Batman: Dark Patterns #6 – Dan Watters, Writer; Hayden Sherman, Artist; Triona Farrell, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: This series has a very unusual format – three stories set early in Batman’s career, three issues each, one creative team. The second narrative, “The Voice of the Tower”, had a fascinating large-scale concept – a run-down tower filled with low-income Gotham residents is set for demolition, but it’s somehow captured by the spirit of Scarface, who has turned all the residents of the tower into his loyal minions. The original Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker, has been captured and had his tongue cut out. But last issue revealed that the mastermind and the new voice of Scarface isn’t the abusive bully Rickson, but his mild-mannered wife Michelle – who was finally pushed too far by her husband and by society as a whole, and finally found a voice that could reflect her rage at the world. And with a police officer held hostage and the cops closing in, she’s ready to escalate her war on Gotham even more.
A lot of the ideas in this story have been under the radar with the Ventriloquist for a while. He’s always been a meek, harmless-seeming guy for whom Scarface represents the anger he wants to show the world. So you take that idea, and give it to a woman whose anger burns much hotter, and you have a very dangerous situation – literally, as she moves to burn the tower down with everyone in it. It’s one of the best Ventriloquist stories ever, of course, but much of the credit also goes to Hayden Sherman. Their art on this series has been one of the best and most disturbing work of their career, with twisted monsters and dark shadows lurking around every corner. This arc hasn’t been as horrific as the first, which introduced us to the horrific Wound Man, but it’s subtly terrifying with some amazing visuals as this tower comes to life and casts a nightmarish spectre over all of Gotham City.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
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