Christian Ward mixes cosmic horror with Batman in this new limited series.
Eisner Award-winning artist Christian Ward summons more cosmic horror to the Batman mythos in his new Black Label series Batman: City of Madness. Set apart from mainstream Batman continuity, this new miniseries brings back a few popular villains while introducing a new darker version of Batman from the Gotham Below, a strange twisted version of Gotham from a new dimension.
The first oversized issue reads remarkably quickly, with Batman and the Court of Owls both learning of a new threat to Gotham through separate means, while a young boy travels to the city for revenge and instead is recruited by a dark eldritch Batman. City of Madness is notably a Black Label book, set apart from DC continuity to allow Ward maximum freedom in picking and choosing which bits of Batman lore he wants to use.
Ward's artwork and coloring is as vibrant as ever, which is an interesting choice given that eldritch horror tends to use muted colors when depicted in comics. Ward's writing skills and dialogue remind me heavily of Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, which seems to be deliberate as Ward has previously referred to this comic as a pseudo-sequel.
While I enjoyed City of Madness, I feel like the comic doesn't have the compelling hook it did a few years ago. DC has leaned heavily on"alternate universe Dark Batman" as a trope in recent years and the prospect of another story in that vein just doesn't hold much appeal. Likewise, the current Detective Comics has really leaned into eldritch horror aspects and angles and this comic seems like it shares tonal similarities, at the least.
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