SYNOPSIS: The Quiet Man’s murderous rampage across Gotham’s underworld zeroes in on his true target—Arnold Wesker, the Ventriloquist. Can the Dynamic Duo stop this unstoppable new foe before he fulfills his savage vendetta?
Let me cut to the chase — I love this book.
It may not be as splashy as Batman or Absolute Batman, but it is one hundred percent worth your time. There is nothing but solid storytelling here, with dazzling art and action, and character moments that keep you invested.
This time out, writer PKJ is joined by former Catwoman artist Stefano Raffaele. Raffaele is a magnificent artist whose work I really loved on the Femme Feline’s title, and it’s no different here. His style isn’t a match for Fico Ossio, who kicked off “The Quiet Man” and tends to have a slight manga influence. Raffaele typically favors widescreen panels in his layouts and takes a more illustrative approach. Either way, this arc looks fantastic from a visual standpoint, and hats off to Raffaele for keeping his Devito-inspired Penguin in line with how Ossio was portraying him.
The Caped Crusaders go their separate ways during their investigation, with Batman confronting Two-Face and Robin getting an assist from the Gotham Irregulars, who are practically a fixture in this book, and a welcome one. In contrast to the last issue, Damian feels a little more haughty, or maybe that’s coming from my perspective of having recently binged Bat-Fam, where he is more endearing.
As truths get revealed, The Quiet Man gets closer to his prey-Arnold Wesker, the now-reformed Ventriloquist. Wesker and his puppet just had an excellent story in Batman: Dark Patterns, and PKJ gives us another side of the character as we see him with Simone Blair, a private investigator Batman hired, who is helping him with his therapy and rehab.
I don’t want to give away any more of the plot, but PKJ keeps you engrossed throughout. While this story might not be heralded as “the greatest of all time” or “iconic”, it is full of stuff a Batman fan should love: dastardly villains, detective work, and thrilling action, all rendered by masters of their craft. If you aren’t reading this, you should! – Javier E. Trujillo
GRADE: A
