Batman: Dark Age #2 – Mark Russell, Writer; Michael Allred, Artist; Laura Allred, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The first issue of this fascinating series introduced us to a completely different version of Batman—one who didn’t see his parents murdered, and grew up a callow, arrogant young man who mistreated Alfred and took on his Batman training with arrogance. That led him into a run-in with the one honest cop in Gotham, Jim Gordon, and landed him in prison—where the shady figures running Wayne Enterprises saw the perfect opportunity to have him killed. After an assassination attempt to kick off this issue, his stay is brief as he gets a chance to join the Army instead—and head to Vietnam. While he asks to be a swim instructor, he’s instead detailed to a top-secret commando unit composed of rich kids with lots of enemies, including Oliver Queen and Max Lord, but it’s the leader who’s the most intriguing twist. It’s a shadowy assassin who played a key role in black ops for the U.S.—known as Ra’s Al Ghul.
Ra’s as Batman’s mentor has been played with before, but he’s never played as key a role as he does here. Not only does he teach Bruce many of the skills he uses as Batman, but he attempts to instill in him a sense of ruthlessness—something which fails, giving us our first look at the man he’ll eventually become. Once Bruce returns to Gotham, we can see a changed man—in how he treats Alfred, in how he interacts with his company, and in how he takes the first step of his mission. And behind the scenes, Pariah’s new corporate venture takes some fascinating twists as he counts down towards the end of this world. Of course, we know… it doesn’t end. We’ve seen Bruce as an addled old man far past the world’s expiration date. We know Bruce’s dream for Gotham winds up coming true. It’s the how that’s fascinating, and this second issue hints at so much amazing potential for this series—including the arrival of another A-list hero.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
