Flashpoint: Batman, Knight of Vengeance #2
This issue takes the story into overdrive and takes full advantage of this alternate-universe setting in ways that allow Brian Azzarello to write some incredibly dark comics, and Eduardo Risso to provide some beautiful illustrations. The clever way Azzarello twists the Batman mythos around is mystifying. Spoilers abound after the cut.
In this Universe Batman doesn't hesitate to kill, Gotham is a much darker place, and Brian Azzarello has done some fun changes to characters. For instance, we still have an Oracle in this Universe, but it is Selina Kyle (our DC Universe's Catwoman) and she is quadriplegic and wonders why Batman kills so many villains but not the Joker...
Thomas Wayne makes a much grittier Batman for sure, not hesitating to bust some skulls in his effort to get information, and Jim Gordon is quite crafty too--possibly too much for his own good. Why? Because when Gordon stumbles into Wayne manor and thinks he's shot the Joker to rescue the Dent's twins...its all a trap. He actually shot a kid, then he gets sliced up, and Thomas learns all of this a bit late and barges in quite pissed yelling the Joker's real name:
That's right, Thomas Wayne was so upset by his son's death he became Batman, and it drove Martha utterly mad to the point where she became the Joker of the Flashpoint Universe. Damn, that is some clever stuff and this would make a great Elseworld's comic on its own. It explains why Thomas doesn't hesitate to kill criminals but can't bring himself to finish off the Joker and is a killer way to end the issue. With Azzarello writing like this and Risso illustrating so wonderfully this is a dynamite comic.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
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