Lights out! At the end of Batman vol. 4, the Riddler crippled Gotham’s power grid and cut short any celebration Batman might have had planned after defeating Red Hood. Never one to rest on his laurels, the Dark Knight is back on the case in Batman vol. 5: Zero Year – Dark City.
What’s included?
This volume contains the final two acts of Zero Year, Dark City and Savage City. If you’d like detailed analysis of each individual issue, click the links below for each original Batman News review.
Dark City
- Batman #25, originally published in November 2013; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Nick Napolitano, and cover art by Capullo and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #26, originally published in December 2013; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #27, originally published in January 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #29, originally published in March 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia (read the review)
Savage City
- Batman #30, originally published in April 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #31, originally published in May 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #32, originally published in June 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia (read the review)
- Batman #33, originally published in July 2014; written by Scott Snyder, with pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki, colors by FCO Plascencia, letters by Dezi Sienty, and cover art by Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia (read the review)
The volume also includes the backup from Batman #25, written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, with art by Andy Clarke, colors by Blond, and letters by Dezi Sienty.
Dark City: a strong middle
It’s a race against the clock to restore power before a super storm lands in Gotham! As Comissioner Loeb channels manpower toward cornering and capturing Batman, the Dark Knight and Gordon investigate the bizarre deaths of several Wayne scientists. As Bruce and his allies close in on the killer, the storm makes landfall and things go from bad to worse.
Dark City is my favorite of Zero Year’s three acts. Bruce is full-on Batman, and we get a crazy car chase, some investigating, a freakish villain, and plenty of epic drama and action. While parallel storytelling becomes a problem for Snyder later on (even to a degree in Savage City), he uses it excellently here. The death of the Waynes and the death of the city are juxtaposed in a moving collaboration of deft scripting and masterful artwork. For me, everything culminates in my favorite moment in Snyder’s entire run—a painful speech by Alfred in which he openly theorizes on Bruce’s motivations for being the Batman.
Some of the parallels between Bruce’s past and Batman’s present are perhaps too convenient, but for me, these are forgivable, because Snyder’s use of them is so strong, and they steer the narrative along to a thrilling, heart-wrenching end.
Capullo, Miki, and Plascencia carry on what they started in Secret City, with scads of instant classics throughout. Snyder continues to imbue Bruce with some youthful arrogance and brashness, and FCO’s boisterous colors help sell this persona almost as well as Bruce’s actual words. There’s a sense of stubborn hope in the palette here, where even some of the most harrowing and horrifying scenes are sprinkled with the colors of dawn.
Savage City: some signs of cracking
It’s the final showdown with the Riddler! Bruce has failed the city, and it’s in the grip of a madman. Can Batman and his fledgling band of allies turn the tide and liberate Gotham from Nygma’s savage reign?
This final act of Zero Year is very entertaining, and full of the action and spectacle that have been a staple of the larger arc. It also feels awfully familiar. The Dark Knight rises from a pretty bad defeat, only to find his city shut out from the outside world. The villain gives Gotham’s citizens an illusion of hope, when the city’s demise is his plan all along. Meanwhile, Gordon receives aid from a disappointingly small group of special forces operatives who are discovered soon after their infiltration into the city, and Lucius Fox plays an integral role in turning the tide. I can’t quite put my finger on why this is so familiar…
I mean, for corn sakes, the letterer for the final issue is even named Deshi BasaraDezi Sienty!
Parallels aside, the artwork is again excellent, and Capullo and Wands give us perhaps the best panel of all time forever:
The narrative is also very exciting, and I enjoyed it quite a bit when I first read it, but for me, the parallel storytelling starts to break down a bit here. The link between past and present is much more symbolic than direct, and feels like the analytical work of a literature professor rather than great storytelling.
Thankfully, the parallel and its explanation are just a frame, and you can enjoy the meat of this final act without having to pay them much mind. Snyder’s Riddler is a great villain, and we get a lot more of him here at the end than we did in the first two acts. Nygma’s personality and M.O. make him the perfect outlet for Snyder’s frequent factoids, and I could read Eddie’s arrogant smack talk for days.
A nevertheless solid book
Zero Year was, for me, the golden year of Snyder and Capullo’s run on Batman. It was by far their most balanced work, and this volume is an ideal sample. It has its warts, particularly in the final act, but its successes substantially outweigh any flaws.
Bonus material
In true-blue New 52 fashion, Dark City includes a variant cover gallery at the end.
Value: full price
You can get the paperback for about ten bucks at Amazon. That’s a great price for eight issues of an average book, but for the quality here, that’s a steal.
Overall
While the storytelling—particularly in Act 3—marks the start of Snyder and Capullo’s transition toward a somewhat confusing (and off-putting) paradigm, Dark City remains an incredibly strong finish to what may be the team’s greatest arc. Snyder’s expert pacing, Capullo’s amazing perspective and detail, FCO’s brilliant colors, and Wands’s excellent letters and designs combine for a heck of a complete package. This one’s an easy sell; if you haven’t read Batman vol. 5, you’re missing something special.
SCORE: 9/10
