My, What Big Claws You Have — Reviewing ‘Batman: Full Moon’ #1

Batman stalks the streets of Gotham City. Sometimes, he’s not the only thing that goes bump in the night. Forget solving riddles, cutting through plants, or stopping homicidal clowns, it’s time to get out some silver.

The moon is high and things are howling as Batman goes supernatural once more with Batman: Full Moon #1 from Rodney Barnes, Stevan Subic, and Rus Wooton.

DC’s Black Label books are a way for creators to really expand what types of stories they tell about certain characters. Main continuity and canon mean nothing, basically making these alternate reality stories of a sort. It’s also a way to tell more “adult” stories that are more violent, bloody, horrifying, or other less all-ages friendly fare with key characters.

We get a lot of both of those in this series.

Barnes has a good handle on the Batman and his world, playing within and outside of the lines we’re used to. Simple things like attempts to actually date Zatana, despite being so “Pfft” about anything beyond the realms of science as he knows it, really bring some different color. Playing the man pretending to be a creature of the night against an actual creature of the night is always a solid formula (see Dracula/vampires and other aspects well mined).

Golly, I knew I missed Alfred but I didn’t realize how much ’til the moments here between the two characters. Someone get the mainline Alfred a ‘get out of the afterlife’ card or something. Maybe it was his clone that had his neck snapped. It is comics after all.

If you’re going to tell a story of this nature, going really out there with the artwork seems a very solid choice. Subic is a name that has easily been added to that list since making his US comics debut with Riddler: Year One.

Everything is so rough, striking, and powerful. The muddy and chaotic nature really fits the tone of the story, as the moment matters more than a lot of deep details. The colors are washed out so that we get a lot of yellows, whites, and oranges amongst the darker black tones adds some interesting atmospheric quality. At times it is a bit hard to see what exactly is happening, but it doesn’t entirely take away from the story.

Moody is part of the whole package.

The way the color lighting fluctuates between really dark and amazingly bright really stands out. In a way it kind of seems to fit the mood or given face that Batman or others might be ‘wearing’ at the moment.

Similarly, the tone and emotions that the lettering needs to convey are so clear. Wooton really knows how to mine each word or thought for its full impact. Digging out interesting changes to play into the horror aspect of a book, as it’s not his first rodeo with horror books.

Batman: Full Moon #1 is now available from DC Comics.