The Dimmer Mak
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 20, 2022
Going back to show Bruce Wayne training to be Batman is nothing new or unique, so if you do it, you better make sure your story is. So far, Chip Zdarsky has done that, deftly mixing unusual with familiar to give a new narrative that still feels right. However, I was not a huge fan of how the last arc ended, so hopefully, Batman: The Knight #4 gets me back on the trolley. Let's find out if it does...
Batman: The Knight #4 opens with Bruce climbing Paektu Mountain and arriving at Master Kirigi's Dojang. You can't help but think a bit of Batman Begins at first, but watching Bruce get a not-so-warm welcome (I'm not even talking about the frigid weather), you have to feel for him.
Chip Zdarsky does a decent job of surrounding Master Kirigi and his school with a good amount of mystery, but that ends up hindering things as the issue continues. Bruce strikes up a friendship with a fellow student, who I thought was going to Ghostmaker, but there isn't much going on in the issue overall.
The issue drags on until Master Kirigi takes on some new students and begins to teach the Dim Mak. Now, as a HUGE Bloodsport fan, I can't help but love any mention of the Death Touch, but it's just here to piss off Bruce and make him leave the dojang early.
Here is a tip for everyone - don't threaten a sus martial arts master as you leave his school. Bruce obviously didn't learn that lesson yet, and it bites him in the ass in no time at all! Luckily, he gets some help, and everything seems better... or does it?
The issue ends with Bruce heading off to his next stop on the "Learning to Batman Tour," but is he traveling with the enemy? We will have to wait and see, but the cliffhanger looks ominous.
I hate to say it, but this issue was a bit boring. Not much happens, and since everyone at the dojang is trying to be anonymous, Zdarsky doesn't give himself any room for character work. Unfortunately, the art doesn't get much opportunity to pick up the slack either, with the bland snowy backgrounds and spartan lifestyle of a hidden martial arts school.
Bits and Pieces:
Batman: The Knight #4 continues Bruce Wayne's quest to become Batman in an issue that, unfortunately, was kind of boring. It does end with a cool cliffhanger, but you need more than that when the most important question going into this book is whether or not it is necessary. I am a Chip Zdarsky fan, but I am slowly losing interest in this book. Hopefully, the next issue will get me as excited as I was after the first two issues.
6.0/10
I saw a lot of fans online claiming that's actually Ghostmaker, something about him also being from Singapore? I don't know, I don't care about him, I didn't care about any of Tynion's additions to the Batman lore, frankly if anyone asks me over the years about Tynion's run, I'd like to pretend it never happened, like "there was a Tynion Batman run? Curious, never heard about it". That's how much it annoyed me.
ReplyDeleteI would rate this better, I'd give it a 7, maybe 7.5 but that's actually because I find Zdarsky pretty overrated while you're a fan. That's how I felt with Hickman's X-Men run (not HoX-PoX, that was brilliant). Most people liked it but I felt a bit disappointed because I know Hickman could do better and he was winging it big time. I don't think Zdarsky is a great writer so this for me does its job. What's annoying is that the issue was pretty predictable, like Anton was shady from the beginning, Bruce seems like an idiot not seeing it, and overall this run just rehashes stuff from Bruce's past, without adding anything new and exciting. It's told in a decent kind of storytelling but it doesn't break any new ground. I have pretty low hopes for his future Batman run.
Merlyn
I think it has to be Ghost Maker- I wish it wasn't, but Zdarsky was talking about adding him in
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