Batman And Two-Face #25

Writer Peter Tomasi Artist Patrick Gleason

Introduction

The Batman and..... title has been in a curious place ever since the death of Damien. The book has lacked some solid focus and interesting guest stars since the debut of the stage of grief premise. Thankfully, after the string of aftermath issues touching on his death, the Two Face villains month title really brought the book back from the quality issues that it was having. The character had a really strange representation that made him intriguing, yet still retained his enjoyable roguelike personality archetype. The comic had some great free flowing ideas that added up to a strong single installment. The first entry of the Batman And Two face story fell a little short of that initial tale. Flash forward to this coming installment and expectations for the title fall short of some of the greater ideals. More confusing to the book at large is the inclusion of Carrie Kelly. The future Robin has been intriguing. But the writing involving her has felt too forced thus far. Another interesting aspect involving the saga is the obvious homage that the cover has designed to promote the animated series. Batman has always been a special character that means a lot to readers and fans, and many will be delighted to see a return to the older style of DC Comics.

Writing

This issue has an interesting meld of character that can be a little light on plot. The opening sequence in particular is a really great entry where the team seems to be acutely in tune with each other. The story involves the origin of Two-Face that was given in the Villain’s month one shot fairly in depth, making this installment frustrating. Side characters in the story are fine, but given a massive spotlight that equates to them not doing very much until the end of this issue. The pieces in this story are moving incredibly slowly, and the supporting cast is really difficult to latch onto here. The most engaging sequence in this book involves the quieter moments in the prison with Bruce Wayne. Tomasi really nails his voice.  

Art

Pat Gleason’s art showcases what we love about the artist in this book. His approach to storytelling is something we do not see very often in the space of modern comic book art. His style is somewhere in between gritty and realistic. In many ways he is influenced by the noir style populating the animated Batman series. Unfortunately, the art can look slightly underdeveloped at times, and the talking head scenes can definitely fall short of being interesting. While reading this book throughout the New 52, I constantly get the feeling that Tomasi feels slightly rushed when he making the title. The artist tackles the pencils in manner that has definitely polarized some of the fans of the title. The highlight of this series was Batman And Robin #16 where the artist really cut loose and completely focused on some of the storytelling aspects present inside the book. Hopefully, we will get an issue that once again features those aspects in a futures story. For now, is still a strong offering from Gleason even if it is not his most consistent work.

Conclusion