Batman: Broken City

BATMAN: BROKEN CITY offers a profound examination of the Dark Knight Detective and the grim metropolis he protects. While hunting the murderer of a small boys parents, Batman embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces him to reflect on his life and the choices he has made. But when the Dark Knight becomes caught up in his own investigation and ruminations, he suddenly falls prey to a deadly new pair of killers that has been stalking him. A gritty, introspective tale, this noir-flavored book features appearances by the Joker, the Penguin, Killer Croc and Scarface.

Broken City, reprinting a recent run of the Batman monthly, turns the Dark Knight over to scripter Azzarello and artist Risso, the team behind the nail-tough crime series 100 Bullets. Though initially eye-pleasing, it's not much fun to read. The bewildering plot, concerning a murder investigation and a fistful of villains old and new, involves little method and much mayhem, all set to our hero's voiceover musings—a hard-boiled narration that strains after effect. Azzarello's Batman is a frankly repulsive figure, terrorizing and torturing his victims, moving among crooks like an old, incestuous acquaintance. Yet despite his encounters with thugs, cops and victims, he remains essentially alone. Predictably, he obsessively replays the scene of his parents' murder—Batman's primal scene—in familiar, Frank Miller-esque fashion (the usual traumatic montage). Azzarello ignores the character's larger-than-life, Shadow-like grandeur, offering instead a crudely sadistic vigilante; worse yet, he forgets to humanize the very people for whom Batman supposedly undertakes his mission. As in 100 Bullets, Risso's art is an eye-stopping consolation, blending noir-ish chiaroscuro and crisp, clear-line elegance (with nods to Miller and Tim Sale). Though Risso's breakdowns can be perplexing, in general the images are sharp and startling, compensating to a degree for Azzarello's unremitting bleakness, while partaking of the same grim attitude. In sum: graphically enticing, but confusing and, finally, repellent.
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