Batman: Killing Time (2022-) #1

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This is just another good example of how specific things can be, while they’re not really that important for the readers. Every time that the creative team gets this specific, it almost seems like this is something to remember for later, except it’s pretty obvious that these are just minor, unimportant details. I think the comic would’ve been much more enjoyable without so much focus on inconsequential fluff. Oh, and David” Let Him Draw Everything” Marquez and Alejandro “Let Him Color Everything” Sánchez are involved too? Yeah, I’m in even more. The second thing that I find really detrimental to this narrative is the frankly cloying use of narration. It sets a tone for the book, and immediately gets your brain in heist mode, but there’s just too much of it. As I mentioned, King tells us the exact time and place of everything going on, every time the scene changes. In some instances, this is genuinely helpful, while in others it feels a little insulting. For instance, there is a scene with Selina where she mentions it’s going to rain soon, the next time we see her they’ve moved inside ahead of the rain. It’s a natural shift for the characters, yet the story still takes time to point out the time and new location. Batman: Killing Time is the latest Batman-related project from prolific writer Tom King. The comic book author, who penned The Vision, Mister Miracle, and The Sherriff of Babylon, wrote 85 issues of DC's main Batman title, taking over for Scott Snyder. Following the run's conclusion, he's worked on a follow-up Batman/Catwoman maxiseries alongside Clay Mann, Liam Sharp, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles. King is also currently writing Supergirl alongside Bilquis Evely, and Human Target with Greg Smallwood. Meanwhile, David Marquez has done the art for Justice League alongside Brian Michael Bendis as well as Batman/Superman with Joshua Williamson. 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.

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. 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.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. 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. 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. There’s a new villain introduced called The Help, who’s like a slightly zombified mash-up of Alfred and Batman. He’s terrifying - some of the scenes put me in mind of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men - and I liked how his past ties into Batman’s. He’s a very capable match for Bruce too. I think he’s the best new addition to Batman’s rogues gallery we’ve had in a while and hope to see him in more stuff in the future. None of these explanations though are especially satisfying for me and that’s partly why I found the final act disappointing. It’s also not the most memorable story. A bank heist, a chase, lots of fighting - it’s well done, but it’s all stuff we’ve seen Batman do before numerous times.

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! I've been a bit tepid with some of King's recent output—except for his and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl, which is excellent—but reading this reminded me why I love his take on the Batman and Gotham as much as I do. It's very much a Tom King book, with all the poetic narration, semi-untraditional narrative structure, and literary references he's known for at this point, but they're all in top form.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. 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.