★★★★★ 4
Reflections of the Dark Knight
A new Batman, a new villain, an old city, and lots of familiar faces. 'The Black Mirror' is a potent formula, and for the most part very effective.
But, I have to say at the outset, it's difficult to read a Batman story without Bruce Wayne. Scott Snyder brings all his considerable skill to bear in writing this multifaceted tale of a Gotham City finding its way, Dick Grayson trying so hard to fill the cowl of Bruce Wayne with new partners, and a long-forgotten piece of Commissioner Jim Gordon's past come back to haunt him.
There's a lot to this story, and Snyder spins it with the same wit, the same grasp of history and literature, and the same subtleties of craft as he has evidenced with the excellent 'American Vampire.' For all its newness, it's clear that Snyder "gets" the Batman, gets the importance of Gotham City as a place and as a character in its own right, gets the history of those who've come before him, and pumps all of this into the overall arc of 'The Black Mirror.'
And yet part of me can't let go - where's the Batman I know?
Similarly, artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla get the look and feel of Batman. Despite pretty dramatically different styles - Jock's harsh and jagged and nearly monochromatic, Francavilla's more colorful and less edgy - they both show well here, and the material they illustrate is well-suited to their talents. Jock expresses the drama and the darkness of the Batman, Francavilla expresses the more human side of both heroes and villains alike. For a story this complex - a story of drugs and madmen and broken families and long-held grudges - both have their piece to contribute, and they do it well.
And something still feels like it's missing.
It's a little like reading 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' in the parts where Holmes is absent from the story. Watson is a fine investigator, and pushes the story forward in his own way, and it's still a good story. But it feels less driven, less exciting, less complete, until Holmes' return, with all his fire and fervor, to wrap the case up with his signature panache.
I kept waiting, in 'The Black Mirror,' for that moment. When Bruce Wayne returned and righted that world and brought it all back into sharp perspective. Though there were many satisfying moments to be experienced...that moment never came.
'The Black Mirror' is aptly named. It reflects aspects of Gotham City and its denizens, both those who fight for it and those who would bring it crashing down, in new and original ways. It makes us see things we haven't seen before. Scott Snyder and Jock and Francavilla represent well here, and have created a finely-crafted addition to the ongoing story of Batman.
But a reflection of a thing is not the thing itself, and that difference was felt here. A slight warping of the glass, or a flaw in its surface gave it away. Though his reflection was seen in the black mirror, the Batman was not to be found here. And that was hard to get past.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2012