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Gotham Knights #31
J. Corey Butler |
| Title: |
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Clean |
| Cover Date: |
September 2002 |
| Story: |
Devin Grayson |
| Pencils: |
Roger Robinson |
| Inks: |
John Floyd |
| Colors and Separations: |
Gloria Vasquez / Wildstorm FX |
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Synopsis: (WARNING! SPOILERS!)
A secret government agent by the name of
Amherst sits in his hotel room
talking to
his superiors. He is paranoid
that a counter
agent has been sent after him,
to "clean
the cleaner," but it quickly
becomes
apparent that the Bat is the
one who is stalking
him while he finishes his work
in Gotham
City. The scene shifts to a flashback
of
Batman's continuing investigation
into the
death of Vesper Fairchild. He
searches for
clues in an abandoned office
building and
follows the trail to the special
forces commandos
who have been working with Amherst.
In an
impressive fight scene, he takes
on the whole
unit and then intimidates them
into giving
up the agent's hiding place.
This leads to
the end of the story, where we
see Amherst
finally confronted by Batman.
He admits that
the President authorized a character
assassination
of Bruce Wayne, and that he was
the one who
paid "Mr. Smith" to
carried out
the plan.
Analysis:
Cover:  (3 of 5 cowls)
This month, Gibbons takes Bolland's place
(temporarily?) on the cover. Nice color scheme,
but not terribly inspired. And the face under
the cowl seems wrong. Too much like Superman
some have commented, and I'm inclined to
agree. The abs need work too.
Story: (4 of 5 cowls)
This was a nice, self contained story, and
the suspense builds well to the climax. It's
an important issue because it names Lex Luthor
as the villain behind the Fugitive story,
though we still don't know who actually killed
Vesper. My only complaint is that it seems
a little unrealistic that this agent and
his men would still be hanging around in
Gotham waiting to get pinched by the Batman.
They should be gone and virtually untraceable
by now. This is a minor quibble though, as
it was still very enjoyable reading.
Artwork: (4 of 5 cowls)
A solid job, though some of the
poses in
the big fight scene looked a
bit unnatural,
particularly the kick at the
top of page
10. I think Robinson's strength
is in quiet,
spooky depictions of the Dark
Knight. I liked
Bats' facial expressions throughout
the issue,
and the standoff scene on page
12 was very
cool.
Backup Story by Alexander and Haynes:
3.5 out of 5. I really liked the charcoal
drawing style of the art. That's the nice
thing about these Black and White backups--
the different kinds of creativity we get
a chance to see. The story was OK, but I
don't think the ending worked all that well.
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