Batman #12
By Avi Weinryb
December 8, 2016 - 00:05
DC Comics
Writer(s): Tom King
Penciller(s): Mikel Janin
Inker(s): Mikel Janin & Hugo Petrus
Colourist(s): June Chung
Letterer(s): Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist(s): Mikel Janin
Tom King has delivered on the promise of his preceding contributions to the Batman mythos. He gives fans a jarring comic, ripe with revelations and risks that blow open the inner workings of Batman’s mind, demonstrating harsh truths that we can only wish were not true. This is not an event comic in the traditional sense. But it is an event, nonetheless.
The art in this issue is deliciously excellent. Mikel Janin’s pencils are top-shelf and his collaboration with Hugo Petrus on inks is undoubtedly gorgeous. They produce a dark and clean Batman figure, easily identifiable, well-defined even in the most busy of crowded action sequences. The colors pop in this issue, in part due to their sparing use. And it’s great to see some yellow back in Batman’s uniform after all these years.
Mainstream comics don’t take enough chances these days. But there’s nothing stopping King and we’re all richer for it.