Batman & The Mad Monk 1
Writer/Artist: Matt Wagner
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.50
Picking up where his earlier series, Batman & The Monster Men left off, Wagner delivers an excellent opener. In doing so he shows how Batman can be both dark, brooding, fearsomely intimidating yet not be a cold, obsessive loner. It’s a fine balancing act that Wagner pulls off in style, in both spheres of script and art.
Like the earlier series, Wagner makes it clear this tale is one of Batman’s early days, when Gordon was but a Captain and Gotham was a corrupt city. He does this with a sequence where Gordon is attacked on the rooftop awaiting Batman. Wagner has Gordon deck them before his habit of smoking undoes him. At this point Gordon is saved a serious beating by Batman’s intervention.
In this and the opening scene – a confrontation with Catwoman - Wagner gives a nod to Miller’s Batman: Year One. Catwoman’s burgling of the Roman’s mansion and Gordon’s military background are both referred succinctly. The other device that is very effective is the dual viewpoint where we get narration from either Batman or Gordon.
The rooftop conversation concerns Hugo Strange, who Gordon agrees to keep an eye on, he agrees there is something off-kilter about the man. Gordon also requests Batman to accompany him to the morgue where two bodies have been delivered, both drained of blood. At this point we switch to a bar and witness the cult acquiring their latest victim.
Like Batman & The Monster Men, this series is based on an old Batman tale yet what impresses is the pace of the tale. It might be said that doing 2 6-issue series based on 2 single-issue stories is a case of decompression madness, but what Wagner demonstrates is that it is anything but when the source material is rich enough to sustain the expansion – which is the case here. The story flows from page to page, to character to character, skilfully setting plots running whilst delivering a variety of scenes. Action, discussion, and mystery all are present. Maybe it is decompressed – but it’s one the best examples of how it should be done.
Wagner’s art throughout the issue is excellent, lending itself to whatever it needs to depict, sequences are stunningly clear. There is little effort involved in reading this – it’s always quite clear as to which panels follow. The art makes the title a very enjoyable read, allied with his equally sharp writing, the result is a series that looks to be every bit the equal of Batman & The Monster Men.
If you consider yourself a Batman fan, you owe it to yourself to check this out. Don’t forget the earlier series either! If you just love a well-told story, you should also consider giving this a try.
Batman & The Mad Monk 2
Writer/Artist: Matt Wagner
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.50
It’s quite clear from this second issue that Wagner sees these 2 series of 6 issues as one story. Although the focus for the series is on the Mad Monk, the plot with Norman Madison – a man who is haunted by the image of Batman whilst owing Sal Maroni continues. The way it’s going part of me wouldn’t be surprised to see Hugo Strange pop up later.
Wagner makes the art of writing and drawing Batman look easy with this issue. He juggles plots easily, switching from one to the next with either perfect timing or well-placed caption boxes with carefully-constructed text: Bruce Wayne’s affair with Julie Madison, her haunted father, Sal Maroni, the Mad Monk. He gives the characters enough space to come alive but without sacrificing any of the others. Gordon’s exasperation is very well done, whilst Batman’s observation of Harvey Dent is a neat nod to the future.
The sense I get from reading the issue is of a creator who knows exactly what he intends to do and is enjoying himself in the process. The results of his work is a series that you only have to sit back and read, there is no problems of flow, of wondering what happened at this point or that point. It all flows from point to point as Wagner gives us a Batman that is both menacing and investigative, calculating but not without compassion.
Prior to reading these series I had heard of Wagner as being a good Batman writer-artist, not to mention his other work. Since reading the series I have concluded that ‘good’ was an understatement that does not do him justice. By the end of Monster Men I was wishing for another 6 issues of story but had to wait for it.
Other recent stories of the early Batman that match Wagner’s work for me are few in number, Brubaker’s Man Who Laughs would be the best example. Other examples include the older classic Loeb-Sale Long Halloween and Dark Victory stories and the Miller-Mazzucchelli Year One. It looks likely Wagner’s two series will become known by what looks to be the overall title of Dark Moon Rising. Should Wagner deliver the rest of the second series as he has begun with these 2 issues, Dark Moon Rising will deserve to be the definitive bridge between Year One and The Long Halloween. It would certainly be appropriate to say that when Wagner described the series as Batman: Year 1.5, he wasn’t kidding!
Ben Crofts is resident in Essex, works in London and has found comics and philosophy mix surprisingly well.