Comic Books
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #18
• The terrifying tale of the Mad Hatter’s origin continues!
• Batman is still two steps behind the Hatter’s current reign of terror…will Catwoman’s interference make it three?
Story by Gregg HurwitzArt and cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.3%
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This story continues to be solid and enjoyable, if not spectacular.
Its a nice exploration of The Hatter’s past and an intriguing contemporary mystery. Tetch’s deep yearning to regress to a more innocent, childlike time speaks, I feel, to the very heart of his character (as I wrote a few posts back).
I think Hurwitz has a real gift for Humanizing these oddities, oddballs and horrors. When I think back to his ‘Penguin: Pain & Prejudice’ series, this story feels like a logical progression. I’d like to see him take on Killer Croc or Clayface, a character who is both a literal and figurative monster, but with a decidedly Human core and a slight sense of pathos to him.
By the way, that cover was incendiary. Personally, I love psychedelic imagery.
One thing though, I couldn’t work out if the sequences at the end were Bruce’s imagination (like when he imagined telling Vicki Vale the truth back in ‘The Return of Scarface’) or if they actually happened (like in ‘Batman R.I.P’). Any thoughts?
Great issue. The Mad Hatter is freaking me out way more than the Joker did.
Agreed, another great issue of Dark Knight. Not just the Mad Hatter, but all the Bruce/Batman scenes were intriguing too.
And wow, the little speech about his injuries by Tweedledee (dum?) was stunning, I must have read it three times. I wished Bruce’s reaction had been as good as Tweedeldee’s words, but still, great little scene in a great little book.
There are elements here that I really like. But none of them have anything to do with the Mad Hatter. And since he’s the main story here that’s a huge problem. The art is good. The scene with Catwoman was titillating. Things are taking an interesting turn with Bruce’s girlfriend. (Although how the neighbors didn’t notice him picking her up in his flashy means of transportation I’ll never know). And Batman is a bad ass right off the bat. But the Mad Hatter is a psycho because… he’s short? This book has become too dark and not in a good way. I’m not feeling this.
Mad Hatter is psycho because he’s criminally short [I can understand how anyone born with a disability might feel that god/the world has wronged them, and the only way to empower oneself is to take revenge] but then, more importantly to your point, he also takes a pill that puts him over the top from upset normal person to super villain. Seems to me a much more credible background then most villains have.
I thought it would have been a great plot twist if Jervis hadn’t actually taken the pill – and yet still somehow ended up as The Hatter. That would have been genuinely unnerving, as if The Hatter’s fate was completely and utterly predetermined the whole time.
This issue was great. I love seeing the Hatter’s origin. Great scene when he tracks down his high school crush only to see her worn down by life. This book and Detective comics don’t get enough love in my opinion. Most people only think Snyder’s Batman is the only Batman book but these other ones are great too. Awesome writing and artwork.