. The issue ends on December 3, with Gordon standing on a rooftop, remarking that someone called the Joker has threatened to poison the Gotham City reservoir -- but that Gordon has a friend who is coming to help. ;)
My Thoughts: While the ending is perfect, there's something about this issue that doesn't work for me. Maybe it's because Miller wraps up way to many plotlines way too quickly. He sprints to the finish line and at the end of the day nothing is really satisfyingly tied up. What happens to Selina? Of course, the Year One series is meant as the beginning of a story, so it makes sense not to tie everything up, though disappointingly the threads left dangling by this story really wouldn't be picked up until The Long Halloween series in 1996, although the Catwoman arc would be continued as early as her own series in 1989. However, the final image of Gordon on the rooftop, awaiting Batman's help to deal with the unseen threat of the Joker is a great moment.
The Art: Mazzuchelli continues to be brilliant, although his work here is less spectacular than last month and much more pedestrian. I'm still impressed to get the maximum amount of expression out of his characters with a seemingly minimal amount of linework. He always keeps the imagery within the real of realism too, nothing ever appears cartoonish or melodramatic. However, something about the rescue scene at the end of the issue never really worked for me. It seems almost as if he chose the wrong images in the sequence for his panels. It feels choppy. I guess it's supposed to imitate slow motion or something.
The Story: As I said above, this final issue feels rushed and incomplete. But even that is a compliment to Miller's amazing economy of storytelling -- an economy that's even more incredible given that it took Miller two and a half years to tell maybe three issues worth of story in his All-Star Batman & Robin series. Good stuff. The ending makes me wish we had maybe seen Miller get to continue to tell Batman stories in a Year Two vein. Y'know, back when he was a good writer.
Notes and Trivia: First appearance of Johnny Viti, Gordon is promoted to Captain.
No comments:
Post a Comment