Writer: Scott Snyder / Pencillers: Jock, Francesco Francavilla / Colour Artists: Dave Baron, Franacvilla Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Sal Cipriano / Editors: Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin, Katie Kubert / Collects Detective Comics (Vol.1) #871 - #881, January – October 2011 DC Comics
Buy Batman comics here and support The Comic Crush.
The Pitch: Across several interconnected cases, Dick Grayson (now stepping into the cowl as Batman) must confront a decades-old evil in Gotham and the rise of brand new, ruthless villains as well as a deeply personal monster from the past!
24th September 2020 (Release date: 27th February 2013)
The Black Mirror storyline and the storylines that immediately followed it represent one of the great missed opportunities in comics. Not because the stories or art are in any way deficient – far from it. But because they marked the end of Detective Comics as I knew and had been enjoying it. #881 marked the last issue of 'Tec, terminated to make way for The New 52. For the record, I have nothing against reboots. They've given me some of my most treasured pieces of art. But I didn't really vibe with The New 52. And I think in a way, it truncated one of Batman's most interesting periods. I could have done with another five years of Dick and Damian running around as Batman and Robin. Surely Bruce Wayne had done enough that he could rest for a while? But enough about the bad news - let's talk about The Black Mirror.
Black Mirror represents Scott Snyder's first major work on Batman and is his most controlled, contained work on the character in my opinion. As a trade paperback (as opposed to single issues comprising three-issue arcs and one-shot stories), it presents something that I recall being inherently Snyder's – the entire arc is presented as a series of interlocking, widening mysteries rather than one big, overarching work. It's beautifully plotted. It also belies Snyder's true calling as a horror writer. The concepts it represents and the reveals it contains about the true natures of some of its characters are pretty horrific. Starting with the mysterious auction house, selling off the remnants of Gotham's hideous crimes, leading right up to the return of James Gordon, Jr are significant to the Batman mythos that Snyder was clearly building. The deeper Grayson goes into the mystery, the more horrific it becomes. The layers of Gotham's high society (which lest we forget, Dick is tangentially a part of because of Bruce) are peeled back, showing you the hunger and thirst for dark habits lying at the core of Gotham's rich and powerful.
SNYDER MAKES THE STORY CONTORT IN SURPRISING WAYS
At the heart of the story are the past lives of Dick Grayson, Batman and simmering in the discrete channels, Jim Gordon. The main characters become victims of hauntings without ghosts, instead revisited by past actions and the things that made them who they are. It also gives Snyder to write an excellent Barbara Gordon, a character who has had more tragedy visited on her than any other in the DCU. Don't worry though, Babs fans! It can always get worse. And often does. The stories shift, with the lingering after-effects of the events in Black Mirror giving way to the backup story, Skeleton Cases which becomes a full-blown story for a single issue, as James Gordon Jr (whom I don't remember seeing in Batmans since he was dangled off a bridge in Year One) makes his presence felt, seemingly rehabilitated from his latent psychopathy. Once he enters the story, he dominates it, bleeding in every through pages, just to remind you that in Gotham, darkness lurks 'round every corner. Snyder takes us backwards here. Again, two or three separate mysteries become one, a tradition from pulp detective novels given a fresh coat of red paint here. Snyder allows different characters to take the lead, showing us that the notion of 'family' in superhero books has a worst-case scenario as well as the potential for love and unity. We head into some pretty bleak 'Mindhunter' territory here, grounding the story in a way I don't think Snyder was ever able to recapture in his Bat-books again.
BRUCE’S SPIRIT IS INVOKED AS DICK REVEALS HE’S AS CUNNING AS THE ORIGINAL GOTHAM BAT
As much as Gordon is at the centre of this storyline, Dick becomes the anchor again for the next arc, Hungry City. We go right back to Dick's circus days and the tragedy that robbed him of his parents and of course how the actions of parents affect their children's lives even after the parents are dust. Snyder makes the story contort in genuinely surprising ways, keeping the black sense of humour that makes Gotham's crimes so distinctive on the boil. It gives Dick some real moments to shine as Batman, showing that despite his brighter, more positive outlook on life, he can be as menacing as Bruce when he needs to be. It's this storyline that dabbles most closely in traditional street-level crime, something that had become increasingly rare as the books continued on. This arc was probably the most fun of the four giving us some nice action throughout. It's after this we get the final arc, with Snyder not so much saving the best for last but giving us bookends of superior quality. Skeleton key, where James Jr's terrible architecture builds into prison for his family and he gets the better of Batman. One of the great things about this final arc is that the temptation must have been there to have Bruce step back in as Batman and save the day. Instead, the spirit of Bruce is invoked with a late-stage reveal that shows Grayson is as cunning as the original Gotham Bat.
Snyder writes the characters brilliantly, giving Dick a more serious, assertive tone than he's ever had. This suits his new responsibilities as head of not only Wayne Enterprises but of the bat family, too. Gordon is written as a slightly hang-dog, beaten man who knows that now his son has returned, life is going to change and not for the better. Here, he's fearful. Watching, waiting, hoping the other shoe doesn't drop. Babs is as strong, if not stronger than she ever was, determined to define her own future rather than let the inherent, infectious madness and madmen of Gotham define her. And what of James, Jr? Snyder gives us a chilling look into a broken mind, one that lacks the theatrics of the Joker but could give that porcelain bastard a run for his money in the crazy stakes. He's a villain I would have liked to have seen run and run. I can't recall what was done with him beyond this arc, but he probably needs to make a comeback sometime soon.
THE TWO ART STYLES - JOCK AND FRANCAVILLA - ARE WARRING POINTS OF VIEW
The art is a relay between two greats. Jock handles the first arc, practically clawing the images into the board. His style is edgy, aggressive. You can feel the characters’ muscles twitching, tensing. Gotham feels like a city on the brink, noir-ish and scary. There's a spindly feel to the images like they're drawn by very well-trained insects. Baron's colour choices are excellent, especially when he gives Gotham its red sky at night, shocking you because until then, he's bathed everything in cold, bright lights. In the backup strip, the one that runs parallel to the main story and re-introduces James Jr, we get the luxury of Francavilla, the man who wishes it could be Halloween every day. He test-runs the autumn-soaked colour scheme he would later employ on Afterlife with Archie, everything glowing with the headlights of an idling car parked by a river, the trunk open as someone buries a body. It's the happiest, saddest day of your life when he gets to run right riot with the main book for three issues (spread over two arcs). He hands back to Jock and they trade for a bit on the finale. The two styles are warring points of view: Dick (Jock) who can see all the angles and James Jr (Francavilla), who wants to paint the world in blood and fear and will use Gotham's most sinister as brushes on his canvas. Fletcher and Cipriano's letters capture the budding psychopath's neutral, unimpressed tones, the clipped anger of Dick and the beleaguered, smoke-addled voice of Gordon Snr wonderfully. Points must go to the editing team, too, who had to hold all this together as the pages came in. The term Black Mirror has added more connotations since 2011 but what the book really seems to want to say to us is that the Abyss also looks into you. Try not to stare back too long.
Buy Batman comics here and support The Comic Crush. You can buy Batman: Black Mirror from Gosh Comics or order a copy from Bookshop.org.