If there’s one
thing I’ve learned in my 40+ years of reading comic books, it’s that Death is
nothing at all. Any time someone is reported dead, they’ll find a way to come
back to life. Either the death was faked, or cloned or it wasn’t them who died,
or they’ve been resurrected through mystical or advanced scientific means. So I
trust I’m not giving anything away when I say that reports of Harvey Dent’s
death are greatly exaggerated.
Kobra is plotting to
infect Gotham’s water supply with a toxin (really? In a BATMAN book?), and Dent
and Batman are united in preventing it. But something goes awry and Dent is
killed. Or is he? Only Batman knows for sure, confident that the criminal side
of Dent’s personality will dominate his motivations.
This story arc has been
predictable from the get-go. Keeping Two face in the shadows while dropping
not-subtle hints he’s involved with the goings on in Gotham’s underworld. Now
the whole dead/not really plot device, coupled with the infect-Gotham’s-water-supply
strategy blatantly stolen from Batman Begins.
What saved this story from
being a complete and total disaster has been the artwork of Carmine Di
Giandomenico. Highly stylized, intricately detailed and consistent from one
chapter to the next, in an era where most artists on a title for two, maybe
three issues before stepping away. Hopefully, his work here is recognized,
narrative notwithstanding.
Rating: 2 for writing, 8
for artwork