BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #5 (OF 5)

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Written by SCOTT SNYDER and KYLE HIGGINS
Art and covers by TREVOR MCCARTHY
Variant covers by DUSTIN NGUYEN

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

The last issue of this mini had a big change to it with a set of different writers and artists taking over. I still have no idea who Ryan Parrott is and he isn’t even listed on the cover which is weird. What made that a bad thing in my eyes is that issues #1-3 clearly had Snyder’s voice in the story but Higgins was doing a good job translating it to his own writing. With Parrott taking over for issue #4 I sensed no input with Snyder which isn’t a good thing. Dustin Nguyen and Derec Donovan took over as artists and now we have Trevor McCarthy back for the final issue. So in short: None of these changes in creators make sense (except for Snyder for obvious reboot news) and it hurt the mini. But now everything seems to be back on track for the final issue so how is this gonna end?

Even though Parrott is still credited as writer for this issue, it definitely feels like Snyder got a few cracks of dialogue for this final issue. It makes sense since he’s been giving us some cryptic clues to connect this mini with the rest of his Batman work. Dick monolouging in his head during the big fight and the final talk with Dick and Bruce feels like something out of a Detective Comics issue. But I’m sure Higgins and Parrott put a lot into this comic when it comes to the final confrontations and the big twist at the end of the issue. It’s basically a fun little end to a fun little mini with some brilliant moments by Snyder to cap it all off. Maybe it didn’t need to take five issues to tell the story (especially with the really weak twist in my opinion) but overall this issue makes me glad I picked it up in issues instead of a trade.

Again Trevor McCarthy is back for the final issue and before you groan (if you don’t like him that is) it definitely feels like there was a good reason to not do issue #4. This might be the best issue I’ve seen of McCarthy in the entire mini. There is a fantastic two page sequence involving the two big set pieces and it’s handled really well. It makes the tension that much more exciting and it shows a lot of creativity on McCarrthy’s part. Although to be fair the layout artist, Graham Nolan, might’ve had to do a lot with that (and other great pages) so credit should be given to him too. Also, the flashback pages have been the highlights of each issue and this is no different. Hopefully we see this style used more often in old timey flashbacks.

At the end of the day, this might not have been the strongest mini-series to come out. The erratic change of creators mid-run and a pretty standard villain didn’t make it the most memorable. But there are some great Snyder moments in this final issue that only Snyder can write. Plus Higgins and Parrot do a great job pacing the action of the book with some great art by McCarthy and Nolan. This final issue is definitely the strongest of the bunch and I guess in the long run you guys reading this review will enjoy the trade when it comes out whenever. (More likely 2013 at this rate in the trade program)

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

  1. I just finished re-reading the whole mini in one chunk, and the art switch in #4 wasn’t as jarring as I expected. I’m not entirely certain which pages were Dustin Nguyen’s and which were Derec Donovan’s, but #4 does feature Graham Nolan layouts, and the colors remain consistent.

    So while it felt unfortunate at the time, there’s enough of a sense of “connect the dots” from artist to artist, that the overall look of the mini isn’t devalued in any big way because of the changes.

    Same goes for the writing. Sure, it’s not a singular voice, but everything washes out above average.

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