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A string of robberies and killings draws Batman out of his
natural element of Gotham and into the city's seemingly idyllic
suburbs. But out here, among the sleepy houses and picket
fences, Batman discovers a threat more terrifying than any
Joker attack. The murders seem ceremonial, ritualistic, but
they're nothing that the world's greatest detective can't
handle. It's only a matter of time before the Dark Knight
catches the murderer... and that's when everything goes straight
to hell. How can Batman fight an enemy he doesn't believe
in? How can he solve a mystery that defies all logic? Only
one thing is certain - Batman must defeat the killer or lose
his very sanity...
Gotham
County Line sees
Commissioner Gordon ask Batman to help out on a case for another
police department on the outskirts of Gotham County. Batman
isn't happy, but reluctantly agrees... and catches the killer
in a matter of hours. But something isn't quite right. Surely
it's not normal for the victims to return to the scene of
the crimes as flesh eating zombies.
Author
Steve Niles has taken three genres (zombie movies, detective
dramas and masked vigilantes) and attempted to splice them
together into a gripping tale. All three elements are represented
well and it should work a treat, but something just doesn't
feel right.
I
couldn't quite put my finger on it... but the narrative just
didn't flow as smoothly as it should have. It could be that
Niles attempted to throw too much into the mix, and ended
up with a bit of a tale that was a little undecided in its
direction. It's almost like Batman is being used to sell what
is, at heart, a zombie detective story - it's not even set
in Gotham. And I really couldn't work out why The Joker was
thrown in there at the start? Was it, he asked cynically,
to make people really identify that this is a Batman
story from the opening pages - so that when it all spirals
into a zombie tale you don't question what on earth is going
on.
There
were some interesting ideas that were started but never fully
explored. For example, Batman's Internet search for scientific
proof of life after death stopped dead (no pun intended) when
Alfred found there was none. So maybe you'd expect the message
here to be about the quest for another world after this one...
but, no that's never really explored deeper. Sure we visit
a possible after life (whether it's a drug influenced illusion
or a real journey into the world of the paranormal is up to
the reader to decide), but the question of life after death
is never really explored properly.
Another
negative for me was that the conclusion felt a little childish
- like a first time writer had written himself into a corner
and then half-heartedly tried to come up with a solution.
As I mentioned earlier it also didn't really feel like a Batman
title and I thought it may have read better as a general sci-fi/horror
graphic novel without the need to use Batman to sell the story.
Take
Batman out and put in a detective and you have yourself an
interesting tale. But when Batman is thrown into the mix it
just doesn't seem to work all that well. Nice
idea, but sadly misses the mark.
Pete
Boomer
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