Batman #63 Preview and Discussion

[Hilden B. Lade]

In this Wednesday’s Batman #63, the “Knightmares” saga continues. This time, however, rather than a villainous guest star, Batman will have to work with the no-longer-so-magical John Constantine. As shadows fall over Gotham, the Dark Knight finds himself lost in memory…or perhaps dream. He’s thinking about Selina Kyle. The Cat to his Bat. The Catwoman. The Bride. The almost-wife who is no longer anything to Bruce but a happiness that slipped through his fingers. John is here to help, but what does help mean for the lover spurned?

Check out the Beat’s exclusive preview of Batman #63 after the jump.

Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mikel Janin
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

There are strange goings-on in the dark alleys of Gotham City, mysteries that will require a different skill set than the Caped Crusader’s if he’s going to stop the whole city from succumbing to the darkness. John Constantine, the Hellblazer, is a person with just those skills—but after the events of “The Witching Hour,” is Constantine in any condition to help the Dark Knight Detective?

http://www.comicsbeat.com/exclusive-...-in-batman-63/


At long last, the return of King's famous "Bat! Cat!" dialogue!

[Batman Begins 2005]

Ugh at this Tom King run.

[chachi]

Taking a break from Batman, at least thru the current nightmares issues. May jump back on in May? Will depend on the solicits.

[Armor of God]

Yeah, this issue totally does not look like a waste of time

[theoneandonly]

so random! story within a story. at least he isn't repeatedly saying that he is going to break bane (I am Bane) These Knight mares almost are lucid in comparison.

[nonsense man]

To much padding in his run instead of tight story telling. What should take 6 to twelve issues it takes him sixty and beyond

[rev516]

King strikes again at doing absolutely nothing meaningful.

[DragonPiece]

King strikes again at doing absolutely nothing meaningful.

his run in a nutshell, lets hope Tomasi starts getting to do top billings

[Korath]

What's really sad is that I can't even muster the will to read the actual words on the panels. I know I'll be disappointed.

[Jman27]

so did they get married?

[Mosameen]

So, What I could say about what King is trying to do is that Bruce's nightmares is around how he treats the people he love the first one that his absence from Damian life will make Damian either be like him or turn violent and by letting Selina in and being with her will get her killed.

[jetengine]

Tom King both wastes our time and trolls us.

[theoneandonly]

at least selina didn't die 9 different deaths in this one. wonder who's next to star in the nightmare feature?

[Rakzo]

Well, I guess this gives the last couple of issues better context.

Mind you, "better context" doesn't necesarily make them "better" as a whole since they still were lacking in content and mostly seemed like pretentious experiments that barely had any connection with the idea King is trying to create here. They might as well have been one-shots, in fact, they would have worked better together in an Annual or over-sized special.

This issue itself is not as bad since it does present a few emotional moments and some revelations. Janin's art is amazing as usual.

That being said, not expecting much from the conclusion since I just know is going to be worthless.

[K. Jones]

Well, I guess this gives the last couple of issues better context.

Mind you, "better context" doesn't necesarily make them "better" as a whole since they still were lacking in content and mostly seemed like pretentious experiments that barely had any connection with the idea King is trying to create here. They might as well have been one-shots, in fact, they would have worked better together in an Annual or over-sized special.

This issue itself is not as bad since it does present a few emotional moments and some revelations. Janin's art is amazing as usual.

That being said, not expecting much from the conclusion since I just know is going to be worthless.

I had similar reactions I suppose. I was happy to get some more context. It's funny actually, "strapped into a machine being nightmared" is pretty straightforward. It's also hardly the first time - Morrison gave us this, too, with The Lump. Gotham was "all wrong" in those issues but it was overt and we the readers were well, well more aware of it. And slowly Bruce would become aware, then they'd tweak it, then he'd become aware, then Mokkari and Simyan would tweak it again, until it was all wrong again.

Ah, the old "strapped to a chair, hallucinating" scenario. But I'm cool with that, actually. So the KNIGHTMARES issues are exactly what they say they are. Which is fine.

So the trouble goes back to King's execution. He's definitely competent and overall historically I've liked his work - we often level the same complaints during any given arc, and the decompression/middle chapters receive the bulk of the "there's no substance here" arguments, and he never quite saves it by the end of the arc but whatever the "last few pages of revelations" are tend to at least keep the whole machine moving - so what's the dilemma here with this particular arc?

It's that bit where he's such a slave to the format. The need for this Knightmares arc to have each "whole issue" be a fully themed chapter in the dream scenario. That forces like ... you know, 22 pages of Batman hanging upside down wondering why Professor Pyg isn't really Professor Pyg. But 22 pages is a freaking massive amount of real estate. Pictures, being worth a thousand words ... (more, really) ... every panel is effectively a thousand-word essay or every panel is effectively a large chunk of a possible chapter. So 22 pages of book effectively only acting as "one chapter" is overkill. Like, Russian Literature bloated, and slow, and a slog. And even cheating - using double-page splashes or full pages - is actually not enough dynamic change or "chapter change" in a given issue.

Anyway, that boils down to the whole "slave to the format" critique. This one had some interesting context though. So the first Knightmare had the reflection of the "Self" with Bruce coming against that "Master Bruce" kid again. The second issue revealed itself to have something to do with His Son ... other than that the overt Pygmalion stuff was all still there. The third goes with the Relationship. The use of Constantine is interesting and I think has something really to do with the smell of smoke - like somebody in the room with Batman (Real Life) is smoking a cigarette and his brain is like free associating and bringing Constantine into the dream.

That's really about all I've got.

The bits I liked the most about this issue have to do with Mikel Janin - getting to see some more Batman & Catwoman jaunts drawn by Janin and matching back up to Issue # 50, as well as getting to see Janin draw Constantine again, since he notably got his start on Justice League Dark, so that was a nice bit of throwback.