Gotham City Garage #12 – Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Writers; Brian Ching, Artist; Kelly Fitzpatrick, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Corrina: Grand Finale
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: The end of this series in Gotham City Garage #12 sort of snuck up on me, but it seems Gotham City Garage is only twenty-four chapters long, which means this twelfth print issue is the finale. Brian Ching covers both of the last chapters, which gives the final battle a consistent, action-packed feel. Kara Gordon narrates the issue, taking back the lead for the first time since her opening storyarc. Luthor and his forces are massing on the Garage for a final showdown, with the Red Hood gang backing them up for revenge purposes, and the motley crew of female warriors is ready for their last stand. As the Garage burns, Catwoman pulls off a dramatic sacrifice that uses off the last of her nine lives and gives the heroes the opening they need. Lois Lane and Barbara Gordon are inside the garage when Bruce Wayne gets loose, setting up a final battle with the twisted Batman, but the big action takes place outside.
With only twelve issues and a lot of characters, it’s possible for characters to get lost in the shuffle, but this issue does some great work bringing everyone’s storyarc full circle. Lois, who was introduced late in the narrative, gets a key role in bringing the story of the Garage out to the public, but it’s Kara who has the starring role, bringing Luthor down and destroying his armor. Luthor flees back to his city, looking to regroup – but it’s fallen to the forces of Harley and Joker, and he’s not finding any refuge there. There’s a great anti-fascist message buried in this biker comic, and it’s the kind of book that’s a lot better than it looked when first announced. However, it saves its best twist for last, when it’s revealed exactly who Kara’s been narrating the series to. It’s a unique twist on the Superman mythology, and while this series may have been short-lived, it comes together into a solid and entertaining whole.
Corrina: The first few issues of Gotham City Garage were decent but not spectacular but it’s a series that continued to expand its mythology, cast, and plot to the point where it became one of my favorite Elseworlds miniseries. It should look amazing collected in a deluxe edition. (Alas, no deluxe collected edition yet but Gotham City Garage Volume 1 will be out in June and Volume 2 will be available in November.)
Why did this work so well? It built upon the characters from the DC universe, took parts of their history, and expanded on it. From the beginning, there was the friendship between Kara and Barbara Gordon, an echo of the Pre-Crisis friendship between Batgirl and Supergirl. There was the spotlight given to Natasha Irons, the soul of the resistance, a character that has been too often sidelined.
Lois Lane, Selina Kyle, Dinah Lance, Big Barda, and so many others…they were allowed a chance to shine without having the spotlight stolen by their more famous partners and thus readers were given glimpses of them that not often seen in the regular DC line, save in comics like Birds of Prey. What’s more, they were allowed to show what makes them great characters.
And, more, the dystopian world created for them worked well, especially with Luthor at the controls, his arrogance, as always, fully on display, whatever his intentions. And, Batman stayed a villain and came to an ignoble end, one that worked in this Elseworlds.
This is a series I’ll recommend alongside Bombshells and, I admit, I didn’t expect that after finishing the first issue.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
