Batman: Full Moon #4 – Rodney Barnes, Writer; Stevan Subic, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The last issue of this horror-themed Black Label miniseries finds our two werewolves – Christian Talbot and Bruce Wayne – battling to maintain what’s left of their humanity as they get closer and closer to a collision course. Bruce has gathered his best allies, including Zatanna, John Constantine, and Kirk Langstrom, to help find any sort of cure as he remains convinced that this is a natural ailment that can be cured. As he tries to conceal the truth of what he’s become from his friends, even Commissioner Gordon is frozen out. Talbot, meanwhile, seeks out the advice of an old fortune teller for a way to lift the curse, but finds only bleak news and is forced to confront the fact that he was never the good man he claimed to be. And so, with no hope and no one living in the world waiting for him, he does the only thing that makes sense to him – after hundreds of years, he embraces the beast.
While this issue is obviously building to a big werewolf showdown, there is enough time for Barnes to involve some other characters and delve into the question of whether Batman – and Bruce Wayne – is doing enough for Gotham. This topic can often be done in a ham-fisted way, but I think the portrayal here was more about perception than the idea that his wealth could be a magic bullet. And speaking of magic bullets, the back half of this issue is a race against time, as two different players each try to find the right solution – one offering hope, the other offering a swift but maybe inevitable end. The final battle shows off Stevan Subic’s brilliant talent for horror art, and ends in a way that casts a dark shadow over the story but also offers one character new hope and possibly a new outlook on life. A horror/monster story like this often depends heavily on the finale, and I think it brought it home in the end.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
