fajrdrako | Batman: Dark Victory...

Being home from work with no power gave me time to read a graphic novel I got from the library, Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Let me say up front that I love the writing of Jeph Loeb and the art of Tim Sale, especially when it comes together. I would add that these gentlemen write Batman particuarly well. They do a superlative job with Bruce Wayne himself - introverted, troubled, obsessed, driven - and the secondary characters, but also the dark, troubled environment of Gotham City.

This is a gangster story: the Falcone family is at war after the death of their patriarch, and cops are being murdered. Clues (scribbled like a game of Hangman on papers relating to former D.A. Harvey Dent, now known as Two-Face) implicate various classic Batman villains. Commissioner Gordon must cope with a new female D.A. who doesn't much like Batman or Gordon's collaboration with him. The story is a sequel to "Batman: The Long Halloween".

:

I found the style both cinematic, and expressive - reminding me often of Will Eisner or Frank Miller. Single panels showed a lot of character and mood, like this one on page 234. Sequences of panels flowed without excess. Details, when given, really meant something.
The characterization, especially of Bruce Wayne. This is early in Batman's career: his belief that he must pursue crime in Gotham City alone conflicts with various human needs and the friendships which form around him as he, willingly or unwillingly, gets close to people - Jim Gordon, Alfred, Selina Kyle, eventually Dick Grayson.
The characterization of Selina Kyle, sexy and sharp and driven by various mysterious motives. There's a double thread here: the relationship of Bruce Wayne and Selina, in contrast with that of Batman and Catwoman.
Consistently interesting composition, layouts and camera angles.
Bits of writing I liked. For example, from page 126, Batman's thoughts:
Dick Grayson, probably my favourite character in the DC universe, next to Bruce Wayne. This is Dick as he was when Batman first found him, a boy who has just lost his parents to murder and who knows it, a feisty kid who feels shunted aside by the millionaire who has taken him in but failed to trust him. Dick's anger and his loneliness and his determined courage all come through, and it is both moving and convincing that Bruce Wayne would choose in the end to trust him and train him and allow him to share the danger that he will share with no one else.

I particularly loved the final climactic turning point when Dick puts on the Robin costume, joins the fight, and knocks out the Joker.

Dick: Pretty cool, huh?
Batman: What is that you're wearing?
Alfred's championing of the romance between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne.
Commissioner Gordon's personal problems, especially his broken friendship with Harvey Dent, that he cannot forget nor abandon.

So all in all, this fits all my criteria for a good Batman story: a story for adults, a story where the main plot is interesting in itself and the subplots all add to atmosphere and theme. This was a delightfully intelligent crime story.