Batman: The Dark Knight #25 Review

Written by: Gregg Hurwitz
Art by Alex Maleev
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 27, 2013

Struggling to Get an Audience

I've had a like-hate relationship with The Dark Knight.  I liked last issue and pretty much hated every other one.  I like Alex Maleev's art and hate Greg Hurwitz' depiction of Batman.  I like the concept of having a varied rogues gallery and hate the ones that have appeared in the book.  The latest villain may be my least favorite in Gotham, Clayface.  I apologize to those Clayface fans out there, but I really don't like him as a villain.  We usually get the same story...a character acts out of character and SURPRISE it's Clayface. Batman is confused, figures it out and then beats the crap out of him. He heads off to Arkham and eventually escapes to claim another person's identity.  Rinse and repeat.

Gregg Hurwitz changed up the formula a bit last issue and I actually enjoyed it.  We saw a Clayface origin that made him a sympathetic character who only wanted to be noticed.  He finally got his wish when an inmate in Arkham confessed to being his biggest fan.  Clayface got the attention he craved by acting out all his roles to the inmates delight.  Then the inmate died and Basil again felt unnoticed and unloved.

Hurwitz continues this issue by showing the lengths Clayface will go to get a captive audience (pun intended). When Batman isn't trading jokes with Commissioner Gordon (the highlight of the book), he is enlisting the help of Black Canary and Condor in finding and fighting Clayface.  In the end, Clayface heads back to Arkham in a new cell that I'm sure won't hold him for long.

This issue seemed unnecessary and unneeded.  In fact, the whole arc was mediocre at best.  Besides a pretty good origin last issue, Hurwitz hasn't done much to the Clayface-Batman mythos.  All we got was a couple issues of Clayface escaping Arkham to get beat up by Batman and getting put back into Arkham.  Oh well, at least it's over.

Alex Maleev's art is good as usual.  He really captures the changing nature of Clayface with his line work.  It must be hard to work on a book that relies so much on browns and blacks, but he does his best to make everything look so good.

Bits and Pieces:

Batman: The Dark Knight #25 is a disappointing end to a mediocre story arc.  I was never a huge Clayface fan and Gregg Hurwitz has not changed my mind.  This has been the weakest of the Bat books and this arc didn't change that.

4.5/10