Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 3: Gotham Nocturne: Act II (Detective Comics

Batman: Detective Comics by Ram V #3

by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard (inker)

WHAT LIES BENEATH GOTHAM? The Dark Knight investigates below the old ruins of Arkham Asylum, uncovering a demon-infested mystery tying Gotham to the Orgham family from centuries back…including the existence of Batman! With Nightwing and Batgirl helping along the way, Batman struggles to fight off an Azmer demon’s hold on his mind, and the only thing in its way are Bruce’s own inner demons…and Barbatos. Ram V and a host of all-star artists, including Stefano Raffaele, Ivan Reis, Dustin Nguyen, Francesco Francavilla, and others, take Batman on a hellacious journey he may never return from! Plus, stories featuring Mr. Freeze, Prince Arzen, Commissioner Montoya, and a young Bruce Wayne. Collects Detective Comics #1071-1075.

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

179 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2024

About the author

Ram V (Ramnarayan Venkatesan) is an author and comic book writer from Mumbai, India. His comics career began in 2012 with the award-nominated Indian comic series, Aghori. A graduate of the City University of London’s Creative Writing MA, he has since created the critically acclaimed Black Mumba and the fantasy adventure series, Brigands.

Reviews

[Khurram]

A good, slightly horror inspired book. I would have given this 3.5 stars, but the last couple of issues/chapters pushed it for a round up.

The Bat family are ready to take the fight to the Orghams, but is it already too late. Batman is used to be the one ahead of his opponents, but this time, he has been left behind. What will be the final fate of Batman? How will this affect Gotham next?

The last couple of issues were the best of this series for me, and it really got me set up for the next book. This book finishes with a varient covers gallery.

[Bill Riggs]

Whatever happened to keeping the art consistent through a storyline?

[Matthew Ward]

3.5 stars. I’m digging the horror elements of this story, but the Orgham Family story is beginning to feel a little overplayed. I’m ready to move on to something more with this story, though the horror elements with Barbatos with guest artists Nguyen and Francavilla definitely had me excited to continue reading.

[Roman Zarichnyi]

Після двох атмосферних томів, у другому акті «Готичної Ноктюрни» Рам Ві нарешті підкручує гвинти. Ґотем палає. Орґами розігрують головну карту, а Бетмен — ослаблений, зламаний і от-от буде знищений не стільки демонами, як власними страхами. Таке враження, що це серйозна підводка до кульмінації, до якої серія йшла минулі дві арки.

Сюжет розгортається швидше, ніж раніше: відкриття бази Орґамів, публічне містичне зомбування людей, демонічне зараження Бетмена й захоплення міста — усе це тримає у напрузі. Особливо тішить участь Бетсім’ї, яка органічно доповнює сюжет, хоч і залишаються дещо на другому плані.

Цей том не перевершив двох попередніх, які краще балансували між міфом і особистим. Проте він приносить очікуваний хід подій: конфлікт із Орґами нарешті загострюється, а Бетмен — на межі як ніколи. Це все ще готична трагедія з супергеройським відтінком.

Мені подобається, як Рам Ві підійшов зі своїм стилем до цієї серії, яка часто була другорядною поряд із основною. Та тут, на мій погляд, все навспак. Тому беріться читати.

[Anna Quilter]

Max : 10

Main story :

Art : 7
Writing : 8
Story : 7

The story does float between confusion and events in the background...plus the back up stories.
I did appreciate the mention/allusion to a great 1960s Movie. THE SWIMMER..which mirrors Batman's situation through most of this volume.

[Adam Fisher]

A lot of extraneous stuff here in this story, but I'll break down the basics:
- Batman needs to shut down the Orgham family from taking over Gotham
- The Orghams' are very mysterious, having a complicated past with Vandal Savage and Ra's Al Ghul, and also have abilities of some kind
- One has mind control abilities which they use on Batman, who fights against it by revisiting the places of his greatest traumas.
- It seems like they really want to destroy both Bruce Wayne and Batman.

Not really following this one closely. Feels very disjointed to me, and something that will not have any lasting ramifications. I urge you to make your own judgment call here.

[Frédéric]

Things are finally settling down. After several volumes - certainly well-written - but which tended to drag on - the first pay-off.

Not necessarily very original - under the influence of a toxin Batman travels through places and times from his past - but as usual Ram V delivers a solid, gripping narrative with real tension and well-cast characters.

Spurrier left the back stories which are now more interesting and easier to read; definitely a plus.

Once again, a good artistic part - with the exception of Francavilla, who botches his work as usual - and a revelation as the episodes go by for Ivan Reiss. I hadn't read much about him, but I hadn't been that impressed until now. Inked by Miki, his dark, well-composed work is really above average.

[Lucas Savio]

Do nada a lugar algum, eu parei no meio por desinteresse, não sabia mais história do que estava contando, conta história da história. Uma enrolação que meu deuss sem tempo. Que venha Absolute batman…

[Brandon Daniels]

The story felt like it was spinning its wheels a little. It’s rare to have a Batman story last this long, and I’m starting to lose the plot. The art is all over the place, but it kept things interesting.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy]

Some good/ some bad. The overall story is interesting but played out- a new group of rich outsiders come to take over Gotham, this time with a middle Easter flair. Their background is engaging, like a fairytale, but a real one where everything is creepy. Batman gets possessed by a devil of sorts and is slowly retracing his life while in a stupor. The whole thing is fine, I don’t love it but I’m still reading. The worst day reading is better than the best day in court!

The art here is great, this is how Gotham should look. I can’t say enough about the amazing art, the black pages being used instead of white is such a powerful (and seemingly obvious) choice for a Batman story. Kelley jones is one of my favorite artists and should be legally required to draw Batman covers for the next ten years- they’re absolutely phenomenal!

[Paul]

2.8 stars.

[Billy Jepma]

Okay, Ram V is really cooking with something now. The slow burn of the Gotham Nocturne story hasn't led to the most exciting read, but the thematic undertones and broader parallels Ram has been creating start to come into clearer focus in this outing, and the results are very, very promising. I still wish the art were more consistent issue-to-issue, but at least this series has maintained a solid baseline of quality. The most significant departure comes from Francavilla's turn at bat near the end, which is a jarring shift in art style that still works because I've always liked how expressive and dramatic his work is.

I've been waiting and hoping that Ram V had something in mind for the Orghams, and again, I'm starting to see what he's building with them and their role in Batman and Gotham's story. It's not the most original approach, yet the parallels pack a wallop and have the potential to strike a real nerve if the series can keep up the momentum. I'm also a sucker for a Batman book that isn't afraid to get introspective and interrogative toward Batman, his motivations, his role in Gotham, and the fragile nature of the things that hold him together. We'll see how Ram V's story unfolds in the next chapters, but I'm very into the concepts he's been laying down and will be eager to see where they go next.

I also continue to love the series' backup stories, with this collection having some of the best so far. Unlike other books in DC's catalog, the backups are arguably essential to the main story the series is crafting. They enrich supporting characters, add dimensions to backstories, and generally help the story Ram V is bringing us into feel like a proper odyssey.

[Mia]

3.5 stars

[Alek Hill]

It just gets better and better. The lore in this story is captivating and incredible. It feels like the penultimate Batman run.

[Aaron]

I’m finding it hard to enjoy this current run. I like the look but I don’t enjoy the plot of it.

[Riley Pilgrim]

Ram V doing more interesting things than the mainline Batman run. The biggest strength of this series is how the issues are broken down into the main storyline, and then a small short story at the end of the issue that sheds light on a different character/plot thread. In vol 3 we learned more about the villains, and who they are. While the antagonists aren't exactly anything we haven't seen, the way they're being presented is super interesting. At times this run can feel a bit busy with all the characters, weaving plot threads, and pacing feeling pretty slow. However, I'd argue all that really helps flesh out this story, and demonstrates how this conflict is about more than just Batman (even if V is really diving in to the psyche of Batman).

[Alan]

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse than the previous installment, this one just bottoms out. There's sooooo much backstory to Arzen that it clearly was filler, as it took up about two whole issues, which meant they didn't have to have Batman doing anything. And it wasn't all that interesting. And once again the artwork becomes abysmal in the last two or three issues. And the story line still hasn't ended, even though it should have several issues ago. Worst Batman plot in years.

[nia]

perfect writing, gorgeous art, horror elements, amazing batman characterisation and introspection, talia actually being done justice, and brutalia romance? i could cry.

they’re undoing all the hard work done in this run in the absolute mess that is the current tec run but i will never forget. ram v you will always be the best modern tec writer PLEASE COME BACK.

also the nightwing and batgirl appearance felt very catered to me 🫶

[Daniel Butcher]

Better than the last volume. But maybe tying to hard to be Court of Owls epic in the street level book. Let’s stop crime.

[Taylor Bowling]

Takes a big step up in the last couple of issues.

[Dakota Morgan]

Though intriguing and often gorgeous, Ram V's Gotham Nocturne continues to be a book that leaves my mind almost as soon as I put it down. There's just so much going on! Flashbacks, dream sequences, and then whatever is happening in the current day. We're also tracking a number of characters beyond the Bat and the Orghams. It's overload!

Perhaps by intention. And I'll admit to liking many of the Hickman-style elements, like an invigorating (and very Game of Thrones) look at the Orgham's origins. Whatever Batman is up to, though: I couldn't tell ya. Maybe reading the next volume will jog my memory.

[Rachel]

3.5

Better than the last volume, really like the parallels with Alfred, but the Orghan plot wears on me and the clash in art makes the story difficult to follow

[Victor]

Blah. This one is starting to lose the thread for me if I’m being honest. I’m going to stick with it and hope that it regains its footing, but it may be too far gone.
The good:
Ram V is a talented writer, and I have enjoyed quite a bit of what this run has done so far up to this point. That is a point of contention itself but I found myself enjoying a fair amount of this story.
There is quite a talented group of artists that have had their hands all over this work. There are some fantastic variant covers, and some panels that have a few nods to earlier iterations of Batman that feel like a little easter egg homage.
The horror/supernatural type aspects of the story really seem to be the most interesting and bring out some of the most stunning visuals of the issues.

The Bad: As much as I have enjoyed the writing, things are beginning to spin their tires and go nowhere rather not-so-fast. The last issue of this volume sort of felt like things began to run out of steam so they had to dig up the same old scene of Bruce losing his parents. I’m not sure how many times we have to go through this and continue to ham-fistedly brow beat readers into realizing how much this changed Bruce, and how this darkness and this pain is a part of him, yadda yadda.
That’s the other thing with this too, is that a whole bunch of nothing happens. Orgham plot is starting to just chase its tail and I keep wondering when things are going to actually push forward and develop. By the end of Volume 3 we’re left wondering not only “where is this going?” but questioning, “is it going anywhere at all?”
Lastly, and the most glaringly obvious is the lack of consistency and throughline. Not only is the plot constantly being muddied by subplots, flashbacks, and side-features with tag on stories at the end (which have become increasingly more frustrating to wade through, more on that), but the artwork is all over the place. Each issue has a main storyline with an added subplot at the end that is tied in (sometimes more overtly) which is worked on by a different team. Not only this, but it was like every issue the pencillers and colorists were changing which made it hard for me to get into the general flow between each issue. It would be akin to watching a movie but for each scene sequence, the characters were recast each time but in the same costumes. To me it was a bit frustrating. None of the artwork was particularly bad per-se, but some of it felt like it missed the aesthetic mark that was initially established at the beginning of the run with Albuquerque’s fantastic work. Overall, this ended up making things feel disjointed and left a lot to be desired for my personal taste. I’ll continue on and finish out the series, but I’m worried that this is just a slow burn for the sake of trying to be a slow burn and not much else.

[David]

More crap. Less crap then act 1, but crap all the same. I've gave it one more star as, apart from the awful 10 eye man insert, it vaguely flowed in one direction this time.

Art was good awful again. It also includes perhaps the worst panel I've ever seen in Batman, or at least worst I've ever seen in a long time. When the demon thing (I really couldn't give a shit about it, I just call it barber shop) is leading young Bruce away from Batman it is a panel showing it looking over its shoulder at Batman giving a cheesy "thank you" grin like some good awful 70s US advert selling health plans. Fucking hell. Whoever approved that (never mind drew it!) needs catapulted into the sun.

So apart from the fact this is boring (loosely Batman gets infected with this bullshit ghost monster that still hasn't been explained properly after 3 collected editions then spends the rest of the time stumbling around having nightmares or something) the timelines are so hilariously bad it shows the "authors" don't give a shit about taking this seriously either.

Why? So they state the Oghams (Orghams? I don't care) have been feeding with that Al Ghuls forever, that they are in a generations blood feud. Ok. But then this "generational blood feud" started when the Arzen (the bad guy, very unmemorable, I may have got his name wrong) was a child and Ra's killed his dad... But the bad guy is early 20s, but even let's say he's 30 it's a "generational" feud started 15-20 years ago? Uhhh huh... Oh, and apparently when Ra's betrayed the dad he stole the power to create the Lazarus... So immortal Ra's has only had the power for 20 years... And his daughter, Talia, is now at most 20 and with Damien pushing 20 Bruce impregnated her as a toddler and she gave birth to Damien as a 3 or 4 year old? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!!

If the people writing this book give so little a shit as to make things like timelines make sense, why the hell should I care?

This is just so, so laughably bad I cannot believe people are giving it even mildly positive reviews. It's crap, it makes no sense, the art is bad, it doesn't respect any other lore, AND for those saying it's "horror" inspired? I'm assuming you consider scooby do is horror?

Shit like this makes me sad I'm a completionist.

[Subham]

This was a good volume overall and has so many good elements and stories like what happened to Arzen’s father and I love the poetic way in which its told plus the thing with him getting a resolve to fight against Ra’s and how his mother Dariah manipulated it and that’s cold. Plus then the Batman team coming together as they try to stop the events that’s happening simultaneously.

And you see the fights vs Gael and Shavhod and they’re so cool and Batman being taken over by the Azmer demon and how will Batman fight against it, I love the issue where its like exploring his past traumas and Barbatos talking to him and the part where he talked to his younger self and a back up with Alfred when he first saw Bruce after that event and the narration of his is just lovely. Such a great contrast.

There’s also the stuff with other villains and what they’re upto not like the other volumes but still its so good and a great face off! Killer Croc working with the Orghams is gonna be interesting and good to see him back after a while. Its really like an opera with how its coming together. And the visuals with which Shavhod takes control of people is so awesome, the art is amazing over there.

There are backups with Ten eyed man which was strange but better than the last volume and showing a new side of crazy tbh. There’s also the detective who got betrayed and it’s a symphony of tragedy the way its written. So yeah good volume which brings together a lot of things and really challenging Batman and now that he is captured.. what will happen to him and a great exploration of the Orghams and who they are and what makes them dangerous. As we move towards the final act but first an intermezzo like in an opera!

[Nicolas Loze]

Alors ça y est le récit avance enfin.

C'est très beau, les backups sont toujours aussi intéressants. On a un Batman qui galère qui pour une fois n'a pas l'air de tout comprendre, et surtout un Batman qui a peur.

Mais il a vraiment peur, il a des hallucinations, il fait des crises d'angoisses, il doute de sa capacité et de sa légitimité et ça rappelle La Cour des Hiboux.

Le seul point noir que je vois va de paire avec mon ras-le-bol général du personnage. Ça fait des décennies qu'il est écrit (dans ses runs principaux du moins) comme un personnage sombre, traumatisé et torturé, c'est devenu la norme et ça me va.
Je pense seulement que le ramener sans cesse au meurtre de ses parents c'est redondant et dommage. Je saisis bien que c'est l'origine du personnage que c'est ce qui fait que Bruce est Batman. Mais arrêtons de faire comme s'il n'avait vécu que ça, arrêtons de faire comme s'il était incapable de faire le deuil de ses parents. Que ça soit l'origine de sa mission (comme il l'aime l'appeler) d'accord, mais que ça soit l'essence du personnage ? Je pense qu'on peut nous parler d'autre choses, autant en positif (la batfamily mais aussi les autres super-héros qu'il apprécie) qu'en négatif (les traumas liés à Jason Todd, à Knightfall, à Alfred etc...)

Malgré tout, c'est plaisant à lire. Mention spéciale aux dessinateurs qui font tous un super job, une préférence personnelle pour Aaron Campbell et Riccardo Federici

[Arda Yildiz]

I definitely liked Act II more than Act I. For the first time, it finally feels like something actually happens and that the events have a real impact.

Especially the second half was much stronger. It finally had a plot that I genuinely found interesting instead of constantly introducing more setup. The art keeps getting slightly better too. It feels cleaner, more polished and easier to follow, while still keeping the dark atmosphere of the run.

The dialogue also feels a little better and much easier to follow. I can understand Batman's pain, exhaustion and overall situation much more clearly now. The villains also feel far more threatening. Their advantage over Batman is actually noticeable this time, and I think the story does a much better job of showing how overwhelmed and vulnerable he is.

That being said, I still don't care about the additional flashbacks explaining the villains' past. They just don't interest me. And the entire Ra's al Ghul part does absolutely nothing for me. Every time it appears, I just find it boring.

Act II still hasn't completely sold me on Gotham Nocturne, but this is the first volume where I felt like the main story was finally moving toward something meaningful. It finally feels like there are actual consequences instead of endless setup.

3,6/5

[Norman Cook]

2025 Eisner Award finalist - Best Continuing Series, Best Cover Artist (Evan Cagle)

Collects Detective Comics #1071-1075. Ram V and a host of artists, including Stefano Raffaele, Ivan Reis, Dustin Nguyen, Francesco Francavilla, and others, continue a horror inspired take on the Batman legend. The antagonists are the mysterious Orgham family whose history is intertwined with the likes of Ra's Al Ghul and immortal Vandal Savage, yet seem to be complete unknowns to the world's greatest detective. It's not entirely clear why the Orghams are trying to take down Batman and Bruce Wayne (not sure they initially knew the connection, but they do eventually find out). There are a bunch of seemingly extraneous subplots, but the main focus in this volume is that they have somehow gained a kind of mind control over Batman and are forcing him to relive the many traumas of his life, especially the death of his parents. What with the numerous plot threads and the revolving door of artists, this series is disjointed. The mood is fairly consistent, but I'm getting tired of Batman losing because of villainous mind altering drugs and superpowers.

[Chris Lemmerman]

The Gotham Nocturne continues as Batman heads into conflict with the Orghams, only to find that perhaps this might be one battle he won't be able to win. Fighting on both the physical and mental planes, all might actually be lost this time.

Yeah, look, you know I eat this stuff up by now. Ram V's distinct voice for Detective Comics is exactly what I love, and his story is both straight forward and deep as hell. The back-up stories revisit some familiar faces, enhancing the main book and also shedding some light on the villain characters in ways that the main story doesn't have time to do.

And of course the artwork remains stellar, with contributions once again from Ivan Reis, Stefano Raffaele, Goran Sudzuka, Dustin Nguyen, and Francesco Francavilla. What more could you want?

[Clint]

Ram V continues developing his slow burn epic in satisfying fashion. Lots of individual elements are familiar, like Gotham facing down cataclysmic chaos and danger or Batman fighting a psychological battle in his own mind after somehow being poisoned, but their specific presentation and handling makes the familiar feel fresh and interesting. The backups are great too, particularly the closing story juxtaposing a young Bruce’s offerings of assistance from both Alfred and Barbatos, like the proverbial angel and devil on his shoulder.

The art is a little more all over the place than before, but thankfully a lot of the guest artists are exciting names like Francavilla or Dustin Nguyen or Aaron Campbell, so it’s generally a great looking comic if not a consistent looking one.