This week from DC Comics we get the second issue in their latest Black Label line. Batman Reptilian 2 continues the shade and secrecy. Batman continues to investigate the slaughter going on in Gotham, and he, like us, is completely clueless what exactly is going on in this city. The only thing known for sure is that it sucks to be a bad guy right now!
DC publishes this title under it Black Label label. It continues the dark, gritty feel, but I am a bit surprised it does not go darker. Normally the Black Label titles turn up the sex, language and gore over the normal titles, but so far Batman Reptilian remains fairly tame. Batsy does show his more crass, heartless side when talking with butchered and battered criminals like Penguin, but not much else has gone dark. The art more than anything drives the Black Label feel. While it does not show the gore it could, just the over-arcing texture to everything really makes it feel gruesome.
Sucks To Be Bad – What Is Going On?
I find it fascinating that after 40 pages of issue 2, the story really did not advance. We have no idea what continues to prey on the villains of Gotham. Although we do know a bit more about what the ‘thing’ is actually doing. Many of the fallen describe its actions as ‘tasting and moving on’. The creature mutilates the villain, deems them unworthy for some reason and moves on to the next victim. Victor Fries suffers from four broken limbs. Ivy got scalped. This thing is brutal!
Normally issue 2 out of a 6-issue story arc will give us some clue as to what we face, but nope. We have no idea what is going on. The first person that springs to mind would be Killer Croc, but Batman seems to rule him out by including him in the remaining villains he needs to track down. Plus, it doesn’t fit his style or capabilities. If Croc could do this he would have started a long time ago.
Now do not take the lack of story movement as a complaint. It really isn’t. This issue does an great job setting up the suspense and brutality of events. We also get some really nice Batman/Alfred interaction, showing us their comfort in dissing the other, especially Alfred. That and I had no idea the Bat-computer was so polite. I really love the last page. It shows all the villains this thing took down, and front and center show us next issue’s focus. We can assume Joker and Croc may be the focus of Reptilian 3.
What did you think of Batman Reptilian 2? Are you enjoying this series so far? Head over to DC Fanatics and let us know what you think is to come.
