Customer Reviews

Batman: Broken City

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I view Batman as the darkest of the DC heroes - a man who can be hurt, who deals in the grime and filth of humanity and whose mission is to help not just the innocent, but the not-as-guilty. It's Batman and Daredevil who are the greatest triumphs for human stories in the line.

Broken City, written by Brian Azzerello reaches to those roots of the man behind the mask. He's no friend of the establishment in this book because establishments are cesspools for corruption whether criminal or city. He's on a mission to find truths about himself and to rescue the mind of a little boy in shock after the brutal murders of his parents. The artwork, illustrated by Eduardo Risso isn't the focus, but instead the atmosphere of a well-told story. It's dark and angry and dangerous.

The traditional villians come back to earth in this story, running criminal organizations with very personal effects - drugs, theft, murder, prostitution, etc. It's a story where the detective works his way up to the truth by beating the streets, turning informants and taking wrong trails. Noir, gritty and real. I loved seeing Batman making mistakes and feeling slighted by it, taking it personally, then working new angles. He's alone, and lonely, and can't trust anyone else with the information he's got because the trail might grow as cold as the next victim he stumbles upon in a rain-drenched alley.

For my taste there are too many loose ends, but it's comics and perhaps there are stories to be told later from each thread left dangling. The dialogue is intentionally simplistic and some of it could have been chopped. One of the villians had too much build-up for too simple a fight. Those are my nits. I still recommend it.

- CV Rick

Very few Batman stories these days really get underneath Batman's skin. I think the last time I felt Batman was fleshed out was Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and Year One. It seems most writers are just concerned with his flashy villians and resurecting his side-kicks. I mean, I like the Joker and Robin as much as anyone but how many versions of these characters can there be before they all start to blend together? Also, Batman keeps getting portrayed as some cold-hearted lunatic who keeps questioning his sanity and being just as bad as his villans. Granted that wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't that EVERY other author keeps trying the same formula.

Finally there's Azzarello's Batman which, while keeping with some general criteria from past incarnations, makes Batman his OWN character.

Now along with this story being completely from Batman's first person perspective, the case he works on is a VERY personal one. A child's parents are murdered in front of him in a subtly similar way Bruce's own parents were taken. Sounds kinda obvious, but I was completely hooked into Batman's actions as he investigates.

The story is VERY much an Azzarello detective story in a world more like 100 bullets than Gotham. There's Batman but no Robin, Alfred, Nightwing or any other detracting side-kicks. The villans are around and are portrayed in Azzarello's own unique/quasi-realistic twist on them (but not quite as extreme as they were in his "The Joker").

I think my only complaint with this comic is the art. It's a bit TOO much like 100 bullets and doesn't quite draw you in like "the Joker" did. It's a minor complaint but I can see the art disappointing some people.

Like I said, I'm NOT a fan of mainstream Batman. But if you like a change and love a good detective story, this (along with Paul Popes brilliant "Batman Year 100") show there's a lot of room for unique visions of this familiar hero.

Being a big fan of film noir, of the dark, brooding Frank Miller Batman, and of the wonderfully grim "Batman: The Animated Series," I adore BROKEN CITY. Granted, there are many, many different interpretations of Batman...but this manages to be one of the best, I think. Take Miller's "Batman: Year One," then add about 10-15 years to the character, and you've got this thrilling graphic crime novel. The story is riviting, the artwork is fabulous. HIGHLY recommended for fans of the Dark(er) Knight!

I don't care much for 100 Bullets, but this is one tough, hard-core noir-noir (I meanly deathly black) Batman story. You want one tough opening line? Try this one: You get a page of Gotham's dark, industrial sky line (more like water line; you're seeing it from the harbor as if you're standing on a pier of boating in). Then you get this line: "Now, lonely hearts and Sunday School teachers like to say that rain is the tears of God. . . . This rain? If it comes from Him, it's not His tears." And you immediately get a picture of a gargoyle pouring water from it's mouth; but, behind it, it's shadow is much more grotesque and is practically vomiting the water out of its mouth. I'm telling you; this is a different Batman than you've seen before. You honestly get the feeling here that Batman --in the strongest sense of the word -- hates Gotham. But you've got to realize what Batman is dealing with here: a criminal element whose in-fighting results in the murder of a little girl whose body, to put salt in the wound, was left in a landfill. And it's not that Brian Azzarello or Batman don't have a sense of humor (Batman even says that he and God are alike because they both share a "sense of humor nobody gets"), it's just dark. You have to have a different kind of joy-stick to make it work, but I was laughing out loud when, every time Killer Croc gets a new set of teeth, this vicious version of Batman takes a yeoman's pride if not joy in literally knocking them out. You have to be there (in the reading, you know), to make it work, but it's hilarious. And, to be honest, that's about all that's hilarious here. I don't want to give much more of the story away, but there's neat reinvention of the Batman origin story in which Batman plays his recurring nightmare of it against the real-life nightmare of a catatonic boy who is alive but, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. All he's got are these wide eyes of emptiness. When Batman learns that there stories aren't parallel, he's ethically and spiritually shaken. But I don't want to take the initial shock of it away from a first time reader. Trust me; his knowledge about why the boy is catatonic is the horrific climax of this story. Other than that, you get a fun arrangement of Gotham's villains: Croc losing teeth, dressing like a Louisiana, Bayou Zydeco pimp and living it up in strip bars; Scarface feeling big-time when he's Batman's one link to a line of information about exactly why the hit was put out on the little girl, but feeling very low and belittled when Batman boils him to naught with an espresso machine!; Batman beating up the Penguin on the center-stage of his club in front of a packed audience; Fat Man and Little Boy, two Chinese-American killers who seem both slightly gender- and size-confused. As to the art and text, well the art's awesome. Risso brings out a very gritty but tough looking Gotham that's much more realistic than I've ever seen it. Another big highlight -- and the unsung hero -- here is Patricia Mulvihill and her coloring. Her flawless ability to move from ink-dark scenes to neon-lit scenes and making the transition natural is simply beautiful. As to the writing, Azzarello creates a true noir-Batman. His text, perhaps arguably having holes, definitely has some weak spots. In his attempt to throw in every Batman character possible, for instance, sometimes the scenes get a little gratuitous. The Penguin's entrance to the story is the same as Scarface's: just another line to information. It's the same with the Joker at the ending. Batman believes he's got something to add to it, but the reader feels like, okay, it was neat to see the Joker, but it doesn't add anything. All the Joker tells him is that he'll never get all the information. He does create a whole new Killer Croc - Batman interaction that's a lot of fun. As to the packaging, everything is here from the regular series, including some fantastic covers. The only thing additional is an introduction by Bob Schreck in which he discusses his fondness for Azzarello and Risso as people and creators both. All in all, this is a gritty but fun ride. But if you want the classical Batman, he's not to be found in this one.

I'm impressed with this Batman tale because it is a terrific murder mystery. It reminds me of some of my favourite hardboiled detective novels like The Chill, by Ross MacDonald, or even The Long Goodbye by Chandler--wherein it may not necessarily be the solution to the crime that makes the story great, but the journey getting there. Dirty secrets get uncovered as Batman pursues Angel Lupo, prime suspect in the murder of his sister, as well as the double homicide of a married couple simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or so it appears. But the hunt for the truth ropes in some old Batman foes, like Killer Croc, and the eerie duo known as Ventriloquist and Scarface. The can of worms Batman opens as he scours a particularly bleak and rainy Gotham hunting a murderer is, in the tradition of some great pulp detective fiction, not necessarily relevant to the main crime but, well, just as bad or worse. Crimes piled on crimes, layers of tenously connected secrets that, as they are revealed, do not flatter anyone involved. Then the flash of insight, the sudden hunch from the gut--in this case, Batman breaking free of some narrow thinking caused by the circumstances involved in his own parents' deaths--and the case is suddenly solved.

The theme is as old as pulp fiction: turn over rocks looking for one snake, and you may find all kinds of snakes. And, as usual, something that looks as pure as driven snow in a story like this often turns out to be stained the worst.

I don't see any real loose ends in this story, except for, perhaps, a clear explanation of what stolen object connects lowlife Angel Lupo with new villains in town Fat Man and Little Boy. Other than that, the role that Angel Lupo, his lover Margo Farr, car thief Jonny Billy of Little Tokyo, the Penguin, Killer Croc, Ventriloquist and Scarface, all played in the homicides, is explained. I especially liked the scene where Batman finally stands face to face with Angel Lupo--a scared, hunted Angel Lupo pointing a gun at our hero while someone else waits in the shadows for a chance to kill the man he thinks ruined his happiness.

A few problems: I think Killer Croc isn't tough enough in this story; Batman seems to push him around at his leisure--and wouldn't it take chains to keep Croc tied up? I don't think Batman is any crueler in this dreary story than he has been elsewhere, and I don't think his quick handling of Little Boy in their final skirmish is a disappointment; after taking his lumps from her (Little Boy does seem to be female) in severe fashion, he finally detects her weak spot and exploits it with a quick bit of finesse, and the tables are turned without a lengthy brawl. I kind of like it when heavily-hyped fighters go down fast--and she had cleaned Batman's clock pretty thoroughly earlier! But the Joker's scene with the Dark Knight--he summons Batman to Arkham for a chat (ie. some taunting)--could have been left out, though I guess, in his demented way, he's trying to get Batman to think outside the box. The scene ends kind of abruptly, and it seems to be the following sequence, where Batman flashes back to an intriguing detail from the day his parents were killed, and not the Joker's oblique natterings, that forces him to rethink assumed guilt and innocence.

The final unmasking of a murderer caught me by surprise, despite me having read a terrific whodunit called Night Games, by Collin Wilcox (that doesn't spoil things, does it?--has anyone here read Night Games, by Collin Wilcox?), where the solution was similar. It just shows that it's really tough to come up with an original puzzle these days. But I still loved this crime story, and I recommend that you ignore any claims that it's too confusing--goodness! it's a mystery story with multiple suspects and crimes hiding other crimes while everyone tries lying to Batman (it doesn't work) to obfuscate the truth while the real killer is protected by all these layers of deception...what do you expect, simplicity?!

It's a splendid story, and Batman remains a great, if temporarily misguided, detective. Give him time, he'll get it worked out. Still punches hard too.

Just finished reading some editors' review on Amazon of other Batman graphic novels and was shocked at the great reviews given some mediocre books and the poor review given to this one, Broken City, which in my opinion is a masterpiece and comparable to works of Miller, Sale/Joeb! When I first bought it, I read it twice to figure out who killed who. It wasn't because the story was convoluted, which it is, but the artwork is so beautiful, so smart, that I would just study the panels and not pay attention to the story. Risso is the absolute master of using shadow and black areas to define his work. I've taken this book into several of my digital art classes, where we've dissected the shadows, panning of scenes etc. They are stunning! Every scene is drawn with meticulous care and serve as both luscious artwork and moving the story forward. My favorite scenes have to be Batman arguing with Croc reflected in the tire rims of the car, the beating Batman receives at the hand of the skinny Japanese girl where he finally graps her bracelet, and the point of view from inside Batman's mouth while he gives himself First Aid. Bruce Wayne grilling a steak while talking on the phone with the Gotham PD detective, "grilling relaxes me," has to be a new classic and provides a refreshing take of the tired old scenes from the batcave with Alfred making goofy remarks in the background. Many compare Risso to Miller and other artist, but I see a lot of Mignola in his work; dark areas with layers of meaning providing a background to Azzarello's noir story laden with biting humor. I know 100 Bullets is a popular, but I've never particularly cared for it, but this is different. Buy it for the art or for the story and even if you are not a Batman fan, you won't regret it.

I had heard of 100 Bullets but being a rather conservative comic buyer, I always managed to pass. Well, when I saw the writer (Azzarello)had done a Batman story, and after reading the accolades on the back of the book, I gave this graphic novel a shot, after all, I am a big Batman fan. I wasn't dissapointed at all. This is a book for comic fans. It's got Batman doing some dark, gritty noir. Some people have criticized this book heavily because Batman is quite thuggish in this book, and they thing Azzarello just didn't "get" the character. I do agree that Batman is a little bit too thugish as he's written but I completely disagree with people who say that messed up the book. Batman fits into the story properly as everyone is darker in Broken City.

One thing that makes this story work so well is Azzarello's narrative. He manages to write with a sparse, noir voice without sounding like he is copying Frank Miller and I think that allow reccomends a purchase. The dialogue is very sharp, and the characters are well defined (they don't sound like each other).

Another thing that's striking about this book is it's artwork. Comics are visual medium and they must have good artwork to succeed and Broken City does, on many levels. Eduardo Risso did the pencilling (this is the 100 Bullets team)and not only did he manage to bring a gritty, dirty feeling to Gotham, he does great action scenes, he has a good eye for portraying the most fantastic moments.

The story isn't perfect. As a crime mystery, it doesn't do as well as say, the Long Halloween, because some loose ends aren't tied up (and the ending comes out of nowhere-- I guess it's supposed to shock us like shocks Batman) but it makes up for it in its character and narrative.

Everyone should give Broken City a try.

Azzarello and Batman are a great pairing. I love my Dark Knight extra dark, and this book delivers a unique look at Gotham and its resident detective/costumed mad-man. Full of pain, senseless violence, and twisted morals, Broken City is the perfect antidote to 60s Batman campiness.

Where is Angel Lupo? That is the question that Batman keeps asking, unfortunately for all of the wrong reasons, in this retro flavored detective tale. This story is so richly drenched in '40s noir, and also in a constant rain that so evocatively recalls that genre, that one was half expecting Sam Spade to appear at any moment wearing a trenchcoat. All that was missing were the taste of cheap whiskey and the smell of stale cigars. Batman's wry internal monologue is also reminiscent of that period and the voice over narrations that were such a staple of its' crime dramas and movies. Brian Azzarello is no stranger to noir, as he so expertly illustrates here. His characters and their dialogue, aptly aided by Eduardo Risso's suitably matched artwork, eloquently come to life and convincingly set the proper mood and stage for this tale of deceit and treachery. This is a pure, bare bones detective story, filled with flawed and dramatically real human beings just struggling to survive another night in this big, bad town. There are 8 million stories in the Naked City, this is one of them. As is normally the case with this genre, you can't always tell the good guys from the bad, just ask Batman. He is chasing the wrong guy for the wrong crime and, most importantly to him, for the wrong reason. By the end of this tale, he is bruised, abused, and in regards to one particular little boy, painfully and regrettably confused. But as with any good cop or detective from that bygone era, he is too driven by his basic desires of doing what is right for others and his beloved city to ever stop. Raymond Chandler would be proud.

Batman is investigating a crime involving two men and a woman, and it is giving him a few problems. With the usual bunch of crazy super villains lurking in the background, the focus of this story is on unravelling the relationships between the people involved, to work out whodunnit. A noir type of dark, shadowy crime story.