The (once) Joker is on the rise and Batman is being positioned for a fall. Jack Napier has the GCPD in a compromising position and believes that he can become the hero Gotham City needs whilst Batman has failed its citizens and is spiraling out of control. Is the former Joker right? Will Batman continue to lose his focus as he struggles to save Alfred and allow the Napier to take things to the extreme? Well, given the premise and what we readers have been promised, yes. All of that and more is going to happen. I mean, how else do we get to the meat of the story? We’ll see in Batman: White Knight #2 out this week.
There’s a long game at work here. Part of the fun of an Elseworlds (I know DC Comics hasn’t officially labeled this story under that brand but come on!) is watching how the familiar portrayals of characters get turned on its head. This second issue of Batman: White Knight seems primed to begin to flip the script with a lot of our favorites from the Dark Knight’s corner of the DC Universe. Jack Napier is taking things to the extreme, planning to transform himself into a hero of the middle class while mobilizing an army of super-villains. Jack will rise in public opinion while Batman will become public enemy number one. It’s a timely idea to explore but how many issues will it take to execute?
Sean Murphy’s mini-series has a great marketing hook. What maybe wasn’t expected is the pacing and how methodically we’re going to track the double-turn of the hero and villain in this scenario. While it’s a brave approach with a lot of juicy material to mine, how fast can we get to the most interesting phase of the story? All of the questions about what will happen feels a bit moot because we’ve been told the outcome. So what exactly will the payoff be? Fortunately, the art is so stunning that I’m more than happy to take the ride.
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