Batman: Gates of Gotham

Batman: Gates of Gotham

Written by brilliant new upcoming writer Scott Snyder and fantastic art by my new personal favorite, Trevor McCarthy, Batman: Gates of Gotham is one story you can't afford to miss out on. The portrait of the origins of Gotham are painted so perfectly in the mini-series, that future comic artists will always have to refer to this story. Filled with amazing twists to keep you reading through the night baits you to be apart of the weave of this well crafted arc. 

The story opens with the founders of Modern Gotham having a conversation, Alan Wayne then introduces the brilliant mind that will be the brains behind the entire structure of the new Gotham, with skyscrapers and massive bridges, all too ambitious for their time. Each chapter in the story opens with just a pinch of the past in the 1800's and it transitions into modern day Gotham with mysterious bomber on the loose. It's up to Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, and Cassandra Cain to crack this case and before he destroys all what makes Gotham City what it is. 

As I said before, the art is spectacular, but the artist changes for an issue and the stark difference shows as Black Bat in particular changes hairstyle, facial structure, and loses all of her character in a single panel before the artist changes between pages. She looks sassy and even dare I say? Like a ghetto big lipped retard. I just can't express how much I hate this panel and how much it interferes with my experience with the graphic novel. For the first three chapters of the book we have Trevor McCarthy drawing and coloring everything. Then in chapter 4 we have Dustin Nguyen step in—which is understandable since he's also drawing the variant covers for when it was out on shelves as single issue comics—but for some godforsaken reason, Derec Donovan interrupts the issue in the middle of the story with his art. By contrast of Dustin Nguyen, his art is bland, undefined, and it almost resembles that of a grade schoolers coloring book. 

One reason why I like Trevor McCarthy so much and why he really does fit for this story has to be because he is extremely detailed. Pick any random panel and folds of the clothing, tech in a suit, windows on a building, his work is incredibly sharp. The way he draws panels when we are viewing flashbacks is an art in itself as its beautifully laced to give it a steam punk 1800's vibe. They're static panels that if you look at it for a long time, they resemble portraits that are framed. When it turns to modern day Gotham, the panels become sleek, jagged, and complex. 

Scott Snyder, has really spun a tale that should not go unread, it seems as if he's making bold moves to really leave his mark on the Batman mythos, as his new story Batman: Court of the Owls suggests, Snyder is just as eager to delve into not only Bruce's past, but as displayed in this story: Gotham's history.