Golden oldies: Fades to Black

By "The Ace of Knaves"

Every once in a while you find yourself reading a comic book that really blows your socks off. Recently, countdown 6-5 had this effect on me (even though what followed was nothing but I disappointment). I hadn't figured on getting an even bigger thrill out of a back-issue of Batman 520 (Jul. 95), Written by Doug Moench and drawn by Eduardo Barreto. Just to situate the issue in Batman chronology: Bruce had just returned to being Batman after Dick Grayson had replaced him for a short while following Knightsend, but Gotham hadn't been hit with the plague yet. Regular artist on the series was Kelley Jones and to be honest I wasn't very impressed with his art. Letter columns from the time emphasise that it was but a small portion of the fans who would agree with me in this, but that aside, I still find fault with it. His "costumes" were perfect, and his mega-long eared Batman is an inspired rendition of the most gothic and dark batman, just falling short of parody, so no complaints there, but his "uncostumed" characters look ridiculous. Fortunately he has evolved since then, because his current art on "Batman: Gotham after midnight" still has the great gothic feel, but at least now he's also able to produce a recognisable Alfred (Instead of the bald moustachioed Walter Matthau that he used to draw instead)

So I guess that the switch for issue 520 to Barreto was part of the charm as this issue focuses heavily on supporting cast officer Harvey Bullock, and I cannot imagine Kelley Jones at the time rendering it so beautifully. And the art really is beautiful, not just in the drawing, but also in the page lay-out. Moench and Barreto manage to get the pace of the story and of the panels just right, so that when the unexpected and shocking climax comes, it just blows you away. I don't think I've ever seen the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne illustrated in such a gripping way as the similar murder in this issue, which gets blended into the story in a perfect reminder of why Gotham need the Batman. If you can find it as a back-issue, buy it, because it really is the medium at its best, combing all elements of story and art to maximum effect.

Classic stuff!

Which reminds me, looking at the date of this issue, it was also around this period that printing switched from classic "newspaper paper" to the glossy kind. I really miss the old paper. Sure, the colours are much fresher with the modern printing, but old back-issues still have that real comics smell and feel. Especially the smells, which to me bring back all the excitement of the comics stand in the newspaper story (by the way: Are the Dutch translated versions still being printed on this paper? Because they used to be even when the American ones had switched to glossy).