Batman #5 Review

-----SPOILER WARNING-----

I usually try not to review comics that come out the week of the review due to spoilers and stuff. But I have to make an exception for this. This is one of the best single issues I've read. The comic starts where the last one left off, after pursuing the Court of Owls Batman get's trapped in a maze. The beginning of the comic tells us he's been MIA for 8 days, still trapped in the maze with no food and the only water is from a fountain that might be drugged. We watch Batman start to break down during this whole comic. Then it ends on a cliffhanger that I won't spoil.

The art in this is great, the contrast of the white of the maze and the black of Batman's costume makes it look very unique. The way the book is laid out helps to show that Bruce is going crazy or possibly drugged. They achieve this by shifting the book from the normal look, to side ways, to upside down, and then back to normal. All while the panels start to become more jagged and spread out. The whole thing feels claustrophobic which fits the narrative of the story.

Then there are the characters, first up is of course Batman. We see him backed into a corner, not sure if he's going crazy or is just drugged. Commissioner Gordon has a good scene where he keeps the Bat signal on all 8 days in order to keep up hope, and has some clever foreshadowing by his partner. Damian Wayne despite only being in the ending gets a really emotional scene. Overall this is a great book. I definitely recommend this book, as well as Scott Snyder's run on Detective Comics. It's hands down the best of the New 52. This one is going to be hard to top.

Rating 5/5