Tearing Open Old Wounds: Reviewing ‘Batman: Dark Patterns’ #1

World’s greatest detective. This is the moniker often bestowed upon Batman — and, more accurately, Detective Chimp — within the DC Universe.

This name is put to the test with Batman: Dark Patterns #1, the first issue of a flash-to-the-past style limited series from the minds of Dan Watters, Hayden Sherman, Triona Farrell, and Frank Cvetkovic.

Engaging. Sickening. Stomach churning. Dark. Gritty. Heavy.

So many words could be thrown around to speak about this first issue — and, naturally, they will be since this is a written review, but these six among the best fitting.

Writing and art always work together to bring stories to life in comics. One cannot really function well without the other, because it turns the comic into another artistic medium. Sometimes, though, there are couplings between the two aspects that are truly matches made in heaven. This is what we have within this haunting, investigative adventure.

“Rough” is another word that fits this story perfectly, which is shown both through the overall story beats but also the visual arts.

Sherman being tapped to draw this series was a stroke of genius.

Already, the work he’s doing with Diana over in Absolute Wonder Woman is killing it, and now we add this book alongside and it’s wild. Just so much power, character, and rawness within the pages. Similar style, able to diverge so greatly and play to the strengths, issues, and energies of two characters that couldn’t be further from each other if they tried.

Just look at the opening pages (provided within this very review!).

We take a tour through the rough streets of Gotham, with various panels of Batman getting ready overlaid upon them. From the iconic statue button to open to the Batcave, to Batman “suiting” up, to the carefully covered Batmobile upon the platform. It leads up to an already iconic epic shot of the Batmobile blasting down the wooded path from Wayne Manor with the glaring Bat symbol shining over the brightly lit Gotham City in the distance and the series title stretched wide behind the vehicle.

Visuals, colors, and lettering on true point.

Work so perfectly gritty it feels like I’ve got sand grains in the mouth. Course, rough, and gets everywhere, ya know?

Every image in the book follows suit from there. Our introduction to the Wounded Man near the end is almost sickening, as the various sharp elements are poking out of his body. What brings it all home even more is how Farrell chooses the absolute right color palette to match this artwork.

Nothing overly bright of flashy, as this isn’t a superhero Batman story. No, this is a street-level grit-fest and the colors need to sell that. Most of them are very toned-down — washed-out almost — to really let the shadows and darker tones run wild. When things do get brighter, it’s in a similar energy level to the rest: never letting the darkness really recede or vanish.

Yellows, blues, and other colors wash over things to add atmospheric filters. As with all the rest on the page, these colors are hefty and add more weight to the whole affair. While odd to say, there is almost a crunchiness to them. It is a very different texture than most color palettes, finding their own level of grittiness.

Lettering has so many things to do.

Not just placing the words upon the page, dialogue or otherwise, in a pleasing and logical manner. When it’s at its best, great lettering lets us not only hear the voices of characters, but feel them. Cvetkovic does that beyond solidly here. Once more, we leap back to that introduction section of the issue. Alongside the visuals are a series out captions, as Batman monologues about the state of Gotham.

Just like other elements of the issue, they are rough in nature. Looking like torn pieces out of a journal, the dark knight’s gravelly voice echoing in the mind with every slanted and sharp word. It paints a picture of how tough things are in this city, and how this younger and rougher caped crusader deals with the problems before him. Beyond our hero, other voices find their right energy and tone as we move forward, giving the words their own distinct flavors, as they are meant to.

Watters is a writer that I had heard of for some time before this year. Once I started to read his works (including his new run on Nightwing), it all started to click. With the books for DC Comics so far, what really stands out is how easily it all just glides into place. As if he has been writing these characters forever, pulling them from his mind rather than the proverbial character toy box of the publisher.

Normally I’m not really keen on stories that play in the past of characters; too much room for needless nostalgia or wild retcons for no reason. Yet, a series that is “four self-contained, street level, evergreen Batman mysteries” all set within the early years of the Bat is something I’m all for. None of this rocks the canon boat or plays in heavy nostalgia. It just steps back to a time when the Batman was more man than an “always prepared God-like being,” and doing gritty, on-the-street detecting.

A Batman who is already grizzled and realizing that he can’t save people from themselves just works. He’s not fresh-eyed or running alongside immortal beings. Instead, this is a man who has been in the proverbial trenches for some time now, aware of the darkness that humanity holds within. Not phased by what he finds, but still on a quest to learn and understand more. Including about himself, and how far he’s willing to go or not in his pursuit of justice.

I’d say “I could read a whole book of this,” but I don’t have to since, well it’s right here. Talk about a win-win situation.

Batman: Dark Patterns #1 is now available from DC Comics.