Modern Age Batman Review: Batman and the Monster Men #3

"Batman and the Monster Men, Part 3"
By: Matt Wagner
Colours: Dave Stewart
Letters: Rob Leigh
Synopsis: Batman investigates the aftermath of the mobster poker game that was interrupted at the end of last month's issue by one of Hugo Strange's Monster Men. The scene is a massacre, with blood and body parts everywhere. The Batman is horrified and baffled at the cause.
Strange, meanwhile, pays off his debts to mobster Sal Maroni, money Strange got from his raid on the poker game. Maroni is suspicious as to how Strange could've gotten the money so quickly, but the scientist brushes off his questions. After the police attention brought down by the attack on the poker game, Maroni's boss Carmine Falcone orders Maroni to hide out at Falcone's out-of-town estate for the foreseeable future.
Later that evening, Maroni is paid a nighttime visit by the Batman, who tries to find out why someone might've attacked Maroni's men. The two piece together that it was for the money, and that the likely culprit was Hugo Strange. Bruce does some research on Strange with the computer in his subterreanean hide out and discovers Strange was raised in an orphanage in a bad neighbourhood of Gotham, became a professor at Gotham University, but was fired due to the bad attention his unusual genetic engineering theories were getting.
The next day, Norman Madison is visited by Maroni's goons, who remind him of the money he owes, and indirectly threatnen his daughter, Julie. She's out on a date with Bruce, but he's cold and distant, and despite her efforts to cheer him up, he cuts the evening short and leaves.
Batman tracks Strange to a dockside warehouse and sneaks in. He discovers Strange's test subjects, awaiting transformation, and is momentarily stunned by the attack of Strange himself. The scientist is impressed with the Batman's physical prowess, and manages to stun him with the assistance of a drugged blowdart from his assistant, Sanjay.
The two drag the Batman over to the cages containing the Monster Men, leaving the Batman alone with the three hulking, brutish creatures...
My Thoughts: A pretty solid issue, as we finally get a meeting between our protagonist and antagonist, and draw the various storylines closer to intertwining. We end on a great cliffhanger for the first encounter of "Batman and the Monster Men", and the entire "hero investigates villain's lair, is captured and left to die" is a great Golden Age beat that is handled in a fashion here that is both entertaining and believable, without feeling old hat. A neat touch is the very, very, very beginning of Hugo Strange's obsession with Batman, which will become a key component of his later characterization.
The Art: Wagner's art continues to be efficient and evocative this issue. His Batman in particular is just fantastic, with at least three supreme, memorable images within the issue. On the other hand, his characters occasionally wander "off-model" and there's a jarring disconnect between the small, proportionate eyes he draws for medium "shots" and the rather large bug eyes he draws in close-ups.
The Story: This is a serviceable issue with a fairly standard A to B story. We need to get Batman and Strange to confront each other, we need to get Batman in there with the Monster Men. It's fairly routine, and while it's well-achieved, there's nothing really special to note here.