Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Whilce Portacio
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99
Hmmm. Another Batman title. Well, a replacement title at least. Batman Confidential is the spiritual successor to the recently cancelled Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. Like that series Confidential will feature stories set in the early years of Batman’s crime fighting career. Unlike Legends, which was mostly crime-fighting tales, the stories in
Confidential aim to highlight key points in the life of the Batman. First meetings, critical decisions, friendships, enmities etc. Events that served to shape the character into the person we see in the current DC universe. The first story, which begins with this issue, details the Batman’s first confrontation with Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor. The creative team on Confidential is to rotate with each story arc, with this first story arc written by Andy Diggle and illustrated by Whilce Portacio.
This first issue fairly crams it in, as Diggle tends to do. We see Batman battling to make a difference in his early stages of crime fighting, whilst Bruce Wayne simultaneously competes for a government arms contract against, who else, Lex Luthor. Diggle’s writing is as ever snappy, contemporary and very slick. The concept of this book suits him well and he writes a good Batman here. Portacio’s art has never been to my taste. I hate his faces, don’t much care for his physiques, and here the line work is, in my humble opinion, over inked, which doesn’t help either. That said his movie style panel composition and his excellent grasp of the action scene complements Diggle’s writing down to the ground. If you like Portacio you should love this.
There’s not much more to say about this first issue. There’s nothing revolutionary here that should make you buy this book if you’re not really into Batman, or Diggle…or Portacio. However if you are into any one of those three make sure to pick it up.
Having recently finished a PhD in Immunology Ross is currently working for a UK biotech company. He lives in Cambridge where he reads comics, spends too much money on music and attempts to learn Portuguese. He owns at least 7 lightsabers, yet still manages to have a very attractive girlfriend who he misses very much, thus proving anything really is possible.