Written by: Andy Diggle
Art by: Leandro Fernandez
Colors by: Dave Stewart
Letters by: Simon Bowland
Cover art by: Leandro Fernandez, Dave McCaig
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: July 10, 2024
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2, by DC Comics on 7/10/24, follows Adam Strange to Antarctica and John Constantine to Scotland as they search for artifacts confirming the existence of the Kryptonian Age.
Is Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2 Good?
Except for a potentially cool reveal that comes at the very end of the issue, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2 is a bore of an issue. It's clear Andy Diggle is greatly expanding the Gotham By Gaslight Elseworld with new twists on familiar characters, but the central mystery that ties it all together is both confusing and not very interesting. What should be a series of cool Easter Eggs only has very limited appeal. When last we left the Elseworlds adventure in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #1, we followed Selina Kyle on a mission to steal a green-glowing ring from a Wayne Foundation museum exhibit during a gala. Batman arrived during the theft exchange with Selina's employers to find Talia Al Ghul and the League of Shadows quietly stealing everything related to the fabled "Kryptonian Age." In Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2, we begin with a prologue detailing Adam Strange's seafaring expedition to Antarctica to find more evidence of a lost civilization. Despite warnings from the inhabitants of remote colonies, Strange's team finds a lost city, but a powerful presence waits to kill at least one man before the prologue ends.
The prologue taps into heavy homage territory with nods to H.P. Lovecraft's In The Mountains Of Madness. An ancient city discovered in the icy regions of Earth is nothing new, but Fernandez's shadowy art strikes the right tone of creepy isolation and danger. However, the city's discovery confirms a so-called Kryptonian Age without really clarifying what a Kryptonian Age is all about and what it has to do with green-glowing artifacts.
Cut back to the cliffhanger from issue #1. Batman continues his hand-to-sword fight with Talia Al Ghul on top of a moving subway train on an elevated track. Talia assumes she has the upper hand, but the fight is more evenly matched than she expected. Ultimately, Talia escapes.
In the main DC Universe, Talia and Bruce's past are inextricably linked, so Diggle is forging a new origin story, or at least the training bits for the Gaslight Batman. The fight is relatively well done, and the ending lands on an inside joke about Barbatos that earned a small smile.
The scene shifts to Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Queen Victoria is awoken in the middle of the night by news of an intruder. The intruder is none other than John Constantine, following up on news of a coming catastrophe related to glowing green artifacts from the so-called Kryptonian Age, some of which are in the Queen's possession. The Queen ordered Constantine held and executed for previous crimes against the Crown. The execution turns out to be a ruse to take Constantine out of the public eye so that he can become a secret agent working for the Queen to track down and gather more artifacts.
Constantine's arrival and his relationship with Queen Victoria are fine in isolation, but it's unclear how Constantine got roped into the story or why Diggle decided to use Queen Victoria as a pseudo-Amanda Waller. A mystery surrounding the "Kryptonian Age" is already too loosely defined to be a strong hook. Adding even more characters, moving in different directions for (possibly) the same goal that hasn't been defined, only serves to make the plot more cumbersome.
We shift back to Gotham City where Bruce tends his wounds in the Bat Cave after his fight with Talia. Julie brings Bruce supper and asks if the fake artifact trap revealed anything useful. Bruce rifles through clippings, files, and old records to confirm his conclusion that the Kryptonian Age is real and the League of Shadows is killing anyone who may hold any of the artifacts.
Diggle's scene in the Bat Cave acts as a showcase to show off the Victorian Age Bat Cave, but it does nothing to move the story forward. Why is Talia's ethnic origin relevant? It's not. Why is Bruce's belief or lack of belief in the Kryptonian Age relevant? It's not. Do we learn anything new that's useful or some development in the relationship between Bruce and Julie? Nope. In all, this scene brings a tepidly-paced comic to a crawl.
We return to Stange's Antarctic expedition to find the men suddenly attacked in the city ruins by gigantic centipedes (more Lovecraft echoes). When it appears all parties present are about to be slaughtered a figure wearing Greek armor, carrying a sword, shield, and a golden lasso, leaps into the fray to save the expedition from certain death.
Enter the next major cameo. A Victorian-era Wonder Woman is a cool development, but there's no context or setup for her appearance. What is she doing in the Antarctic? What does Wonder Woman have to do with the Kryptonian Age? If it wasn't obvious by now, the questions are stacking up.
What's great about Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2? Diggle expands the cast of characters with the Gaslight version of Adam Strange, John Constantine, and Wonder Woman to flesh out this Elseworld with heaps of potential. Plus, the nods to Lovecraftian lore are entertaining.
What's not great about Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2? Diggle is stacking questions on top of questions. Sadly, they're the wrong kind of questions. Readers should never be stuck in a persistent state of confusion or uncertainty due to the script's lack of clarity. We should always be thinking about future-thinking questions like, "What's going to happen next?"
If the story is persistently stuck with and adding questions like "What is the Kryptonian Age?", "Why are the artifacts glowing?", and "Why is Wonder Woman in Antarctica?", all that does is create confusion and frustration, especially when you have to get to issue three and beyond for answers at $4.99 per issue.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #2 starts the downward trend from mildly interesting in issue #1 to confusing, frustrating, and boring in issue #2. Leandro Fernandez's art is solid, and the number of Victorian-era cameos have potential, but the plot is a muddled chore.
4/10
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