Batman: City of Madness (2023-) #3

by Christian Ward, Patric Reynolds (cover_art)

The terrible origin of the Gotham Below-and of those responsible for protecting its maddening secrets-is revealed! Batman and Talon have fought their way through the underground city’s nightmarish villains to rescue Jevony, but has the Batman Below already twisted his mind past the point of saving?

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Horror, Gothic

47 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2024

Reviews

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this series a lot! The artwork was incredible and added so much to the storytelling. Colours were vivid and nightmarish, and the story was equally bizarre and deep.

This was a fun conclusion, though the showdown involving Robin seemed a little ... weak. I wanted something more unique to come from such a unique, twisted story. But it was still satisfying.

The art is the real win, here. Brilliantly done.

[Terese Ess · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow.. the art, the writing, the story?! 5/5 of course

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pues se confirma la sonora decepción de esta propuesta. ¿Batman se cruza con lo Lovecraftniano? Por supuesto que recuerdo el Elseworld de Mike Mignola, pero tras Aquaman: Andromeda, está claro que Christian Ward podría hacer algo más sugestivo con esa premisa... ¿Ligarlo a ideas temáticas del Arkham Asylum de Morrison y McKean y meter a La Corte de los Búhos? VAMOS A ELLO... Y aunque ya con el 1º número supuse que salvo por la parte artística, este City of Madness no iría a ninguna parte, la verdad es que me ha sorprendido cómo Christian Ward ha desechado una interesante idea conceptual tras la aventura de este Batman y Gotham retorcidas en el trauma y la locura por fuerzas atávicas por dejarse llevar por el juego más insufrible de rapiñar del solitario de Providence en lo estético y las incesantes menciones de la locura y dimensiones regidas por entidades amorales.... Al fin y al cabo, City of Madness ha estado desde la primera entrega catalizando todo mejor por el aspecto psicológico (toda la implicación de Harvey Dent) que no necesitaba del añadido sobrenatural. Es fácil imaginarse a Hugo Strange logrando sustentar de verdad todo este sindios de propuesta...

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with others that this felt rushed in the end. I think the story could have been restructured to tell bits of the Gotham Below origin throughout instead of showing us several bits that could have been cut (like the original victims and Alfred's point of burning his diaries when Bruce is reading one at the end). But. The monster development is awesome and the basics of the story are cool. I love how between canon and elseworlds, Gotham's origins are muddied between the Waynes, the Arkhams, and the Owls, and this just builds on that. The origin also answers my questions from #2, and omgigosh, I love love love the intimation that with the monster unable to support Arthur's mind, his body in Gotham Above becomes possessed as the Joker although I'm not certain how much sense that makes with the Giant Joker card in the Batcave proving that he's already encountered Joker. I think this was a really great idea and wish it had gotten more time and more development. It'd make for a cool animated feature.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Do you believe you don't cause damage simply because you don't intend to?"

I really enjoyed this series!

I thought we got to see some fun characters with a refreshing new but still familiar take on Gotham with beautiful art and a really cool story.

I enjoyed the commentary, however brief, on Batman's "no killing" rule that in many iterations of Batman, he tends to break and despite what Bruce may tell himself, those hurt by his actions are from just that still, HIS actions, intent be damned. I think in a lot of Batman portrayals, he can still state he doesn't kill but then there's definitely a body count that he's accumulating in collateral damage that's often not addressed.

I didn't feel like we really needed to throw in a Joker origin and the climax felt a little, well, anticlimactic, but those points aside, this is a series I could see myself coming back to, at the very least for the art alone.

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent end

It took a while to catch that the issue was set in Gotham below but it has a solid take on Batman and his mythos.

It added some fun new toys for other writers to play with.

I'm hoping Ward gets to write the main book one day.

[Marialuigia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and lazy.

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 - Year of The Bat (366 Days of Batman)

Day 50

[Jorge Figueroa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool art, leaves me unsatisfied, had we found this on Tumblr we'd be clamoring for DC to give him a mini, but somehow this black label oversize title feels empty.

[Jason Holtzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid ending to the series. The artwork stayed great and the story was engaging. This a read deserving of the oversized format and wrapped up nicely!

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series. The art was amazing, and the story was pretty good, too. They've set up a sequel nicely, although I'm not sure a lot of fans will enjoy the ending.

[Jamie Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible art, story seems to be rushed here.
It’s a shame that stories like this are cut short, whereas other books have hundreds of issues.

[Marc Lucke · Rating 4 out of 5]

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