Much of King's work on Batman has spotlighted his relationship with Catwoman. During his time on the main Batman title following the DC Rebirth relaunch in 2016, King developed the relationship between Bruce and Selina to the point where they were engaged to be married. However, in the end, Selina opted not to marry Bruce, deciding it would impede his ability to help the people of Gotham City. Following his departure from Batman, King began work on Batman/Catwoman, a twelve-issue series with artists Clay Mann and Liam Sharp. As Batman/Catwoman #10 releases in February, it seems likely Batman: The Killing Time will be available at the same time as that series. And I figured what better way to write a review about a team up story than to do it team up style! This time you all will get to hear from both me and Casper as we share opinions on just how well King’s pulled off the first issue of this series. It seems to be set in the early days of Batman’s career for no real reason. It definitely doesn’t follow King’s Batman run as the Batman/Catwoman relationship is completely non-existent here. In fact Catwoman is written very differently from the Cat in King’s run - here she’s very vicious and quite mad. In Batman’s second year of his crusade against crime, while he is still changing and perfecting his craft and the art of the vigilante, the cowardly lot of criminals in the city are changing as well—giving rise to darker, specialized rogues.

Yep! I actually like quite a few King comics, although he certainly has missed the mark with several of his works. Hopefully this will be good–let’s have a look! Before we close, I do want to critique one aspect of this book, and that’s the fact that Batman feels more like a supporting character than the main hero. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the story works well enough as it is, I do think that Batman doesn’t get enough moments to shine. There are even times that I forget Batman entirely because I’m so tuned into the other parts of this story. So far Batman has just been running after Riddler and Catwoman, and he’s been punching people. Long story short, I think Batman is underused. Take him out of the story, and it wouldn’t even change that much. Hopefully King will show why Batman is needed in this comic from a narrative point. Tom King and David Marquez’s Killing Time is a decent done-in-one Batman book that’s always unpredictable and never boring, with fantastic art throughout, though ultimately the story is a forgettable one with a very underwhelming finale. It could be that the story is about the transient nature of power, how the item passes from one to another, each briefly empowered before losing it to another, and so on. Or perhaps the stupidity of superstition. Or perhaps it’s simply a story meant to kill time, as the title suggests, and that it’s not really about anything more than what we see on the surface. Maybe it’s a commentary on the nature of superhero comics, that are all middle story and no real conclusion, that gets repeated over and over again ad infinitum. As Riddler intones at the end, “What did we… solve? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.” Maybe it’s a superhero retelling of The Bacchae.

Success!

Alejandro Sanchez increases the tension in the issue thanks to warm oranges to convey sunrise. Those oranges enhance the violence in the opening and the immediacy in the closing scenes too. Despite Batman being the titular character, in which he has been the Caped Crusader for a couple of years, he isn’t really the main character, continuing a recent streak of King not that interested in Batman as a character. King is clearly more interested in the villains who are always double-crossing one another and no doubt there is some fun with the banter between them, but because the comic is so fixated on being non-linear, it’s ultimately hard to care. Batman : Killing Time is a story from the Dark Knight's earlier years, written by Tom King with art from David Marquez. The story jumps around moments in time and coincidentally focuses on the same characters who appeared in The Batman (save for Killer Croc), starring actor Robert Pattinson and directed by Matt Reeves. Unlike like King's main Batman run or his limited Batman/Catwoman series, the title is set to be a miniseries that only lasts six issues.

After the disappointing Batman/Catwoman, which served as King’s conclusion to his ongoing narrative during the main Batman title whilst playing with non-linear storytelling, Batman: Killing Time is basically a repeat of that storytelling. When Catwoman, The Riddler and The Penguin join forces to pull off the greatest robbery in the history of Gotham City, Batman investigates the deadly heist that goes wrong. The call for Riddler's head isn't without warrant. In the title's premiere issue, the Riddler/Edward Nygma betrayed the Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot, who had bankrolled a shared job between the two villains, Catwoman and Killer Croc in obtaining the mystery item from the bank. When Penguin requested the item at their meeting spot, Nygma instead beat Oswald with his own umbrella 46 times, leaving him battered and bruised in the hospital.In Batman's second year of his crusade against crime, while he is still changing and perfecting his craft and the art of the vigilante, the cowardly lot of criminals in the city are changing as well—giving rise to darker, specialized rogues. The first thing you need to know going in, is that this book is all about the heist side of things. It feels like it wants to be the next Oceans or Leverage story but on paper instead of the screen. King does this through frequent use of time jumps, and narration detailing every little thing characters do, where they do it, and when it’s happening.

Catwoman, the Riddler, and the Penguin join forces to pull off the greatest robbery in the history of Gotham City. And their prize? A mysterious and priceless artifact in the secret possession of Bruce Wayne! But, as the events unfold, what fun is a heist without a bloody double cross or two? Having made a name for himself at DC as one of the best Batman artists, David Marquez’s work is top-notch here, presenting hyper-realistic, hugely detailed art. When you look at his work of numerous Spider-Man comics, Marquez can illustrate action and that applies here with Batman being a figure of theatrics through his cape. David Marquez draws yet another great issue that’s detailed and exemplary at pace. Make no mistake, the idea of how this issue starts and is structured is great, but Marquez makes you believe these faceless villains lived full lives. Meanwhile, Batman moves through the narrative like a force of nature. He’s laser-focused and still trying to catch up to Catwoman and Riddler since the first issue. That culminates in an exciting rush to possibly save Catwoman and stop the United States government from doing something stupid. The plot is fairly simple: Catwoman gets a tip from the Joker about the MacGuffin. She recruits the Riddler to set up a buy for the MacGuffin. Batman catches wind of the heist and is especially upset the MacGuffin has been stolen. Penguin, who has been double-crossed in the midst of all this, calls in reinforcements in the form of The Help, who also becomes interested in the MacGuffin. These narratives converge in a big kerfuffle. Oh, and David” Let Him Draw Everything” Marquez and Alejandro “Let Him Color Everything” Sánchez are involved too? Yeah, I’m in even more.

On legacy and the next generation in ‘Dark Crisis’ with Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere

Throughout the six issues, whilst you may have the main narrative of these villains trying to resolve this heist that has gone wrong, as well as a plethora of new characters such as the Help, who seems like a formidable foe for everyone he confronts, the story keeps going off in these detours. There’s a whole subplot about Killer Croc’s fiancée, which I don’t think is a big deal, but there’s also sections where we cut to periods of ancient history, which supposedly ties in with the current heist. The final issue does reveal some answers, but reading through the other issues is a chore to get through. Furthermore, I’m not really a fan of the tone of the comic. While it gets you in heist mode, Matina, I feel like I’m reading a really dry, boring police report about a crime that took place. To me, the comic is very monotone. It’s almost like every sentence in the narration boxes has the same rhythm and pace, and like we’re just getting the writer’s notes for the narration, instead of the narration itself. It keeps me at arm’s length and it makes reading this comic a bit of a chore. Riddler and Catwoman take to the road, both weighing how long they can go before they need to take the other out. And as they move about the city they’re hunted by an inexperienced Batman who knows two things: One, he’ll need to be better than he’s ever been to catch these two psychopaths; two, Penguin survived and if he gets to them first, it’ll be a bloodbath like Gotham’s never seen. There’s a subplot running in parallel to the modern-day one, set in Ancient Greece and revolving around Euripides’ play The Bacchae. We don’t find out the significance of this until the end not only for its connection to the mystery item but also in understanding the point of the story. The play’s end also mirrors the end of the main storyline. Exactly. The problem is that King gets too specific with little details. I don’t think we need to know the exact times when things happened, and I don’t think we even need this nonlinear narrative at all. It just makes it seem so much more complicated than it really is, and that’s never a good thing in my book. Constantly jumping around through time and getting time stamps as well as various names and locations thrown at you is indeed making me feel kind of dizzy. As a result, I find it hard to connect with the story and focus on the plot, because I keep getting distracted by my frustration with all these unnecessary details.