Batman: The Black Mirror by Scott SnyderMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Gotham's Batman, Dick Grayson, takes on the Dealer, a man selling the weapons of supervillains stolen from the GCPD evidence room, gun runners harassing a mob bosses daughter, and possibly the greatest threat of all, Commissioner Gordon's son...
So I read this what seems like aeons ago and mistakenly got rid of it during a purge. I found a paperback on the cheap and decided to give it another go before shelving it. Did it hold up?
YES! As I said in the previous review, There are epic tales of the Bruce Wayne Batman that everyone mentions: The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight, Year One, The Long Halloween, the list goes on and on. This is Dick Grayson's epic.
Scott Snyder, Jock, and Francisco Francavilla knock the guano out of this one. Dick as Batman is stripped down to the essentials, much like Batman was pre-Robin way back in the day. He almost has the working man's Batman feel of Daredevil at times.
Batman goes up against The Dealer, Roadrunner, Tiger Shark, and even the Joker, but the most chilling villain in the Black Mirror is James Gordon Jr, the Commissioner's son. I can't even think of another comic book villain that actually scared me but James was scary because he was so real, so plausible.
On the second read, I have a much greater appreciation for the Francavilla issues. His moody art, mostly red and black, does a phenomenal job setting the mood and making everything feel unearthly. It's no surprise that he's since done some unbelievable work on the Archie Horror books.
For my money, Batman works best when he's not always the smartest, most prepared guy in the room. Batman: The Black Mirror exemplifies this. Five out of five batarangs.
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