Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mitch Gerads
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Over sixty-two issues Tom King has slowly, bit by bit, been breaking the Batman. Batman #62 may be the point where King has finally succeeded where hundreds of villains have failed before. Batman #62 is an analysis of a man at his wits end, a man who is lost, a man running on fumes, and a man who has seen his world crumble around him. But this man is Batman, and you can never count him out.
Batman #62 is a dark descent into the shattering mind of Batman. What appears on the surface just another night in the life of the Dark Knight slowly becomes more. The issue opens with Batman hog-tied, hanging upside down alongside butchered pig corpses and seemingly at the mercy of the deranged Professor Pyg. The Dark Knight has no idea how he came to be in this situation but in pitch perfect fashion Tom King takes us into the mind of Batman and how he reacts in the situation. How he would rely on the teachings of Thaddeus Brown, the first Mister Miracle, to free himself from the rope. The inner monoluge doesn’t end there. The entire book is from the inner workings of Batman. It’s not just the escape, but also the fight, the savagery of the situation, the pain that he is willing to put his body through to defeat his enemy as well as his utter contempt for the villains he constantly faces. But the under current of Batman #62 is that nothing feels right, there is something very wrong with the situation, there is more going on but the world’s greatest detective is struggling to figure out what it is, and once he does only brings forth more questions and fears.
Batman #62 has to already be in the running for one of the best books of the year. Tom King has written an excellent issue, taking the reader down the rabbit hole of Batman’s mind and how it works. I was amazed at how much tension King produced, how the questions just kept building on top of each other, and that Professor Pyg in all his demented glory really wasn’t the threat, or was he? I’m still not sure. Joining King on this issue is his long time collaborator (most recently on the incredible Mister Miracle maxi-series) Mitch Gerads. Gerads is a master storyteller, with lush illustrations perfectly laid out in intrinsic paneling that has so much going on that the reader needs to take a look and then another just to get the depth and scope of his artwork. When I finished Mister Miracle I couldn’t wait to see what these two did next, and I am so happy it was Batman #62.
Verdict:Even though it’s just the first month of the year I’m going to go out on a short limb and say Batman #62 will easily be considered one of the best books of 2019 and an absolute Buy!
